The National Audit Office is unhappy that a final budget for the Olympic Games has still not been set.
Surely the NAO should know better by now. Judging from the way the Olympics project has been going, a final budget would not guarantee anything approaching certainty. Even if such a budget were set, it would only be exceeded. Not to be too cynical, but it appears to me that its only purpose would be to indicate the minimum level of spending. The only way is up.
January 31st, 2007 at 6:55 pm
It has been painfully obvious from that start that it would be a financial fiasco that would put the Sheffield Student Games and the Greenwich Tent to shame.
January 31st, 2007 at 8:02 pm
I suppose our glorious leader hoped bringing the Olympics to Britain would bring him some credit- though how it would reflect on him, God only knows.
I am sure it will end up being the sort of poorly planned, over budget race to get it ready in time farce we seem to do in style these days.
February 1st, 2007 at 9:48 am
These budgets mean no more than politians promises. They bear no relation to what will happen. They communicate only what the writer wants the target audience to think at that time.
Bids for government contracts are even worse. They are not even supposed to be believed by the party putting out the works for tender. They are just to assist the government to look when presenting the contract to the public. (Though the government never says at the time that
we will pay when it goes 800% over budget.)
February 1st, 2007 at 11:48 am
Quite right Onyx. Im my view the whole things a farce.
Why does this country even need the Olympics? If we were serious about sport the country wouldn’t have lost 34000 playing fields under this and the previous Conservative administration. But of course, employment for foreign shelf-stackers at Tesco’s is more important thanh the health and fitness of our youngsters.