Alice Miles has a simply brilliant piece on the obscenely expensive farce that is, already, the 2012 Olympics. Do read every word of it. And recoil in horror at the financial scandal unfolding before our eyes. We're almost six years away, and already the budget has soared out of control. God alone knows what the bill will be by 2012.

This is the most significant paragraph:

It is criminal to spend so much public money on such idiocy. I asked the International Olympic Committee yesterday what the penalty would be for walking away now. Would Britain be sent to the international version of Coventry, perhaps? The contract signed with the IOC stipulates that we would have to “indemnify” the IOC if we pulled out. Indemnify it for what? It hasn’t cost them anything.

It's still not too late to pull out. Yes, some contacts may have been signed within the UK and there will be money due under those. But not the £8 billion pounds or more that we are going to have to spend so some athletes can run round in a circle. It really is obscene. Other than some internal contracts, the cost of pulling out will be close to zero.

Now is the time to start a campaign to pull out of these wretched games. It's not too late. To that end, I have submitted the following petition to the Number Ten site for approval:

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to withdraw from our agreement with the IOC to stage the Olympic Games in London 2012, before it is too late to prevent the waste of billions of pounds.

— Stephen Pollard

Deadline to sign up by: 22 May 2007

More details:

The cost of the Olympics has already spiralled out of control - and we are not even within 5 years of the games being held. It is clear that the eventual costs will be far in excess even of the most supposedly over the top estimates. It is not too late to pull out. We must act now to save ourselves from an obscene waste of money.

I'll let you know if - hopefully when - it's approved.

(10)

And so it begins:

OLYMPIC COSTS SET TO DOUBLE

(Sorry for the prolonged absences - I am overwhelmed with work at the moment. I'll be back posting regularly asap.)