Bah, humbug!

London has won the bid for the 2012 Olympics. I was against this in the first place. People talk about how it would help regenerate or attract business to London, but the benefits are always ephemeral. Look at the Millennium Dome today. Or the site of the National Garden Festival a few years after each of the cities it went to in the 1980s and 90s.

The building where I work is literally a stone's discus throw away from the finishing line of the 1908 Olympics, and what legacy is there visible of it nowadays? A line on the ground and a medals table on the side of the nearest building, and that's all. The Olympics stadium will turn into a white elephant whose the money could be spent on more permanent and worthwhile causes.

Speaking of which, where's the money going to come from? The guy sitting next to me at work has opined it's going to drive the Council Tax in London right up, making living in one of the world's most expensive cities even less affordable. (I'm in two minds whether I think the money should be stumped up by just Londoners or national taxation.) And yet Trafalgar Square (not to mention my office ) is full of applauding patriots who haven't thought of the consequences of this decision.

So yes, bah humbug, I say; and if you want to expose lots of flaws in my argument and shoot it down, go ahead; it'll probably cheer me up.