So tight is the deadline that the president appears to have concluded that only his personal presence can rescue an Olympics which, at a cost of £32?billion, is already almost four times as expensive as London’s summer games.
More than half of this eye-watering sum has been stolen by corrupt officials and their cronies, according to one deeply troubling report.
We all know that contractors working to strict deadlines will force the price up. Add in Russian levels of corruption and…..
It really wouldn\’t surprise me if this is the first games where they\’re not actually ready on time.
Ah, but if they’re caught… not for corruption, but for embarrassing Putin. The penalties for that don’t bear thinking about.
It’s be ready for one value of the word “ready”, that adopted by the IOC and toadying journalists from outfits like the BBC.
Quite. The media story will undoubtedly be that despite the chaotic preparations, everything has pulled together and gone off fine when the games actually arrive.
Did last year’s celebration of all things running and jumping only cost
Eight billion quid?
Bloody discus!
Of course it didn’t.
We will never know how much it actually cost, however.
I said when it was announced that London had ‘won’ the bid that it would cost £20 billion by the time all was said and done. I see no reason to alter my opinion.
I think it would be hilarious if that disgusting thug Putin was made to look like a chump, but as Matthew says, any subordinates involved in such a debacle are in for a bad time.