From the BBC:
An elderly couple who refused to pay an Olympics levy on their council tax bill have said they will "unhappily" pay the amount following a court ruling.
Tom and Rita Glenister, from Barnet, north London, had withheld £33.35 of their annual bill for two years.
They said all Britons and not just Londoners should pay towards the Games.
Hendon Magistrates' Court ordered the pensioners to pay £1,091.66, including £66 in arrears and the cost of bringing the case to the court.
Following the ruling former probation officer Mrs Glenister, 74, who represented the couple, said: "That was predictable. They do not like putting pensioners in jail.
"I will unhappily pay this because I do not want it to affect my son in future years."
Addressing the court she said they have paid council tax for 52 years but this is their "first time in a criminal court".
Mr Glenister, a retired civil servant, added: "I support my wife."
Mrs Glenister said: "At the end of the day I have faced Doodlebugs, the Third Reich, and terrorism, but when they say this could affect my son and his estate in future - I did not like that.
"If I had been single and had no hostages to fortune I might be prepared to go all the way to jail.
"We have been screwed and will continue to be screwed. We are an easy target and will continue to be an easy target."
The couple's son Tom, 46, said he was "proud" of his parents as they were "willing to stand up" for their principles.
A spokesman for Barnet Council said: "Part of the council tax is a Greater London Authority-levied precept to contribute towards the 2012 Olympics and this goes directly to the Greater London Authority.
"As the collecting authority, the council takes a strong approach to collecting any unpaid council tax and will use all available means to ensure that residents pay the full amount of council tax for which they are liable."
Monday, 15 September 2008
Job scam dupes foreign workers
Not, this time, a governmental problem. From the Contract Journal:
Hundreds of Eastern European workers have been conned by a scheme which promised them jobs on the London 2012 Olympics site, according to a BBC investigation.
Some 550 Slovakians paid £550 to convicted East London fraudster, Nigel Lewis, who promised them work on the site of the Olympic Village, and accommodation on a cruise ship in Docklands. The jobs advertised were a mix of catering and tradesman positions.
But after the cash was deposited in Lewis's business account, he vanished, and the jobs failed to materialise.
Many of the Slovakians had taken out loans in the hope of securing jobs through Lewis. A Slovak recruitment agent, who dealt with the application, said that Lewis "was very enthusiasatic about the whole idea".
Lewis is reported to have been sentenced to 120 hours community service in 2003 for a similar job scam in Weymouth.
Hundreds of Eastern European workers have been conned by a scheme which promised them jobs on the London 2012 Olympics site, according to a BBC investigation.
Some 550 Slovakians paid £550 to convicted East London fraudster, Nigel Lewis, who promised them work on the site of the Olympic Village, and accommodation on a cruise ship in Docklands. The jobs advertised were a mix of catering and tradesman positions.
But after the cash was deposited in Lewis's business account, he vanished, and the jobs failed to materialise.
Many of the Slovakians had taken out loans in the hope of securing jobs through Lewis. A Slovak recruitment agent, who dealt with the application, said that Lewis "was very enthusiasatic about the whole idea".
Lewis is reported to have been sentenced to 120 hours community service in 2003 for a similar job scam in Weymouth.
Saturday, 13 September 2008
To them that hath...
The Olympic gravy train rumbles on. From the Daily Mail:
The London Olympics were hit by further controversy yesterday after it emerged that Princess Anne is being paid £500 an hour to attend planning meetings.
As a non-executive director and head of the British Olympic Committee, the Queen's daughter - a former Olympian herself - is being paid £1,000 for each two-hour session she attends. Last year she earned a total of £4,000.
Olympic chief Paul Deighton found himself even better off thanks to a £104,000 bonus, according to annual accounts - even though he was the man responsible for commissioning the widely-derided Olympic logo.
The former Goldman Sachs banker, who is worth £110million, received a total of £557,440 as chief executive of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games, known as Locog.
Under a loyalty scheme 51-year-old Mr Deighton is in line for a windfall payment of £300,000 on top of his salary if he remains in the top 2012 job until March next year and a similar payment if he lasts the course until 2012.
Other members of the board came off well with chairman Sebastian Coe pocketing an annual salary of £285,000. Finance director Neil Wood is the third highest earner on £260,000.
