The most expensive national party ever?

There is a story in today's Times which suggests "little support for the claim that the (Olympic) Games would produce significant economic returns or more people playing sport".

Worst still, the report said that "Leading economists and civil servants commissioned by the Prime Minister’s strategy unit and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport found that the main motivation for staging the 16-day event should be a morale-boosting national party".

Surely, £9.3 billion for a national party at a time when families and businesses will be paying more taxes is something that should be reviewed urgently by this Government.

Certainly, this should become a 'national' Olympics rather than focusing just on London and should use existing facilities across the UK (including the Millennium Stadium and the Newport Velodrome) to get the cost to the taxpayer down.

It would also mean that charities in Wales do not lose out as a result of the large increase in the original budget of £2.4 billion at a time when donations from the private sector are drying up due to the recession.

Comments

Anonymous said…

There is a suggestion that many of the agencies which hand out grants and aid are being stifled to ensure that there is spare money available for the Olympics.

The usual method being to make the claiming process so complex and difficult to comply that the money goes unclaimed.

This money then going into the pot marked London 2012 and no budget has had to be reduced to make it happen!

Well done, Sir Humphrey!

December 03, 2008 12:12 pm

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