Boris Johnson yet to get to grips with Olympics cost overruns

Boris Johnson, a yellow-haired clown, was elected mayor of London in May this year.

Johnson appeared on the Today radio programme today and made clear he had not even seen the memorandum of understanding which identifies whether London council taxpayers or others will be have to fork out for additional cost overruns for the Olympic Games.

Perhaps when he gets back to his desk he will figure out it's out time he asked someone to get a copy and then ask someone else to tell him what it means.

Johnson will be in a position to tell Londoners what his predecessor has dumped on them. But why didn't he prepare properly for his interview in the first place?

Another report has highlighted a new litany of excuses for new cost overruns.

The credit crunch is likely to raise the cost of the London 2012 Olympics, a Mayor of London report said on Wednesday.

The "banking crisis" and falling house prices will have serious implications for the Olympic Village development in Stratford resulting in more public money being spent, the report written by David Ross said.

"There is no doubt that the recent changes to the economic environment and illiquidity in the banking system will add significant pressure to aspects of the project," the report said.

"This will impact on sale values, availability of private finance, appetite for sponsorship opportunities and tenant demand for space in legacy developments.

"Significant additional public sector funding is likely to be required to deliver the project."

But the report said the quality of the village should not be put at risk. Someone will be found to pay for everything whatever the cost.

Farcical London Olympics

It will no doubt be the tax payer and the London Council Tax payers who will bear the brunt of this massive under estimation. Livingstone's statement that local council tax payers won't have to bear the brunt of the costs is not worth the paper it is supposed to be written on. That oaf would not know a fact if it bit him in the arse...Perhaps it is time to look at the possibility of withdrawing and letting somebody else bankrupt themselves rather than fudging things and making us even more of a laughing stock.

It has always been a bone of contention that Coe has said that the Olympics will benefit everybody but has never actually explained how. This has all the look af leaving Londoners paying for this white elephant for many years to come as happened to Montreal where it took 20 years to finally clear the debt.

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