At this rate it will cost £14billion

At the risk of sounding like an “Outraged in Oxbridge” letter to the editor of a broadsheet…

As if we weren’t a big enough target already, the country is spending billions on attracting people from all over the world to the Olympic games. The fact that the London tube system was bombed less than 24 hours after we secured the Games might prove to be an omen.

As usual, the price they’ve quoted is hugely underestimated (see the Millennium Dome, a hive of tourist activity and profit-making grand public events…)
As usual, the timescales they’ve quoted are slipping back (see the Wembley building site, sorry, “stadium”)

If the bookies would accept my bet, I’d gladly put a grand on the much-lauded Channel Tunnel – Olympic rail link not being completed on time. Sadly, the bookies learnt their lesson when a bunch of guys in hard hats in the Wembley area placed large sums of cash against Wembley opening on time.

I live in East London (the nice part not the grubby part, obviously) yet even I fail to see the long term benefit to anyone other than the contruction firms who will secure sizable chunks of the billions to build the various arenas and Olympic village, then afterwards convert the lot into “luxury Olympic apartments” and make a fortune selling or letting them out to the ever-increasing Canary Wharf workforce. (There’s another rant about Canary Wharf-types, but I’ll save that for another day)

All this heavy investment in an area which – if you’re a New Scientist reader – stands a good chance of being underwater in 50 years. Leave NuHackney and NuStratford drown and run to the hills!