13 billion pumped into the capitals economy ,high houseprices , adebt thats will be paid by the tax payers of the whole country, ken has done london proud, the biggest drug user convention in the world coming to london. The reason for the enormous cost, all builders know its an open cheque book, ie cost plus profit contracts for government .The same happens with m.o.d, I.T contract for nhs ect, public broad casting on tv and radio. IN MY EXPERIENCE in the past with being involved with government contracts the coruption is rampent.and you aint seen nothing yet wait for the new wave of nuclear power station now that's what builders call a golden egg.

michael joseph heavey, cahersiveen>adams towns,

I told my fellow Parisians that we had in fact WON when the the IOC chose London instead of Paris. Both Cities have enough prestige in the world and do NOT need to "show" the world how great they are. The world already knows London is a great city. I just can not see any benefit from this

Cyril, Paris, France

It is a fact, that had the true figure been disclosed, at the bid stage, then Parliamentary approval would never have been given. It is a long time 'Departmental' ploy, e.g. BNFL and THORP, MOX, et al.

Michael, Boreaux, UK

I think everyboby knew it would be at least 4x what ever figure they came up with. Hence the reason I will never ever support it, least not, while it's being held in London.

John, Adams, Sussex

When are we going to have the courage to establish a permanent site for the Olympics and get away from all this quadrennial pain? Cynically, I wonder whether the real reason is that all the IOC members woudl have to forego their all-expenses-paid junkets to all t hose beautiful candidate cities.

Chris, Cambridge,

I have been warning people about the budget for months

http://the2008olympics.blogspot.com/search/label/budget

Ken Frost, London,

Bickering about this will make the project destined to fail, it's about time we got behind the Olympics and stopped trying to negative spin this amazing event. This will be a defining moment in the history of London and trying to fill a few column inches with scare mongering will not achieve anything!! Do you think the organisers don't care about money? Of course they do and they will be working round the clock to solve this so let's help, not hinder them.

T Brown, London,

The Olympics Committee, Tessa Jowel, Ken Livingstone, Seb Coe and all the others should be charged with fraud and put in jail. They have raided the Lottery Fund good causes, leaving tots of deserving funding high and dry.
Everything that this government has done in the last Ten years has been a total disaster, the Dome just being one example, Northern Rock another.
Why should London Ratepayers pick up the tab (Pensioners included)

Barry Reed, Hounslow, Middlesex

Its only money, a Billion I don’t think so, that’s just a starting figure to break you in”. The back room boy’s will be already putting together another stealth tax to cover the cost.
And we thought the millennium dome was bad!! Wembley Stadium, Scottish Parliament building, need I go on

Neil Worthington, Stoke, UK

how about if we didn't have to pay taxes for the war? then wouldn't we have a few billion to spare?


Just a thought..

Paul, London,

Some of us never wanted the Olympics to happen here anyway. Spending our money with no effective representation, and it it just gets worse. Now they'll probably simply take more without any of us being able to stop them (via Council Tax).

Dominic Stockford, Teddington, Middlesex

Eh?

£650 million at 6% over 20 years is roughly £2 billion.

To be left with £800 million after 20 years would require a meagre 1% rise per annum.

I'm sure I'm wrong, I probably need to go back to school. :(

JonB, Glagsow, UK

Funny how the media who were so strong in promoting the games have now only just realised that the budget is nonsense when the general public knew it was a con from the beginning? The games have nothing to do with sport. The games from the beginning were about lining the pockets of consultants, architects, lawyers, surveyors and property developers and stealing money out of the lottery fund which should be spent on good causes.

George, Glasgow, UK

I was against this idea from the start, and am even more implacably opposed to it now. Who cares if one person can run around field faster than another, or throw a stick further. Big deal! If Britain wants to host the boring, waste of time that this is then just pay the Greek government to borrow their facilities. It would cost a lot less. People are dying in this country through lack of resources to keep them alive, our children are receiving second-rate educations through lack of resources to provide suitable schools, our soldiers are losing their lives through lack of resources to provide suitable equipment. No previous host has ever realised the grandiose claims made about these games and ours will be no different. This travesty is absorbing far too much British money to pay foreign workers to build the facilities just so that foreigners will have somewhere to play. Not one penny more should be wasted on this obsenity that is the olympic games.

