I Hate To Say I Told You So
From this blog, February 2005 :
"Do you think the British taxpayer would end up in profit when the dust settled [on the 2012 Olympics] ? I know Atlanta made a profit but if there is one thing the Americans are good at, it's making a few $$$. Anyone who thinks we would do the same is advised to consider the Millennium Dome and the new Scottish Parliament building. I have no confidence that we can make a profit on the whole deal. No confidence whatsoever. "
And today : The budget for the 2012 London Olympics has risen to £9.35bn.
Just the four times what we were told when the bid was put in. So far. And in hindsight, allow me to add Wembley Stadium to that list of buildings. ty gg.
"Do you think the British taxpayer would end up in profit when the dust settled [on the 2012 Olympics] ? I know Atlanta made a profit but if there is one thing the Americans are good at, it's making a few $$$. Anyone who thinks we would do the same is advised to consider the Millennium Dome and the new Scottish Parliament building. I have no confidence that we can make a profit on the whole deal. No confidence whatsoever. "
And today : The budget for the 2012 London Olympics has risen to £9.35bn.
Just the four times what we were told when the bid was put in. So far. And in hindsight, allow me to add Wembley Stadium to that list of buildings. ty gg.
6 Comments:
You are being utterly blinkered here.
Who cares it is going to cost £9 zillion or whatever?
Having the olympics in London is a once in a lifetime opportunity. The memories and excitement the event will produce will be priceless. Kids will be inspired. The infrastructure will be strengthened for many generations.
And besides, it will cost far less than renewing Trident. I know which of the two I would rather my tax was spent on. (If I paid any, this is).
Keith,
The point I'm trying to make is that if we had been told up front £9 billion and counting it probably wouldn't have got through and the politicians knew that. At the time, when a lot of people said the estimate was unrealistic, or raised other objections, they were shouted down by Jowell & co as being "unpatriotic" and so on.
The £2.4 billion estimate was at best hopelessly optimistic or at worst an outright lie.
Finally, saying "it's not as bad as spending £20 billion on nuclear weapons" is not the most ringing endorsement :-)
Andy.
I can't believe you're implying the government lied to us. My whole world has just collapsed around me...
The Camel -- Who cares it is going to cost £9 zillion or whatever?
Well, not you because you don't have to pay for it. Personally i don't care two shits about swimming or dressage or even the 100 metres, so I'm a bit irked about all that dough splashing into a great big hole in the ground.
Also, I rather suspect the nine bil would go further if only spent on infrastructure without having to bother with the Olympics at all. This is of course a completely facile point, but then so is bringing Trident into the equation.
Cartman
I for one am sick and tired of the argument that it will be good for London/England/the Uk etc etc
Who cares?
As a Londoner its all very depressing, more council tax for years, no-one around the world really gives a monkeys about the olympics anymore.
London is now an overcrowded, underresourced and generally unpleasant place to live nowadays and this isn't going to help.
One more thing , the sight of all those ex-olympic champions and politicians whooping and hollering (having flown half way round the world all at taxpayers expense no doubt) when London was announced as the winner was actually quite repulsive.
It's good to see that the first 400,000 pounds hasn't been wasted...
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/olympics_2012/6722763.stm
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