Olympic triple jump champion Jonathan Edwards was handed £87,000 for sports consultancy services on top of his £7,000 pay as a board member.
Details of their eye-watering salaries are in marked contrast to Locog's website advertisement for 70,000 public-spirited volunteers to help during the games in four years time to help with everything from spectator services to medical care.
'London 2012 is an opportunity to inspire everyone... [it] will depend on up to 70,000 volunteers to make sure the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games run smoothly and successfully,' it says.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said last night: 'What the Princess Royal does with the payment is a private matter but you should be aware that the princess makes considerable donations to charity every year from a number of sources of income.'
Concern has already been raised at the highest level about the spiralling cost of the games which, it is feared, may reach more than £9.3billion, with taxpayers and Lottery funds carrying the burden.
According to its annual accounts, Locog employs 175 staff on a total wage bill of £11.1million * and has already signed sponsorship deals worth £317million including British Airways, BT, EDF Energy and Adidas.
The accounts also reveal that the committee spent a staggering £20million on the rights to use the Olympic rings in the UK from the British Olympic Association. They are considered a valuable 'intellectual property' which can be sold to help Locog reach its sponsorship target.
---------------------------------
* For those who would like assistance with the maths, this is the equivalent to an average of just under £63,500 per employee....
The London Olympics were hit by further controversy yesterday after it emerged that Princess Anne is being paid £500 an hour to attend planning meetings.
As a non-executive director and head of the British Olympic Committee, the Queen's daughter - a former Olympian herself - is being paid £1,000 for each two-hour session she attends. Last year she earned a total of £4,000.
Olympic chief Paul Deighton found himself even better off thanks to a £104,000 bonus, according to annual accounts - even though he was the man responsible for commissioning the widely-derided Olympic logo.
The former Goldman Sachs banker, who is worth £110million, received a total of £557,440 as chief executive of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games, known as Locog.
Under a loyalty scheme 51-year-old Mr Deighton is in line for a windfall payment of £300,000 on top of his salary if he remains in the top 2012 job until March next year and a similar payment if he lasts the course until 2012.
Other members of the board came off well with chairman Sebastian Coe pocketing an annual salary of £285,000. Finance director Neil Wood is the third highest earner on £260,000.
Olympic triple jump champion Jonathan Edwards was handed £87,000 for sports consultancy services on top of his £7,000 pay as a board member.
Details of their eye-watering salaries are in marked contrast to Locog's website advertisement for 70,000 public-spirited volunteers to help during the games in four years time to help with everything from spectator services to medical care.
'London 2012 is an opportunity to inspire everyone... [it] will depend on up to 70,000 volunteers to make sure the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games run smoothly and successfully,' it says.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said last night: 'What the Princess Royal does with the payment is a private matter but you should be aware that the princess makes considerable donations to charity every year from a number of sources of income.'
Concern has already been raised at the highest level about the spiralling cost of the games which, it is feared, may reach more than £9.3billion, with taxpayers and Lottery funds carrying the burden.
According to its annual accounts, Locog employs 175 staff on a total wage bill of £11.1million * and has already signed sponsorship deals worth £317million including British Airways, BT, EDF Energy and Adidas.
The accounts also reveal that the committee spent a staggering £20million on the rights to use the Olympic rings in the UK from the British Olympic Association. They are considered a valuable 'intellectual property' which can be sold to help Locog reach its sponsorship target.
---------------------------------
* For those who would like assistance with the maths, this is the equivalent to an average of just under £63,500 per employee....
Saturday, 6 September 2008
Athletes cosy up in the Credit Crunch...
I am willing to bet that, despite the contents below, there will not be a reduction in junkets, parties and mutual backslapping by politicians and members of the ODC. This from the Guardian. In particular I draw your attention to the comment of IOC president Jacques Rogge who has made clear London must not fall short of the standards set by Beijing - so we will keep within the £9.73 billion budget, eh, Boris?:
London's 2012 Olympic village has a £250m funding shortfall that will have to be met from public money because the collapse of the housing market has made the project unviable for business, the Guardian has learned.
