TATE JONES  Please send me the backup.log file with your output to widgets@bluedog.com.au

grep backupd /var/log/system.log > ~/Desktop/backup.log

It will be visible on your Desktop.

Cheers  
(Version 1.0)

TATE JONES  Open a 'Terminal' and execute the following line.

grep backupd /var/log/system.log > ~/Desktop/backup.log

Does the backup.log file contain any data?   
(Version 1.0)

TATE JONES  This widget simple extracts the backupd output from the system log. If does exactly as advertised. As the TM runs (backupd process) is outputs its activity to the system.log. When the dashboard is displayed the widget will obtain and display the current logs contained for the current (active) or previous backup. There is no need for it to run constantly in the background as it will immediately parse the system.log once the widget is displayed. The purpose of this widget was to make it easier to view the system.log file for TM activity. The alternative is to open the console and filter all lines containing backupd.  
(Version 1.0)