What is too much for the London Olympics?

...and Wembley Stadium! And the Scottish Parliament! And the Jubilee extension! And the Channel Tunnel! And the new Air Traffic Control centre in Swanwick! And so on, and so on! We have a long history of major projects coming in late and over budget. We shouldn't be surprised dear Fredrik.

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by Fredrik_Fiske:
It sounds like the kind of ill-planned and thunderous waste of money that we saw with the Millenium Dome...
Kindest regards from Fredrik

I quite agree Fredrik, almost as daft an idea as wasting 15-20 billion ukp of hard earned tax payers money on trident!

regards ~

nymph.

quote:

I quite agree Fredrik, almost as daft an idea as wasting 15-20 billion ukp of hard earned tax payers money on trident!

About £70 billion more like.

I read that the chancellor decided to levy VAT on the project, so a provision of £1Bn will have to be made in addition to the other escalating costs. The consolation in this is that some VAT will be reclaimed. So they recycle taxes now!

I find it difficult to be proud, excited or even slightly interested by the prospect of the olympics being held in the capital, when nowadays the idea of the capital seems somehow alien and distant. My view is that it has been positioned as London's olympics and not the country's, and neither the taxpayer or the lottery should be expected to fund them.

quote:

My view is that it has been positioned as London's olympics and not the country's, and neither the taxpayer or the lottery should be expected to fund them.

Well thank you for that, what a great idea for the rest of the UK, have us sad sack Londoners's pay for everything. It has a familiar ring to it, as does the fact that the population of London were never actually asked if they wanted the games in the first place, it was just foisted on us by our world stage politians, local & national. Shame we haven't got access to the sort of molecular transporter that would whizz London Town off to say, the Isle of Wight, then we could have some real devoultion.

quote:

It has a familiar ring to it, as does the fact that the population of London were never actually asked if they wanted the games in the first place, it was just foisted on us by our world stage politians, local & national

The fact is that none of us were asked, but at least London(ers) will benefit from the (over)spend, so there is a modicum of consolation for them. I fail to see where taxpayers nationwide are to gain any benefit. Don't see this as an attack on Londoners, but a criticism of the people who got all of us into this ever more expensive mess.

So from the tone of the posts, am I right to conclude that everybody is looking forward to the games and feels it is worth every penny?

quote:

Originally posted by ROTF:

every penny?

Including, don't forget, the discretionary and unseen bribery and corruption costs for swinging the IOC to choose London...

quote:

Originally posted by Deane F:

quote:

Originally posted by ROTF:

every penny?

Including, don't forget, the discretionary and unseen bribery and corruption costs for swinging the IOC to choose London...

Not to mention the canny contractors who will not even entertain the thought or concept of a fixed price quote...
It is the old rip off the Govt. mentality that spans all sectors of our society from the benefit frauds to painting contractors charging 10 times expected cost for a school spruce up...

So I am not alone in wishing the games in London would have been held elsewhere! I would rather that some of the £10 Billion might have gone on preserving and even replacing school playing fields, which it seems top me would be better for the young than sitting in front of the TV watching sports for a fortnight some five years hence. And that option would not be lost even then, as it comes round every four years in any case where ever the games are held...

Fredrik

There was a view floated a while back, maybe even on this forum, that the spiritual home of the olympic games was Athens, and as they have recently built and proven olympic facilities, the games should be held there in perpetunity, with all competing counties contributing to the running costs. sounds like a good idea to me, a lot better than giving the fools, who spent 800 million on a replacement Wembley Stadium, another 10 billion to play with. and as for the notion that London is going to benefit from another livingstone lash up, dream on.

I'm actually thinking of forming a construction company, employing one legged Albanian roofing operatives,to bid for some of the work, it might even be eligable for a grant or two, then I could really make some dosh and learn to love the London olypmics.

Fredrik is right though, for 10 billion pounds, with some proper project management, we could build some fabulous sporting facilities at grass roots level. It could make a real difference to the way this country develops over the next generation, that is if we haven't all been killed off by the msra bug.

quote:

that is if we haven't all been killed off by the msra bug.

Or dyslexia!

Mark