Plans for the private sector to build more than 3,000 apartments for competitors on the Olympic campus in a £1bn programme have been rocked by the credit crunch, which has made it harder to raise finance, and the slump in property values, which could damage the prospect of recouping money from sales after the games.
Government officials have now admitted they are set to launch a rescue package. "The Olympic Delivery Authority is doing all it can in difficult circumstances, but the property crunch and the credit crunch means we are looking at a funding gap of around £250m for the athletes' village at the moment," a senior government official said.
The emergence of the significant new cost for the 2012 games ends a honeymoon period for London's Olympic organisers after last month's record-breaking medal haul in Beijing. The money will have to be found from the overall £9.3bn of public funding set aside to stage the games, and the Treasury is understood to want most of the £250m to be found through cuts.
Architects have already been ordered to reduce the number of apartments in the village by almost 1,000, which means during the games five athletes will have to share each apartment rather than four. A number of high-rise blocks in the village have been also scrapped.
An announcement detailing the deal with Lend Lease, the property developer, will be made by the end of the year, the official added.
The shortfall is on a par with the £265m of public money invested in Team GB to win 19 gold medals in Beijing.
Olympic organisers insist any cash injection will not add to the overall £9.3bn cost of building the games venues and providing security. They said it will be absorbed either by the £2bn contingency included in the budget or by cuts elsewhere.
But the man charged with building the venues for the London 2012 Olympics on time and on budget remains upbeat after the transforming effect of Beijing on public enthusiasm for the games.
David Higgins, the chief executive of the Olympic Delivery Authority, an Australian who was involved in the build-up to the Sydney Olympics, told the Guardian: "We no longer have to fight the battle of why the games is a good thing and why we are hosting them. Everyone understands what a big deal the games are and how exciting it is to have a successful team."
Higgins declined to comment on the size of the bail-out, but said: "We have a fair idea of how we can fund the village. We are advising the government on various options and we are working with Lend Lease, the banks, the funders and the housing association to look at them."
He added: "We make no bones about it, it is a very difficult market for housing, for property and for east London. Building 3,000 homes in one go is not something that anyone would normally do, let alone in this market."
It represents the latest in a series of Olympic cost increases to be born by the taxpayer. When London won the bid for the event in Singapore in 2005, the overall budget estimate in the bid was £3.4bn, including regeneration costs, but since then the cost of venues has soared.
Higgins said the plans to build a partly permanent media facility which could become offices after the games are under review. The building has an estimated cost of £400m and one option being considered is to make it entirely temporary.
Fencing has already been relocated to the Excel Centre. Plans for equestrianism to be held at Greenwich Park and shooting at the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich are being reconsidered, and the temporary basketball arena could be abandoned and all of the basketball matches held at the Millennium Dome.
Higgins seems happiest with progress on the main stadium and the aquatics centre, the twin centrepieces of the Olympic park. Both have proved more costly than originally hoped. The aquatics centre is budgeted to cost £242m, compared to an original budget of £73m, and the main stadium is on course to cost £496m, compared to £387m at 2012 prices.
"A lot of our people came back and said the games can cope with a lot of temporary [facilities] and it doesn't have to be perfect," said Higgins. "People are quite comfortable going to rock concerts in Hyde Park and expect hoardings, crash fences, plastic barriers and cables everywhere. The same at Wimbledon and Chelsea Flower show. Everyone knows these are temporary events. This has more in common with that than building megastructures that will be there for a generation."
The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, wants to see change out of the £9.3bn, while IOC president Jacques Rogge has made clear London must not fall short of the standards set by Beijing.
Higgins said: "We are positioning our games as a different games, not competing with Beijing. Some of these events only go for three days. Whereas in Beijing you went to see the Bird's Nest or the Water Cube, people will come and be encouraged to experience the games on screens, there will be lots of vegetation and lots of food. It will be like a typical English park."
London's 2012 Olympic village has a £250m funding shortfall that will have to be met from public money because the collapse of the housing market has made the project unviable for business, the Guardian has learned.
Plans for the private sector to build more than 3,000 apartments for competitors on the Olympic campus in a £1bn programme have been rocked by the credit crunch, which has made it harder to raise finance, and the slump in property values, which could damage the prospect of recouping money from sales after the games.
