Abstract
‘So scrap your cost-benefit calculations, for fear of red ink. Legacy-babble is nothing but desperate rationalisation, secret guilt about a grandiose event we couldn't really afford but have vastly enjoyed, staged for a society that in its heart knows the legacy that this generation is leaving: debt, procrastination and environmental destruction.’
Matthew Parris, The Times
‘In a free country, there is no obvious connection between sporting achievement and national standing. The truth is that we have used scarce money to hire coaches, buy equipment and subsidise athletes in sports where competition is weak. When all this is over, we will still be broke, disorderly, badly educated and gravely troubled by the greatest wave of mass immigration in our history.’
Peter Hitchens, Mail on Sunday
‘My hope is that, when I get my city back next month, London can avoid what every other Olympic city has suffered, which is an almighty hangover. Sydney cried: “Where the hell are you?” Athens went bankrupt. What I find mystifying is why the Government pretended, against all the evidence, that the Olympics were not just about sport but about making money, when such promises were bound to lead to even more money being lost.’
Simon Jenkins, Evening Standard
