London 2012

I've carefully sidestepped the whole Olympics thingy in the past few days as a) I think they're fucking boring anyway b) Can't really be bothered. But now they're coming to London. Is it really that good for London? Or is gonna end up in cost overruns, poor ticket sales, unused stadiums, higher taxes?

There's an interesting look at the past experiences some of the other cities have had, in last week's TIME Magazine.

Athens is still a mess, 10 months after the Summer games were held there in 2004. Greece now has a 6% budget deficit, in breach of the European Union's stability pact, and its economic growth is projected to slow from 4.2% in 2004 to 2.8% in 2005. Athens spent about $1.5 billion on security, 12 times its original estimate.

Montreal turned a significant profit on operations alone from its hosting of the 1976 games. But don't try and convince Québécois smokers of that. Capital and infrastructure expenditures — for venues such as the Olympic Village and the stadium — spiraled so out of control that the city had to impose a $2 billion tax on tobacco to get out of its financial hole. To this day, 17¢ out of every pack of cigarettes purchased in Quebec goes to pay for Olympic construction.

There are more examples, but I aint gonna post them all here. You're either gonna have to buy your copy of Time Magazine, or Click Here and read it for free.

This, Meanwhile is for Jacque Chirac who thinks British food sucks.