Government officials have now admitted they are set to launch a rescue package. "The Olympic Delivery Authority is doing all it can in difficult circumstances, but the property crunch and the credit crunch means we are looking at a funding gap of around £250m for the athletes' village at the moment," a senior government official said.
The emergence of the significant new cost for the 2012 games ends a honeymoon period for London's Olympic organisers after last month's record-breaking medal haul in Beijing. The money will have to be found from the overall £9.3bn of public funding set aside to stage the games, and the Treasury is understood to want most of the £250m to be found through cuts.
Architects have already been ordered to reduce the number of apartments in the village by almost 1,000, which means during the games five athletes will have to share each apartment rather than four. A number of high-rise blocks in the village have been also scrapped.
An announcement detailing the deal with Lend Lease, the property developer, will be made by the end of the year, the official added.
The shortfall is on a par with the £265m of public money invested in Team GB to win 19 gold medals in Beijing.
Olympic organisers insist any cash injection will not add to the overall £9.3bn cost of building the games venues and providing security. They said it will be absorbed either by the £2bn contingency included in the budget or by cuts elsewhere.
But the man charged with building the venues for the London 2012 Olympics on time and on budget remains upbeat after the transforming effect of Beijing on public enthusiasm for the games.
David Higgins, the chief executive of the Olympic Delivery Authority, an Australian who was involved in the build-up to the Sydney Olympics, told the Guardian: "We no longer have to fight the battle of why the games is a good thing and why we are hosting them. Everyone understands what a big deal the games are and how exciting it is to have a successful team."
Higgins declined to comment on the size of the bail-out, but said: "We have a fair idea of how we can fund the village. We are advising the government on various options and we are working with Lend Lease, the banks, the funders and the housing association to look at them."
He added: "We make no bones about it, it is a very difficult market for housing, for property and for east London. Building 3,000 homes in one go is not something that anyone would normally do, let alone in this market."
It represents the latest in a series of Olympic cost increases to be born by the taxpayer. When London won the bid for the event in Singapore in 2005, the overall budget estimate in the bid was £3.4bn, including regeneration costs, but since then the cost of venues has soared.
Higgins said the plans to build a partly permanent media facility which could become offices after the games are under review. The building has an estimated cost of £400m and one option being considered is to make it entirely temporary.
Fencing has already been relocated to the Excel Centre. Plans for equestrianism to be held at Greenwich Park and shooting at the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich are being reconsidered, and the temporary basketball arena could be abandoned and all of the basketball matches held at the Millennium Dome.
Higgins seems happiest with progress on the main stadium and the aquatics centre, the twin centrepieces of the Olympic park. Both have proved more costly than originally hoped. The aquatics centre is budgeted to cost £242m, compared to an original budget of £73m, and the main stadium is on course to cost £496m, compared to £387m at 2012 prices.
"A lot of our people came back and said the games can cope with a lot of temporary [facilities] and it doesn't have to be perfect," said Higgins. "People are quite comfortable going to rock concerts in Hyde Park and expect hoardings, crash fences, plastic barriers and cables everywhere. The same at Wimbledon and Chelsea Flower show. Everyone knows these are temporary events. This has more in common with that than building megastructures that will be there for a generation."
The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, wants to see change out of the £9.3bn, while IOC president Jacques Rogge has made clear London must not fall short of the standards set by Beijing.
Higgins said: "We are positioning our games as a different games, not competing with Beijing. Some of these events only go for three days. Whereas in Beijing you went to see the Bird's Nest or the Water Cube, people will come and be encouraged to experience the games on screens, there will be lots of vegetation and lots of food. It will be like a typical English park."
So much for the legacy Games!!
So the 2012 Olympic games is going to have a lasting legacy that will be passed on to future generations! This from the Contract Journal this week:
The London Development Agency is considering demolishing the 2012 Olympic stadium once the Games are complete, and building a football stadium in its place.
London Mayor Boris Johnson has become increasingly concerned that no "anchor tenant" has come forward to occupy the venue, according to the Evening Standard.
A spokesman for Johnson said: "Expensive facilities should not be built unless they have a viable future.
"The LDA has been looking at a range of options, but the Mayor... is not aware of any plans to demolish it [the stadium]."