Chris, Derby, UK

Anybody who takes part in "grass roots" sport in the UK will be familiar with shabby, inadequate, or non-existent facilities.
A tiny fraction of the money being squandered on the Olympics could have made a huge difference to the lives of tens of thousands ordinary people who want to do a bit of sport, rather than sit in front of a TV.

BrummyDoug, Birmingham, England

1. The Olympics would never ever have been supported for any other city except London. (London is Britain, isnt it? You ask any tourist, Manchester and Birmingham are both in the USA and anyway the world comes to an end North of Watford.)
2. Now the Olympics has come a long way from the 'Chariots of Fire' few blokes running around a field', and consequently more expensive, why does just one country have to stage it? London to Paris isnt that far is it? More realistic, perhaps, to award a continent.
3. From a national pride point of view, I was initially quite pleased to have won. This lasted .036 of a second until I remembered how good we are at large projects (the dome for instance)
4. Seeing as we cant pay either our nurses or policemen a decent wage and cant afford new drugs for the chronically ill, haven't our priorities gone a little astray?

carol, Leicester, London (Sorry, UK)

Just stop now. Waste no more of our money. Surely M Sarkozy will be delighted to acquire a prestige project of this kind, at the expense of French taxpayers?

David Cohen, Westminster,

Gross incompetence and I find it extraordinary that Gordon Brown of the once 'Great Clunking Fist' has allowed this.

The project needs a strong no nonsense minister ( and where are they?), as well as a highly competent project team who can stop the cash flowing like sand through a sieve.

The Millennium Dome was all too clearly not a 'lesson learned'.

Gordon - get a grip!!!

Stuart, Wessex,

what a farce..... all this for just two weeks of people running around in shorts and trainers!

now Hertfordshire residents are being expected to pay more Council Tax to help fund it!!

great pity that France didn't win this wonderful prize.... they must be estatic they lost.

a lacey, st albans, UK

Get the Government to ask the Bank of England for a loan, as last week Northern Rock paid back £2 Billion of their debt.

I'd rather see the Olympics get more tax payers money than lending to the banks... but it's a shame there's been a £1 Billion 'black hole' shortfall as the Olympics has already taken a massive chunk of money from The Arts with cuts in arts funding.... this is having a major affect on regional individual artists and organisations.

Garry Smith, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

For this money we could build a new airport in thames estuary have it running 24hrs. Rail links into the city. With regeneration of East End in a slower but more organic way - more successfull usually than the master plan.

Would dramtically improve the lives of many Londoners - whose lifes are blighted by Heathrow. In fact would be cheaper once the land at heathrow was sold.

terry, London,

if the aim is to improve the future health of the nation we should do more to improve school dinners, teach children to care about food and to cook for themselves, increase the number of compulsory p.e. lessons, and encourage people to lead active lives (e.g. to cycle and walk as much as possible).

selecting, training and housing a handful of gifted runners/jumpers/throwers was always bound to have minimal impact at maximum cost - throw in the appalling mismanagement that accompanies all government projects on this scale, and a huge amount of money, energy and goodwill will be wasted.

michael, london,

What else could we have expected when the promoters of this overpriced, over-hyped and unwanted event are Tony Blair, Tessa Jowell and Ken Livingstone? A bunch of attention-seekers, money-grabbers and inflated egos. Charities will lose out. Sadly the only people who will benefit are the aforementioned trio.

caroline kennedy, San Jose, Costa Rica

The Olympics will as usual be a great spectator event..
The cost overrun will be forgotten.
That there will be a cost overrun is not in doubt, government projects never ever come within budget.
The sad fact is that government ministers can dip into a bottomless pit called the lottery fund whenever they want for whatever they want. That is unlikely to change.
Despite all the criticism this country is committed to hosting the Olympics so let's just get on with it, do the job well and hope it doesn't rain.
Consider the personal efforts put in by the hopeful contenders, the cost to them in time and money and how little they will personally benefit from the funds being poured into the event, indeed our pistol shooting contenders are still having to travel to the continent to train as although it is an Olympic event they are not allowed to train on mainland Britain. Effective management is not the government's Forte.

Michael Wilkinson, Telford, UK

Tessa Jowell's promise to "pay back" the money she has borrowed from the Arts will still come too late for the groups she is robbing to pay for the consultants' extravaganza known as the Olympics. Eastern Angles is just one of the theatre groups that will be hard hit when starved of half its funding for the next five years.

