"Minister calls for more second rate sport to be shown"

New Culture Secretary Maria Miller has written to broadcasters urging them not to cut their coverage of second rate sport now London 2012 is over.

Mrs Miller said that she had no idea about sport, but the Olympics is the sort of political bandwagon that you have to jump on.

The TV audiences showed that even when you threw £11bn at hosting it, burn another £500m so that people win medals, millions broadcasting it and that it's only on once every four years, nearly as many people opt for Coronation Street on the other side.

The BBC said it had some second rate sport that filled up Grandstand on a Saturday when most people were out shopping, because no bugger wants to watch it.

Mrs Miller is the minister for sexism as well as Culture Media and Sport Secretary.

She said the British media did a fantastic job over the past few weeks hyping the achievements of some second rate sports people in some sports that almost no-one does. And frankly, if Jess Ennis didn't look that good, no-one would care.

But she told broadcasters that outside the Games, second rate sport had been "considerably less interest than first rate sport, with second rate cricket, football and netball "attracting a few couch potatoes and chronic masturbators".