On 25 May, 19:43, Bruce wrote:

It will be like any Olympic Games that has been held in a first world
country - a complete waste of time, money and effort.

It's OK for countries like China and, for the World Cup, South Africa.
It will put them on the map and bring in people and business that
would otherwise probably not have come. *It will do sod all for the UK
except cost an inordinate amount of money.

China can probably afford it, but doesn't need it. China has plenty
of business already.

All of which could have been obtained for just a small fraction of the
£10.6 billion so far committed. *And there are no regenerative effects
anywhere else.

This is exactly like the Dome. We were told that the project would
clean up a contaminated ex gasworks site. This was true of course,
but that could have been done at far lower cost.

It's not mocking, it is taking an objective look at how public money
is spent. *£10.6 billion would have paid for most of Crossrail. *The
Channel Tunnel only cost 30% more, and even I would admit that it has
brought some long term benefit to the UK, although nowhere near
anything that justified the cost. *

The Olympics has brought no benefit at all. *It has overheated the
construction industry in London and put up contract prices across the
board, so many clients have had to pay a lot more for their projects
just because of it. *Jobs have been lost because businesses displaced
from the site have not all reopened. *Local residents have had to put
up with the noise, mess and traffic for several years and for what? *A
park that no-one has the faintest idea what to do with.

I'm not sure about 'no benefit at all'. I think that there are
benefits, but the costs of them are out of all proportion to those
benefits. There are also 'dis-benefits', if there is such a word,
which may outweigh the benefits, even if the costs are ignored.

Even the accommodation for Olympic athletes will require extremely
expensive conversion to make it suitable for social housing because
the designers didn't deliver on their promises.

Will probably end up as expensive flats for people from outside the
area. Some of the sports venues may be re-located elsewhere, but
there seems to be some doubt about that. The main stadium is due to
survive in cut-down form, but it was suggested last year that the
proposed future use may be unaffordable. We shall see; this would not
be the first stadium to be demolished after the games.

If we want to hold a few weeks of sporting events, and invite athletes
from around the world, then by all means do so, but there's no need to
spend this amount of money to do so. We have various existing venues
where top athletes compete in other events; why can't they be used,
possibly with some minor upgrading, for the Olympics.

I rather liked the old Stratford, but much of it is likely to be
lost. What remains of the Bow Back Rivers once the games are over,
remains to be seen.

Stratford was home to some of the 'nasty' industries, though many of
them have closed down since the War. There is no doubt that the area
needed regeneration, but it did not need the Olympics. Don't look
down on areas which have nasty industries; they produce products which
people want to use, paint and varnish, soap, printing inks (and
printed materials), industrial alcohol, chemicals etc. It also
recycled scrap materials, overhauled railway vehicles, provided
scaffolding and so on. Much of what was left of the industry will
probably not survive the Olympics.

The great thing about Stratford was that the housing was the right
distance from the industry; separated from it, but reasonably close.
You weren't living right next door to the paint factory, but probably
in some rather nice Victorian terraced housing which, suitably
refurbished and with modern facilities, can provide a very pleasant
place to live. Best of all, work was probably close enough to walk;
no need to be in a car stuck in traffic, no need to travel to work in
overcrowded rush hour trains, but the area has excellent transport
connections when you do want to travel other than for work.