Sally Wainman, Ipswich Suffolk, England

I have a solution.

Get Hain to forget to pay the bills.

Simple.

W Smith, Oldham,

What happened to the designated Olympic Lottery Scratchcard which was to safeguard the normal Lottery Charities ? I thought I was going senile, as I'm sure I remember it being mentioned, though I have never seen one.
Other people I have spoken to about this are also pretty sure they remember this being mentioned.
I didn't want the Olympic Games held here, especially not in London, with talk of all the infringements of liberty of those unfortunate enough to live and/or work in London.
Manchester would have been a better venue... if it had to be held here at all.
I also did not want normal Lottery Charity money being used to bolster the funds while so many real charities are refused help. How does the Olympic Games achieve Charity Status under the terms of the Lottery Grant System? I'd love to know, as it might help other worthwhile charities which have been turned down for spurious reasons.

Beryl, WINDSOR, England

No worries; there is plenty of cash available from the massive surplus generated by the National Insurance account each year . This annual surplus currently runs into £4-5 billion. Rather than waste £400 million of it on indexing the age pensions of those people who have retired to Canada, South Africa and Australia, spend it on the Olympics. Why not.? The folk back in Britan are far more deserving.

Jim Tilley
A "frozen" pensioner from Australia

James Tilley, Woronora Heights, NSW Australia

I wonder how their sums will add up when London house price changes - already negative month-on-month - turn negative year-on-year.

Dylan, Rossendale,

Funny how Seb Coe keeps well below the radar when the doo doo hits the fan!
At the beginning of this total fiasco he was here, there and everywhere, blabbering on about how marvellous it's all going to be -I thought Livingstone was an idiot, join the club Seb!!

Iain Chapman, Marciac,

Lets be honest, anyone who believes this Government's cost projections on any project is an idiot.

Martin, Reading, UK

Why am I not surprised ? Government budgets for infrastrcuture projects do have a little bit of a track record (..!) for this sort of cost over run.
Either just accept the fact that in the end £9bn will become about £18bn (rule of thumb..) or face huge loss of credibility if we back out. - thems the options sports fans..

Tony, Cardiff,

I would not trust Tessa Jowell to run a jumble sale. Unless this project is given some credible civil engineering project management without delay, and Jowell banished to be a figurehead, this will be a total disaster. Thickets for 2014 anyone.

K Wells, Bognor Regis, England

Costs continue to escalate apparently totally out of control, from an at the time patently ridculously low initial estimate. This was put to an, at best, gullible government who obviously closed their ryrs and agreed..

Who is to be held responsible for the original and continuing misrepresentation and incompetence that this fiasco has , and continues, to produce?

That so called responsible officials can produce, and others accept, such ludicrous projections such as these land price rises here beggars belief.

Clive Sherriff, Oxford, UK

Has anyone ever noticed how this kind of project - ie dome, channel tunnel, any number of rail, road and defence jobs - always cost far more than the contractors originally quote?

Could it possibly be that contractors put in much lower tenders in the knowledge that the politicians will make up any shortfall out of taxpayers treasure? MP's don't seem to have the guts to do the opposite.

How many of these contractors donate large sums to political parties (all, I bet), or offer politicians positions on their boards at inflated salaries? Could it be that they're glad-handing each other as usual?

If a contractor says they'll do the job for an amount of money they should be held to it. Isn't that what a contract is about? If it costs more, then tough; make shareholders responsible for cost overruns.

But the politicians don't want that. Screw their paymasters, or the public? We all know the answer to that "choice" don't we?

Steve, London, UK

Surprise, surprise.