Johnson's advisers are believed to favour building a new football stadium on the site of the stadium after the Olympic Games.
West Ham United would be the obvious football team to occupy the stadium, though their original talks with the 2012 organisers about moving to the venue broke down two years ago. Tottenham Hotspur are also in need of a bigger capacity stadium.
The LDA director charged with finding a legacy for the stadium is Tom Russell, who was a key figure in moving Manchester City into the City of Manchester Stadium after the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
The same publication also pointed out that three other venues will exist only for the two weeks of the Games:
Three Olympic venues could be pulled from London 2012, as concerns mount over the costs of the construction programme.
The Evening Standard reports that accountants KPMG have been appointed by the London Olympics' organisers to review the necessity of building three of the venues. These are: the equestrian venue at Greenwich Park; the shooting venue in Woolwich; and the basketball venue in the main Olympic park.
Tessa Jowell, minister for London 2012, told the Standard: “We have commissioned KPMG to do a report on the equestrian, shooting and basketball venues, looking at whether the Olympic experience and the legacy they will provide represents value for money.
“When you take the costs for these venues, it seems like a lot of money to a lot of people. It is a sort of testing-to-destruction to see whether that spending can be justified.”
The London Development Agency is considering demolishing the 2012 Olympic stadium once the Games are complete, and building a football stadium in its place.
London Mayor Boris Johnson has become increasingly concerned that no "anchor tenant" has come forward to occupy the venue, according to the Evening Standard.
A spokesman for Johnson said: "Expensive facilities should not be built unless they have a viable future.
"The LDA has been looking at a range of options, but the Mayor... is not aware of any plans to demolish it [the stadium]."
Johnson's advisers are believed to favour building a new football stadium on the site of the stadium after the Olympic Games.
West Ham United would be the obvious football team to occupy the stadium, though their original talks with the 2012 organisers about moving to the venue broke down two years ago. Tottenham Hotspur are also in need of a bigger capacity stadium.
The LDA director charged with finding a legacy for the stadium is Tom Russell, who was a key figure in moving Manchester City into the City of Manchester Stadium after the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
The same publication also pointed out that three other venues will exist only for the two weeks of the Games:
Three Olympic venues could be pulled from London 2012, as concerns mount over the costs of the construction programme.
The Evening Standard reports that accountants KPMG have been appointed by the London Olympics' organisers to review the necessity of building three of the venues. These are: the equestrian venue at Greenwich Park; the shooting venue in Woolwich; and the basketball venue in the main Olympic park.
Tessa Jowell, minister for London 2012, told the Standard: “We have commissioned KPMG to do a report on the equestrian, shooting and basketball venues, looking at whether the Olympic experience and the legacy they will provide represents value for money.
“When you take the costs for these venues, it seems like a lot of money to a lot of people. It is a sort of testing-to-destruction to see whether that spending can be justified.”
Saturday, 23 August 2008
Under Budget???
Boris Johnston, London's new mayor, has announced that he wants to bring the 2012 Olympics on line under budget - or at least, fudge the costs in some way so that it appears that way (see quotes from Jack Lemley!)
From the BBC:
Mayor of London Boris Johnson has told the BBC he is "absolutely determined" the 2012 Olympics will cost less than the current £9.3bn budget.
Mr Johnson, who is in China on an official visit to the Beijing Games, said British and London taxpayers would "not pay a penny more".
His team was working on ways of economising without jeopardising the "legacy value" of the event, he added.
But Olympic bosses said London still had to ensure the welfare of athletes.
Asked whether 2012 would be the "austerity games", Mr Johnson conceded that the Chinese had put on "absolutely fantastic games" and that they had "set the bar high".
"I think with British ingenuity, wit and... resourcefulness we are going to produce a games - an opening ceremony, a closing ceremony and all the stuff in between - that is going to be in our own sweet way just as fantastic," he told BBC2's Newsnight.
I am absolutely determined to make sure that we come in under the £9.3bn
The original budget for the London Olympics in 2005 was £3.4bn, but was increased to £9.3bn last year. More than £2bn comes from Lottery funding, more than £1bn from London council tax payers and £6bn from Whitehall.
Mr Johnson said his team was currently economising and "finding ways of moving things around" and that the budget figure had "a couple of billion built in as contingency".
