to think that with all the talk of benefit caps and cuts, a TRILLION national debt.11 BILLION spend on the Olympics

[therehastobemore]

is a fucking joke

FFS

YANBU.

At all.

yanbu

sorry about the title, i hit send before i realised it was screwed up

I suppose there is an arguement about how much revenue will be gained.

But still.

Tis a lot of money just to show off.

I have absolutely no interest at all in the Olympics, so maybe I'm biased.

YABU. It's a large-scale capital investment project with a big emphasis on the 'legacy' of new sports facilities and accommodation in a part of London that was underdeveloped. So it's employing thousands that would otherwise be out of work. It's a massive tourist attraction and our tourist numbers are down at the moment due to various economic crises round the world. And it's something that was awarded way back in 2005 when, if you remember, a certain Gordon Brown had promised 'an end to boom and bust!'

Not a fucking joke...

Yanbu

Well if they would care to show the projected profits, maybe i would feel a little less incensed about it. Im just not buying its a massive investment spin, i could take what little money i have and invest it, but i have to feed my family so i dont take the chance

So Cogito? Will all the olympic accomodation be turned into social housing afterwards? that would be a nice idea - and maybe some community sporting projects for those who's parents can't afford to send them to summer Tennis camp?

YANBU. And I loathe all sport and the time it takes up on the tv

What legacy, Athens is a good place to start,

www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/after-the-party-what-happens-when-the-olympics-leave-town-901629.html

The economic benefits for Sydney didn't materialise and as is usually the case the final spend was double the initial project cost.

I've seen that SKY is reporting on this. Not full forensic accounting, but an attempt to capture full costs - including things like extra payments to Tube drivers, police etc. It makes an unhappily high total.

YABU.

What would you suggest, we tell everyone we have decided to cancel it and everyone can just stay at home and wait another 4 years?

Or do you want to invent a time machine and go back to 2005?

Seriously what is the point of whingeing about it now?

I can't wait, my children will remember it for ever and it will be fantastic.

its all about "showing off" to the rest of the world, i think we would garner more respect if we actually said - you know, in the current economic climate we are going to scale down the spend in anyway possible, have a few hundred thousand pounds less in fireworks here and there. It is heart breaking when people are being refused life saving cancer treatments (as just one example) when the cost of their treatment wont even dent the fireworks budget :(

I'm sure if you check out the Olympic website they'll have chapter and verse about what the community will get out of it once the games are over. Any time there's some big exciting project on the cards there's always someone comes along and grumbles that 'they could have spent the money on hospitals' or whatever. I bet the people who built Stonehenge had exactly the same bleating whingers complaining that it was a waste of money and effort. If we'd never gone out on a limb with ambitious public projects like the Olympics, Britain would be a drab colourless place.

Yes, I have tickets to 3 events.

Here here cogito

ladybaabaa, no offence intended but I'm not sure your children's memories quantify a legacy that these games are being sold on.

lol at the stone henge reference, because thats a whole lot of use too isnt it :)

Sporting achievements are fantastic and there is not dobut there will be benefits, but 11 Billion pounds worth?

CogitoErgoSometimes, do those chapter and verses include a 36m subsidy for a conversion to a football stadium?

news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympic_games/london_2012/8921954.stm

Sadly therehastobemore, all it means is you're the kind of person that knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. You're probably thinking they should melt down the 'Angel of the North' and sell it for scrap. Things don't always have to pay their way to be valuable to society but, as it happens, I think the Olympics will be financially valuable as well as good for our culture. We'll have learned from Sydney, Athens, Beijing as well as the Commonwealth games experience how to get the most out of it.