Annie, Bath, UK

When it was announced that the Olympics were to be in England, the people on our street groaned. They all knew that it woud be a cost disaster, they didn't want it, they recognised that it was another self-aggrandisment of the ghastly Blair. They could see a lot of dosh would be swilling around (mostly taxpayers') and being gobbled up by contractors and go-betweens. That's the people on our street. Not our leaders. Do the latter have any common sense?

john problem, winchester, uk

the money spent on these olympics would have been better used on garss roots sport.

lee churchman, london, england

Nu Labour have built and grown our economy on a pyramid of housing which is now collapsing, and now we discover they still persist in miscalculating the Olympic bid.
You’ve not mentioned those involved with bringing this diabolical situation to our shores. According to the TV prog dispatches which investigated this, the organisers are about to make fortunes, having set up consultative companies etc, which although receive tax payers funding in massive amounts feel their not answerable to the citizens of the UK. The gravy train goes on, refuse to buy a lottery ticket at least once a month that will send a clear message to this incompetent government. Do you really want to see Blair & co at the opening ceremony beating their chests and cocking another snoop at us, and bragging how instrumental he was in bringing the games to the UK. The British tax payer will be paying for this diabolical mistake for generations to come. Just consider all the good worth while things that could have benefitted by this huge amount of our money, i.e. Hospices, Welfare for the elderly, Hospitals, Sports hall around the country the list is endless. Instead these are relegated to being funded by charitable collections, and all this whilst a so called socialist government are in control. Is it probable that these Champagne socialist leaders now in power can benefit more from having their snouts in these larger troths. £billons are being spent for 15 days of activities, whilst our children will be left to pick up the bill for years to come. You should be ashamed if you voted Nu Labour!

Michael, Sheffield,

Having been approached to be a Project Manager on the 'Olympic' project I declined... It was obvious to anyone with a modicum of common sense that the figures had been massaged and that accountability had gone out the window.

I decided that I did not want to be associated with anything so blatantly dishonest.

Colin RIchardson, Bridgend, UK

Only one billion? Peanuts to a government that can throw 60 times that amount to bale out Northern Rock. Having said that, it's one billion with 4 years to go .... maybe Peter Hain can aquire some money from a think tank and help out in return for a Knighthood?

Steve Plows, Peterhead, UK

There's a simple answer - stop, now. Let the French have it if they want - indeed we could give them a couple of billion and still come out ahead. It's an absolute waste of money and time - public and private - based on a false premise: that the development was need and the Olympics will be the excuse. If development is needed, then develop; if not, not.

Peter Bench, London,

Property prices rose by 16-20 percent in the last 20 years.
And are forecast to rise by 16 per cent per annum for the next
15-20 years. Shurely shome mishtake? (Bill, Private Eye).

It's taken some people who shoould have been on top of the subject a long time to spot this cuckoo land projection.

Howard, Chester,

The government is planning to waste a further 1 million on the olympics but cannot afford a mere 36 million for the police.

Screwbald logic.

Chris, Ashford, Middlesex,

Easy: just extend the congestion tax zone to include Belgium, France and Ireland. For the next 'financial black hole' one could extend the zone on a radius to include Moscow but would that be enough? So what if people complain, the batteries in the hearing aid ran out long ago.

Alan, Luton,

Call in Peter Hain to explain?
i

Austin Tassletine, South West, UK

Those of us who didn't want this folly in the first place were drowned out in 2005 and denied a voice by politicians and the media, nevertheless we'll be sure to be the ones who will have to pay for it.

John Tomlinson, Brentwood, UK

My, my, what a surprise, totally unforseen!

Kevin Sullivan, Roehampton, London

We were lied to (surprise, surprise) with the first costings of the Olympics so this comes as no surprise. We are continually paying for the incompetence and stupidity of this government and it's cronies. No more money for another white elephant.

Kate, Newcastle, England

I think the idea of "awarding" a different country the Olympic Games every 4 years is ridiculous. If you look at the last 7 hosting nations apart from Los Angeles, I can not recognise the benefit they have gained for the massive financial burden building the necessary facilities and infrastructure incurs. A good example of this is Athens, following the conclusion of the Games very little use has been made of the world class E8.954 billion (£6.7bn)facility; surely the health and education departments of Athens could have benefited much more from this money. I think the committee should take the burden away from tendering countries and have it in one location, my suggestion would be Athens as this arguably is the country in which the games was first played (easy choice then!). Same for the World Cup; can South Africa really spare R21 billion (£1.55bn) to build a few foot ball venues?? or could the escalating health and humanitarian issues benefit more??

Steve Williamson, Manchester, UK

It would be naive to imagine that anyone ever thought that land prices in East London could rise by over 16% a year, continuously. This figure was doubtless put in just to make the numbers come out as the promoters of the Olympics wanted. The 16% figure is an example of "Cook's Variable Constant", otherwise known as a "Fudge Factor".

