And the winner of the Olympic bid is..........................................

[MarsLady]

LONDON

yingers quoted below that 1.5billion from national lottery so what nation-wide good causes/charities will lose out to allow those funds to be released?

To re-coup a significant proportion of the outlay tickets prices will need to be fairly high - excluding the poorer in the UK from attending? Never mind travel and acomodation costs.

And thinking this through will this re-couped captial be refunded to the national lottery.

(ps please excuse my lack of punctuation but have got one wrist out of action at the mo.)

yeah right ... just like we do for Wimbledon

Well why can't we all internationally co-operate on sometihng that matters, like climate change (I know, G8) or world poverty (I know, Live8) or a cure for AIDS or Cancer or any other of a number of worthy and important causes? We shouldn't need to all compete in running races to show co-operation, surely? We're not children!

why not sport?

I'm with you all the way www. I am so unexcited/appalled by the whole prospect that I can't even summon up the enthusiasm to post intelligently.

my neck is totally scr8wed so must get off computer, but can't seem to

Because it's just not that important imo. It just isn't. Not when there are things that are important and mean life or death for millions of people.

Oh blimey, thanks Tamum, I'm so glad I'm not alone in this!

but people all over the world engage emotionally with sport, and like music it surmounts language and cultural barriers...you know that tho!

See my posts below for where the money is coming from (eg.£160 over 8 years for Londoners = £20 a year). Big new Lottery to raise lots of the rest - no compulsion for anyone to contribute to that.

I do think the dissenters are vastly underestimating the influence that the biggest sporting event in the world can have on the whole country.

I think it's fantastic. The mooted 34p a week council tax rise in London won't bother me. I am a complete non-sporty person but, especially having lived in the east end for several years, I think it is brilliant and much-needed. I just hope we can do it justice.

Have none of you ever watched an event on TV (say, World Cup final, Olympic 100M, Live8) and wondered just how fabulous it would be to be there in person? Now's your chance and more importantly, your children's chance. This could be a once in a lifetime thing for the UK.

Pupuce - any chance of a translation? ....winning

Definitely not alone

I didnt really care about the olympic thing as im not a fan - but im glad we got it France shouldnt have been so bloomin rude about aour food they eat snails and frogs for god sakes! go england!

I think if you're a non-sporty lover it's very easy to not get this, but I do think it's about far more than just 'running races'. It's terribly important to millions and millions of people.

www, tamum
I too felt like that until well today. I suppose the improved transport links will actually do something to address CO2 emissions if all those people who drive around the East End use it (for years afterwards too). feel a bit useless that i can't come up with something sensible to support my stance on this... but it just feels right (although agree totally re: poverty, better things to spend money on than sport)

Okay sophable but where will this investment be targeted? Inverness or majority south of Birmingham. And yes of course this is the majority of the population so necessary for best results etc. but how can this be sold as benefiting the UK as whole?

Regarding jobs - a sizable number of businesses who have been running for a long time in east london are going to be destroyed as compensation is not enough to relocate in london so there will be winners and losers. can you really expect people who have worked in a firm for 20-30 years and don't want to leave london to be happy about possibly becoming stewards or pool attendants? The Mayor has called these business people greedy but these are businesses that have been family run for decades & some for over a century, why shouldn't they expect a fair package or at least alternative premises.

in the end things that feed the soul matter more and can achieve more...they way you're talking is like those people that bemoan arts funding...but you realise that things that seem like extras in life as fundamental in bringing people together and often in acheiving change in the so called 'important' areas

The thing is, I don't have any problem with people engaging emotionally with sport and playing sport and going to football matches, I don't mind at all, let them! What I do mind is x billion of public money being spent on hosting a 3 week sporting event. I just think it's crazy.

And sport is health .... (aside from a few knee cartilage injuries, tennis elbows etc.)

I'm with you on climate change and third world poverty www - but still don't see it as an either or debate (as in if we don't spend on the Olympics then the UK can unilaterally resolve these issues or make a big impact with the money that would have gone on the lottery).

You'll need to influence George Bush for any real movement on those issues.

Blair will be pushing the 0.7% GDP issue and is a staunch proponent of that

My local area is badly in need of an Olympic sized swimming pool. The local swimming clubs - some of whom produce Olympic standard swimmers - have to make do training in the local 25m pool. This city has long debated paying for an Olympic sized pool and I suspect it might just go ahead now. Such a swimming pool will benefit everyone in the city.

I used to live in one of those very small countries that sends about two people to the Olympics. If I had turned round to anyone (and I mean anyone) there and said there was no benefit to the UK in hosting the Olympics, they would have thought I was completely barking. The newspapers and TV coverage was full of these atheletes, their names were on everybody's lips and everyone was so proud that they had competitors on an International stage.