"I am absolutely determined to make sure that we come in under the £9.3bn. I have no reason to think that we will have any difficulty in doing that," he said.
He added: "I will ensure that London taxpayers and indeed British taxpayers do not pay a penny more."
Mr Johnson confirmed that security in 2012 would be a "big spend", but he dismissed a price tag of £1bn, saying he had seen a figure of £600m.
'Wonderful Games'
Mr Johnson also said the loss of three senior officials from his administration in three months would not affect the delivery of the Olympics.
"We are going to have a wonderful games and I can assure you all my team is working very hard to make sure that we protect value for London taxpayers and that people coming to London will enjoy themselves," he said.
Mark Wallace, of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said he welcomed the fact that organisers were being strict with budgets.
"We do need to be firm on this. We can't allow the Olympic Delivery Authority, or whoever else involved with the Games, simply to try and hold taxpayers to ransom."
But Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, said London still had to deliver as well as China with regard to the quality of the Olympic village, venues and transport.
"The Games are for the athletes, the Games are not for London, the Games are not for Great Britain," he added.
But Mr Johnson told BBC News athletes would not be "short-changed" at London 2012.
"They are going to have a fantastic Olympic village in which to spend their time during the Games," he said.
"In the long term, those 3,000 units we are building in east London are going to be a vital part of the legacy we want to see out of the Olympic Games. That's why it would be completely senseless to economise."
He added that the world had been gripped by "Olympo fever" and he is certain London 2012 will be "fantabulous".
Mr Johnson has been defending his decision not to discuss human rights in talks with Chinese authorities during his trip.
He said it would have been "deeply counterproductive" to "showboat" and grab UK headlines at a time when China was opening up to the world.
Instead, the Beijing Games should be used to encourage better understanding between China and the rest of the world, he added.
From the BBC:
Mayor of London Boris Johnson has told the BBC he is "absolutely determined" the 2012 Olympics will cost less than the current £9.3bn budget.
Mr Johnson, who is in China on an official visit to the Beijing Games, said British and London taxpayers would "not pay a penny more".
His team was working on ways of economising without jeopardising the "legacy value" of the event, he added.
But Olympic bosses said London still had to ensure the welfare of athletes.
Asked whether 2012 would be the "austerity games", Mr Johnson conceded that the Chinese had put on "absolutely fantastic games" and that they had "set the bar high".
"I think with British ingenuity, wit and... resourcefulness we are going to produce a games - an opening ceremony, a closing ceremony and all the stuff in between - that is going to be in our own sweet way just as fantastic," he told BBC2's Newsnight.
I am absolutely determined to make sure that we come in under the £9.3bn
The original budget for the London Olympics in 2005 was £3.4bn, but was increased to £9.3bn last year. More than £2bn comes from Lottery funding, more than £1bn from London council tax payers and £6bn from Whitehall.
Mr Johnson said his team was currently economising and "finding ways of moving things around" and that the budget figure had "a couple of billion built in as contingency".
"I am absolutely determined to make sure that we come in under the £9.3bn. I have no reason to think that we will have any difficulty in doing that," he said.
He added: "I will ensure that London taxpayers and indeed British taxpayers do not pay a penny more."
Mr Johnson confirmed that security in 2012 would be a "big spend", but he dismissed a price tag of £1bn, saying he had seen a figure of £600m.
'Wonderful Games'
Mr Johnson also said the loss of three senior officials from his administration in three months would not affect the delivery of the Olympics.
"We are going to have a wonderful games and I can assure you all my team is working very hard to make sure that we protect value for London taxpayers and that people coming to London will enjoy themselves," he said.
Mark Wallace, of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said he welcomed the fact that organisers were being strict with budgets.
"We do need to be firm on this. We can't allow the Olympic Delivery Authority, or whoever else involved with the Games, simply to try and hold taxpayers to ransom."
But Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, said London still had to deliver as well as China with regard to the quality of the Olympic village, venues and transport.
"The Games are for the athletes, the Games are not for London, the Games are not for Great Britain," he added.
But Mr Johnson told BBC News athletes would not be "short-changed" at London 2012.
"They are going to have a fantastic Olympic village in which to spend their time during the Games," he said.