Frank Upton, Solihull,

From the outset the Olympics were badly budgeted and it has becom clear that the only people who will benefit are probably developers. How much more is going to swallowed up in this black hole? The fanciful notions that they would encourage people to take up sport and provide jobs for locals were pie in the sky. And now they're mad keen to bid for a future World Cup - just where is this money coming from? I have yetto meet a single person who wants the Games. The phrase gravy and train spring readily to mind whenever I hear the word Olympics.

carole, London, UK

The management of funding for the olympics doesn't seem to have any harmony to it. No individual or department seems to have a definitive answer on how much these games will actually cost.

On what advice is Ken signing off property price increases?!

Bob Evans, Anaheim, i have to ask if you are a failed athlete because you seem a little cynical and bitter. Athletes get free shorts and vests rather than pampered.

And Felicia, i'm sure that the "contract" made with the rest of the world is on a "reasonable endeavours" rather than "best endeavours" basis in as much as we as a nation aren't bound to pour £ after £ into the Olympic fiscal vortex.

I think the games will be good for the UK, and i just hope the money spent does eventually represent good value, one way or another.

Robin, London,

As a Brit living in Athens who endured the 2004 Olympics welcome to the hurdy-gurdy of Olympic finances. Whatever the original figure was, double it to arrive at a truer estimate of the overall costs of planning, running and completing the Olympic circus. Have you even included the damage caused to the roads at this stage? Through your blogs I forewarned the decision-makers in London that they were buying into a pig in a poke if they accepted the games in 2012. As in Greece it will probably be the next Conservative government which will have to pick up the tab. The socialists in Greece brought the games to Athens but realised at the last minute they couldn't pay for them. They surrendered the 2004 general election when their extant leader - Simitis - resigned just before the election. The winning conservatives had to go to the financial markets and the European Commission to bale them out. Today most of the venues belong to the gypsies. Most Athenians remember the drug antics of 2004!

Dr David Green, Athens, Greece

Please, please, please don't give the olympics any more money! I can't bear to watch!

Rebecca, London,

There has been a black hole in the finances since the bid was first made. Almost as soon as the games were awarded Tessa Jowell stood up in parliament and told the world that VAT hadn't been included, nor had money for security. It all dribbles out, a bit at a time, and shows how incompetent the whole lot were in making the bid in the first place.

David Leslie, Perth, Scotland

Livingstone is a fool: he has the economic competence of a goat. His incompetence and greed have taxed Londoners to the limit, and it would be a tragedy if he were still in office when the Games arrive.

Matt N, London, UK

Though the Olympic Games is a "feather- in- the- cap" for English national pride, the reality is the games belong to the whole world. When England accepted to be the hosts for the games, you in essense gave a promise to the whole world, through your winning proposal, that certain standards and amenities would be provided. Do you not think that a vote from the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats to deny the necessary monies to build the appropriate and necessary sports facilities would be a 'renege' or breach of contract you made to made to the rest of the world?

Felicia Hoffman/US Citizen, Birmingham, UK

It is beginning to appear that the Olympics will be successful where foreigners from the Spanish Armada to Herr Hitler failed. They are about to destroy England unless wiser heads intervene.

The Olympics motto, "Citius, Altius, Fortius", has been relegated to the dustbin, and replaced with spend, spend, spend.

Where once it extolled the virtues of the amateur athlete, it today revolves around money. The money spent on the games, the money to pamper the now professional athletes, and the money to be later earned by the athletes from commercial endoresements.

Bob Evans, Anaheim, California

Jowell and Livingstone. In the real world they couldn't make a living selling Tupperware and here they are in charge of obtaining and dispensing billions of pounds. Oh how the developers must be rubbing their hands with glee.

B. J. Carroll, Hong Kong, China

The only people surprised by this are the people who are directly involved. As for the rest of us, we knew from the outset.
Unfortunately we will ultimately pay and they will be protected in their fat jobs

peter, singapore,

It was a mistake from the begining confirmed early with the silly logo and now even the insiders know

peter, singapore,

This is shaping up nicely. Four years still to run and everyone's long since lost count - think of a phone number and double it. Snouts to the trough, boys!

I blame the appalling Blair.

Pfffill, Shanghai, China