Paul Terry wrote in
:

In message , Aosmosis

writes

This is scandalous, and if an extra £600 million is already being
bandied about within a year of the winning bid for 2012, can you
imagine the extra costs that are going to be incurred by the time the
Olympics are actually held?!

It was always clear that any over-run would most likely have to be
picked-up by London tax payers - and there is ample precedent for
serious over-runs on many previous Olympics, so it was always
predictable and will probably become worse.

I'm just astonished that so many Londoners appeared to have been in
favour of a London Olympics - I wasn't for precisely this reason.


If you lived in East London as I do, you'd be in favour too. Have you
seen some of the areas they're developing? They're eyesores. Any
regeneration is good.

Furthermore, if it improves the transport links, then even better. I
don't mind paying a bit more council tax as a result (I know my house
will go up in value when we have all those nice parks and stadia around
the corner - the legacy is tremendous). I reckon my house has gone up by
20% since the announcement was made. Well worth paying £250 more per
year over six years!

I know the improved transport links should have been carried out anyway,
but even if they do the right thing for the wrong reason, at least
they're doing it. And hopefully this whole Reubens nonsense will sort
itself out, and the cost will be averted anyway.

Furthermore, there are a couple of other very good reasons, namely:

National pride - it's a huge honour to host the Olympics, and this being
such a sport-loving nation, it's about bloody time. I'm delighted to
show off my lovely city to so many people.

Sport - apart from the various free events like the walking and the
marathon (which will go right close to my house!) I will get, as a local
resident - tickets to see quite a lot of the non-track and field events
for free (this was promised by Tessa Jowell in the run up to the bid,
let's hope she keeps her promise). My family are coming over from Spain
and I'm already allocating my garden space for tents on a first-come
first-served basis for friends and family. This is going to be a
wonderful occasion that I'll never forget.

The legacy of the stadia, and the gentrification of a particularly ugly
part of the capital (eg Hackney Wick).

The fact that we'll win loads of medals etc (home nation always does
well), and as I said, I'm a sports fan.

Beach volleyball in Horse Guards Parade... need I say more? ;-)