Is it just me who has no interest in whether London gets to host the Olympics or not? I cannot see the point behind London hosting it at all... surely there are better areas in the UK in which to build a massive new stadium and various rail and road links? I gather a fortune has been spent already and construction is already underway for shuttle routes to the Olympic Village?

infact, for me, I'd rather go to Paris.

Bah Humbug Chloe :)

I just can't see how it will work in London.  Let's face it it's chaotic to travel one side of London to another as it is, can you imagine if we had the olympics there, it would be qucker to run to the other site than be transported there!!

Have to say the Commonwealth games did us well here in Manchester and it's helped build business, but we have a lot more greenland here I would think that was suitable to be built on and has been built on than they have in London.  It seems a waste that all that was built for one event and that they can't have more similar competitions here.  Then of course you've got the stadium in Cardiff, maybe it would have been good in Wales, failry central and easier for everyone to get to than London!!

I think London needs the extra visitors, traffic etc like a hole in the head - not that I'm a sport fan anyway but I hate to think of all the competition on shopping expeditions :D  Besides, outdoor sports are surely better held in a country where there's a chance of a few dry days in a row rather than 30 minutes about twice a week :rolleyes:

Teri ;)

Quite agree - not intetested in having the Olympics here - let the French fork out for it - after all they're only 2 hours away on Eurostar :D !!

Yvonne

I'm definitely not keen on having the Olympics here - will cost far too much.  It iritates me when people like Sebastian Coe assume that it's what everyone in Britain wants.  I think someone should spearhead a 'No thank you' campaign :)

That's one I would support - I heard that Greece are still "paying" (and that's the people of Greece....) for their last olympics, so I personally don't want it here.  We're taxed enough in this flipping country thank you very much :(

Its just reminiscent of another Dome saga - the govt decides what we all need to have...in London...and what they should be spending our money on! Whilst I think it would be exciting to host the Olympics, why London? And why no vote on whether the public support it?? I know why - cos it would be a NO!!

Apparently, Ken Livingstone claimed it would only cost each person the price of a chocolate bar (he did say which one, Mars Bar or Snickers/similar, but I can't remember which one) - personally I think he's full of sh*t :( - it looks to me to be just a ANOTHER money making scheme - the public will be penalised long after the debt has been repaid.....

Vicki
I seem to remember Ken Livingstone saying something like that cost being added to our council tax bill (London boroughs only) - if that's so, then it was a B***** expensive chocolate bar :o

I always think that the Games should be held in a country where good weather can be guaranteed (never 100% I know). Can you imagine weeks of wet Olympics ?!......ok for the synchronized swimming though, mmmm exciting !!.
(aplologies to synchronizes swimmers, you are very clever).

Val

The Olympic bid is backed by the government(if they didn't it would never have got pass the first round) but they do not underwrite it nor did they intiate it, it is London that has applied & has to raise the money, get sponsors etc not the government.

I realize 90+% of the people on this board are anti the government but this bid is not down to them

I would love to see the Olympics further North but if you look at all the other bids(USA excepted)they are from capital cities & outside of the USA I doubt any non capital city would have the chance

At least here in the UK there would not be mass killing by shooting & poisoning of stray dogs & cats as happened in Greece

>>At least here in the UK there would not be mass killing by shooting & poisoning of stray dogs & cats as happened in Greece

no but there might be a mass killing of all the homeless people in the shop doorways ;) VERY tic

Wow, I'm surprised! Thought more people would be behind it! I for one would love the opportunity to go to one of the biggest sporting events in my own country! A little rain never hurt any one and us Brits know how to party! what a fantastic event it would be! And all the new stadiums, transport links etc... will still be there when the olympics ends, benifitting many athletes and others for years to come. Think positive!!!! France hosted the World cup a few years ago, it's our turn to host a big event... let's show them how it can be done!!!!

I think that it would be great to be in the UK, but London, definitely not!!!!  God, can you imagine the motorways around London if we had the olympics, it would gridlock the M6 and all of the other motorways that pass by it.  It would be a total nightmare and would inevitably affect the whole country!!

I agree, the nearest town to me is a commuter town 70 miles from London the traffic / trains to London are bad enough at rush hour without the added weight of people going to the olympics.  It would be good to be in England though - just not London :)

London? M6?

lol JG - the M6 is miles away - do you mean the M25?

