… and still counting !
Posted by Big John on March 10, 2012
Does anyone remember back in 2005 when the budget for the 2012 Olympics was estimated at £2.4 billion ? It seemed like an awful lot of money to waste back then, and most people guessed that the final figure would be a lot higher.
Well, of course, they were right, and we learned that the Government had eventually set aside £9.3 billion for a “sporting spectacular” which is of little interest to the majority of people in this country. Especially to those whose quality of life is being destroyed by government spending cuts to those services provided to help the most vulnerable in our society.
We now learn that some parliamentary plonker got his sums wrong when calculating the cost of ‘security’, and that protecting the games is now likely to push the total to around £11 billion !
Yes, that’s something like another £2 billion added to whatever amount that “plonker” first conjured out of thin air, and the total is to be spent on keeping the public safe from suicide bombers, hijackers, pirates ??? and other assorted thieves and nutters.
Now I may have got this wrong, as all those zeros are confusing my old brain with the Olympics and the state of the Greek economy, but it sounds to me that there must now be enough money ‘sloshing around’ somewhere to pay for every sports fan attending the games to have …
… their own personal security guard.
Gabbygeezer said
Maybe if all the civilized countries tossed in a billion, and the uncivilized added a half billion each, the Greek government could be persuaded to sponsor a permanent stage in Athens for this money sucker. Might even help save the Euro. With that kind of venture capital, the Greeks would have enough to generate some nice snow and also take the Winter Olympics off our hands. Or, maybe Dubai would take on the job for free. They already have a downhill ski run on the edge of the desert.
Ginnie said
I couldn’t agree with you more, John. Our whole world is off kilter. If those billions can be found to fund that why can’t we improve the lives of our neediest?