You won't feel the benefit.

According to a BBC poll, 3 out of 4 people do not believe the Olympics will bring any benefit. Even 6 out of 10 Londoners doubt that there is anything to be gained from them being held in their city.

The first thing that strikes me about this poll is that anyone expected the results to be otherwise. There is no doubt that the Olympics is a massive sporting spectacle, but the vast majority will watch it on their television and you can do that whether it is being held in Peking or Peterborough - but a benefit? No - the Olympics have long been known to be a financial drag on any city that has hosted them for the last 20-30 years or more. They cost an awful lot of money to stage and Britain (or London) will not recoup the costs any time soon - if at all.

Forget all the bullshit about "regeneration" as well. I've no doubt it will regenerate a small area to a small degree for a short time, but, to be frank, pumping several billions of pounds into a small area tends to have that effect anyway whether it's for an Olympic games or the World Tiddlywinks Championships.

I had to laugh at the response of Tessa Jowell, the "Olympics" minister (ludicrous title for a ludicrous post).

We're not idiots here. We have actually given more thought and careful planning than any other city has ever done before, in making sure that people all round the country have a part in the Games and benefit from the Games.

Yeah, right! Like the careful thought and planning that went into downgrading cannabis, 24 hour drinking, mega casinos and countless other "ideas" of this morally bankrupt and inept government. I won't bother picking that statement apart as its flaws are patently clear, but the point of my post is this ....

..... the point of staging the Olympic games is not to benefit the nation or the people or the city - it is to benefit the government. In China the benefit to the government is to improve its international image. In Britain the benefit to government is to boost the "feel good" factor prior to elections - that is why they do it.

The government of Britain gave up on the notion of doing things for its people a long long time ago. Government no longer serves the people, it serves itself and everything they do is for one purpose and one purpose only - maintaining the position of the ruling class.