I'm with you Joules One of the reasons Manchester was turned down was that it was not the capital of the UK

Actually it would not grid lock the M25 or M6 & not all the venues would be in inner London. The benefits would not only be towards Athletics as the Olympics isn't just about track & field, but there would be temporary swimming pools that would be take down after the games & put into communities elsewhere where they are needed.

I was listening to an in depth discussion about the bid & the all the planning that has gone into it

London has the hotel capacity & places like the Dome to be used for the Gymnastics & a new Velodrome for cycling to make two state of the Art facilities in the UK(one of the reasons we are producing top flight cyclists already)

Unlike Athens post Olympic planning has also been done & looks impressive

We should be supporting London 2012 bid, not decrying it

Exactly Moonmaiden! Loads of events will be spread out around the UK. And as far as transport is concerned, perhaps it will make the improvements to our public transportation actually happen!! London has its down sides, we all know that, but it is also steeped with history and full of tourist attractions that will only add to the success of the games. Ok Manchester did a great job of hosting the Commonwealth games, and I'm not disputing that. But so would Birmingham, or Cardiff or any city that was developed specificaly with the games in mind. London is our Capital and transport links to London are there already, they just need improving. If I'm totaly honest, I wouldn't mind where the games were held in this country as long as I get to go!!! but of course they have to pick somewhere to host them and London is a very good choice!

Can I just ask all those people who dont think the Olympics is a good idea in London.

How many of you actually LIVE in London?????

I live close enough to London for it to affect me, I also have an OH who works in London and he moans enough now about the trains / traffic ............. please no, I couldnt handle the weeks of moaning :(

I don't, but I have had the misfortune of working out of London and still have to travel into London now.

I live in Kent and travel into London Charing Cross every day!

The Olympics coming to London and the changes that will be made to the transport system will be better in the long run!
I lived in Victoria for 24 years and the change already in the transport system is substantial, what with congestion charging etc it is now so much easier to get about.

Ok the certain lines on the tubes are still cr*p but they are getting there!

If, by using the funding resulting from Olympic 2012, the infrastructure is improved - then I'm for the Olympics bid!

I see that the MRT (Mass Rail Transit) bods from Hong Kong & Singapore are being called in by Ken Livingstone in an attempt to upgrade the underground system - I've seen how this system works, in Hong Kong & Singapore (and also in Tokyo) - and the improvement in transport is immense!

I travel into London on what used to be known as the Misery Line (Fenchurch St-Southend) - we have new trains, train staff have new uniforms - but when anything starts to go wrong, they then pull off their heads & go into headless-chicken mode :(

Its the mentality of those operating/improving systems that needs to change - we need a "Can-do" mentality instead of an "Ooh-err -not my fault" way of thinking!

Margot

I am with you on what you have said Margot :) It is the only way our extremely old and tired transport system in London will be up graded in the near future :)

I also think it will promote and encourage our lazy kids to get up from their PC games and watching the telly and start to do some sport :)

I think we will have a 'slightly' different in approach to make it work.

It is about time GB flew it's flag and showed the world what we can do :)

Lucy
xx

I'd support the olympics if it were self financing, as to the arguement that it would bring in a vast amount of money in to the country, who precisely would see that money, apart from a select few business's on the gravy train, and the odd small business lucky to pick up some passing trade.

I don't think living in London or not is relevant since we'd all be paying for it as taxpayers anyway. It seems to me that the taxpayer maybe expected to foot a substantial part of the costs with out getting anything back, those in and around London would benefit from the new facilities but those of us living many miles form London would never get any benefit.

I don't live in London but have worked there, and I can't imagine why anyone would want the extra upheavel and delays the olympics would generate.

Put the money in to getting things right  round the country before wasting it on flashy affairs with limited appeal to the majority of people.

I was fascinated to see that in Dorset almost every shop had a poster supporting it. Here in Bedfordshire I have hardly heard it mentioned. Perhaps thats because the M1 wont be widened in time!

Up here in Manchester I didn't notice any disturbance to travel/roads etc, the area around the stadium was cleaned up, empty houses/buildings knocked down except 1 sandwich shop which refused to go (looks a bit lonely/riduculous now). All in all the area looks better for it except for one thing - they erected the most awful monstrocity you can imagine, apparantly this was supposed to represent...?? So we managed to cope quite well with - but then I don't live on top of it.

I don't think I like the expense of it all. We contributed to Athens when they had a shortfall paying for the olympics, will we get financial help too? (I'll exclude France and Germany now then shall I?)