CITIUS ALTIUS FORTIUS
I remember when it was announced that England had won the race to hold the 2012 Olympic Games, my French friends said 'Thank God' and my English friends said 'Oh God' and it would appear the early prophesies are coming true. So far the budget stands at a staggering £9.3 billion. £9.3 billion? It looks like a typo, doesn't it? If I hit the nought button correctly this figure reads as £9,300000 000000 (I think!) and we are still five years away from the opening. I'm wondering whether they shouldn't be christened the Googol Games as the zeros just seem to be added on in a pretty willy-nilly fashion.
Much of the money is coming out of the Lottery (yet another stealth tax), so many projects that were hoping for Lottery financing are now quietly moving to the back burner. I am all for the Games, don't get me wrong, but I cannot honestly see how such a budget is justified, especially when one reads in the English press the measures being taken by the latest penny-pinching government to save a few quid. Only today in the Telly there was an article that refuse should only collected once a fortnight. What are they trying to do - bring back the Plague? Walk through any town in England the night before the refuse is collected - the bins are overflowing and if the litter was bagged, it has been torn apart by foxes.
With a bit of foresight, what a shame the 2012 Games were not held jointly by France and England. By 2009 the railway link between London and Paris will hopefully be finished so the travelling distance between the two cities has never so fast. We don't have to have all the atheletes in one place all together - the Winter Olympics in Turin were an example of this. We could have had the opening ceremony in London and the closing ceremony in Paris and shared out the various competitions between the two countries.
I reckon that if there were a referendum in England as to whether England should go ahead with the Games, I imagine a lot of people would vote for giving the French £5,000000 000000 to take it off their hands!
8 comments:
That's a good idea about sharing the Olympics between two countries. It makes less and less sense to concentrate the burden on one city. I think we'll see privations in other parts of China to pay for the Beijing Games in 2008. Toronto bid for those games and there was a huge, collective sigh of relief from most of the citizens when we didn't get them.
Montreal hosted the Olympics in 1976 and I believe the city is STILL paying off its debts from then.
A lot of the cost is going into regenerating that part of London, which is all very well, for that part of London. The rest of the country is bound to finance what boils down to something they'll receive very little benefit from.
I certainly would be against France and Britain working together on anything. If it's British it's a disaster, why come to their aid?
I would like to know what the Olympic committee which awarded the Olympics to London is doing. One of the objectives of this organisation was to avoid ridiculously big budget games.Something that Paris offerd in a transparent manner. It turns out the British budget was a complete con (what a really big surprise). Now did anyone check it before the votes were cast? If not, what exactly was the sub-committee that examined the bids doing?
They weren't doing enough, obviously.
I'd like to see Anglo-French Olympics if only to watch how the Brit tabloids reacted. And perhaps the swimming events could be held in the Channel.
Dunno about the reliability of British trains, though; even the Eurostar. When I took it in January, it tore across France, sped through the tunnel and then went biddly-bong, biddly-bong the rest of the way to London.
At risk of arousing some patriotic ire, perhaps Franco-German Games might be a more practical proposition.
I knew you wouldn't like the idea of an Anglo-French Games, Richard! But the race was between France and England.
The Olympic Committee probably did their job - but we don't know what facts were given to them - England 'forgot' the VAT to start with...
Theoretically, Bill, by 2009 St Pancras station will be redeveloped and the Eurostar won't go to Waterloo any more, but on the new line which is being specially built. IF it's ready...Paris/Strasbourg was officially opened yesterday and will be up and running in June. Ceremony was pretty impressive...fireworks all down the line.
I forgot - the Sun once titled their rag 'If God had wanted us to love the French, he wouldn't have created the Channel' or words to that effect; I can't remember for which occasion.
I remember when the tunnel opened, my father saying sadly, "We're not an island any more." He went to his grave never quite forgiving me for supporting France in the World Cup.
Paris-Strasbourg by TGV? Another reason to come back to France this year.
The Eurostar will go to St Pancras as of November this year - the line is almost ready as we speak. By 2009, there will be a number of other high speed services going to St Pancras too.
I love the idea of sharing the Olympics. It might just be the only way forward in future, as the cost of hosting the games can be crippling for just one country.
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