"In the long term, those 3,000 units we are building in east London are going to be a vital part of the legacy we want to see out of the Olympic Games. That's why it would be completely senseless to economise."
He added that the world had been gripped by "Olympo fever" and he is certain London 2012 will be "fantabulous".
Mr Johnson has been defending his decision not to discuss human rights in talks with Chinese authorities during his trip.
He said it would have been "deeply counterproductive" to "showboat" and grab UK headlines at a time when China was opening up to the world.
Instead, the Beijing Games should be used to encourage better understanding between China and the rest of the world, he added.
Tuesday, 12 August 2008
Memories of Greece re-appear
Remember the empty seats at the Greek Olympics? Looks like China is feeling the same effect. Just how can the cost be justified in cases like this? This from the BBC's website today:
Chinese officials have admitted that they are concerned about the lack of spectators at some Olympic events.
They have hired volunteers, dressed in yellow shirts, to fill up empty venues and improve the atmosphere inside.
But Wang Wei, a senior official with the Beijing organising committee (Bocog), said other Olympics had experienced similar problems.
The comments came after spectators and journalists noticed that certain venues were far from full, even though all events are sold out.
Weather?
Speaking at a daily press briefing, Mr Wang said: "We are also concerned about this not full stadium [issue]."
He said a number of factors had contributed to this, including the hot and humid weather in Beijing, as well as the rain.
Mr Wang said some spectators were also only turning up for specific events, even though they had tickets for a whole session.
"For competitions like beach volleyball and basketball, [spectators] have one ticket for the whole afternoon, morning, evening," he explained.
"They may choose to go to one of them, but not all them."
Mr Wang, executive vice-president of Bocog, said local authorities were hiring volunteers to fill empty seats.
In some cases, volunteers have been drafted to fill the gaps
"If they find that there are not enough people, or if they find that there are too many empty seats, they organise some cheerleaders," he said.
These cheer for both sides to "create a good atmosphere", he added.
Although some events are full - such as Sunday's clash between the men's basketball teams from China and the United States - others have been less well attended.
Corporate sponsors
These include sessions of judo, badminton and water polo.
"There were heaps of empties. It's sickening," said one spectator who went to the judo expecting to see a full house.
There were even a number of empty seats at the opening ceremony on Friday.
One reason for less-than-full venues could be that seats allocated to corporate sponsors are not being used.
Many of these tickets are handed out the night before events take place, sometimes too late for those who get them to attend, according to someone with access to these tickets.
Chinese officials have admitted that they are concerned about the lack of spectators at some Olympic events.
They have hired volunteers, dressed in yellow shirts, to fill up empty venues and improve the atmosphere inside.
But Wang Wei, a senior official with the Beijing organising committee (Bocog), said other Olympics had experienced similar problems.
The comments came after spectators and journalists noticed that certain venues were far from full, even though all events are sold out.
Weather?
Speaking at a daily press briefing, Mr Wang said: "We are also concerned about this not full stadium [issue]."
He said a number of factors had contributed to this, including the hot and humid weather in Beijing, as well as the rain.
Mr Wang said some spectators were also only turning up for specific events, even though they had tickets for a whole session.
"For competitions like beach volleyball and basketball, [spectators] have one ticket for the whole afternoon, morning, evening," he explained.
"They may choose to go to one of them, but not all them."
Mr Wang, executive vice-president of Bocog, said local authorities were hiring volunteers to fill empty seats.
In some cases, volunteers have been drafted to fill the gaps
"If they find that there are not enough people, or if they find that there are too many empty seats, they organise some cheerleaders," he said.
These cheer for both sides to "create a good atmosphere", he added.
Although some events are full - such as Sunday's clash between the men's basketball teams from China and the United States - others have been less well attended.
Corporate sponsors
These include sessions of judo, badminton and water polo.
"There were heaps of empties. It's sickening," said one spectator who went to the judo expecting to see a full house.
There were even a number of empty seats at the opening ceremony on Friday.
One reason for less-than-full venues could be that seats allocated to corporate sponsors are not being used.
Many of these tickets are handed out the night before events take place, sometimes too late for those who get them to attend, according to someone with access to these tickets.
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