It’s London! The IOC has chosen London as the venue for the 2012 Olympic Games, pipping the favourite Paris to the post by a mere 4 votes. On the one hand, I’m delighted that London won, because clearly the effort that has been put in by Sebastian Coe and the candidature team has been outstanding. I’m also delighted that Chirac’s day has been ruined, given his recent tirade against all things British. On the other hand, this is yet another case of London gets it all while the regions lose out. London got the Millennium Dome (on reflection, they’re welcome to it), the national football stadium, and now the Olympics. A city like Birmingham, with its superb communication routes, could have been a candidate. All too often the second city loses out to London.
In Scotland, the G8 summit is underway, and, surprise, surprise, the anarchists are out again breaking anything they can. When Bob Geldof called for a march on Gleneagles the other week, I thought the guy had lost it – previous G8 summits have witnessed anarchists and sheer bloody-minded criminals out on a smash-fest; to invite thousands of people along seemed like lunacy, even if his intentions were extremely well-founded. Still, I suppose he means well. At least the Live 8 concerts last week seem to have raised the game a little (and the album sales of the participants).
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