EXPERTS are being urged to apply for membership of a new, independent panel aimed at ensuring the legacy of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Specialists with experience of a major construction project or public event, and with social, environmental, and economic backgrounds are needed to form the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012.

A material difference may be observed in the games of antiquity: the most eminent of the Greeks were actors, the Romans were merely spectators.

The Olympic stadium was open to wealth, merit, and ambition; and if the candidates could depend on their personal skill and activity, they might pursue the footsteps of Diomede and Menelaus, and conduct their own horses in the rapid career.

THE government was rightly lambasted last week by a parliamentary committee for its mismanagement of the 2012 London Olympic finances since winning the games in July 2005. But the Eye has discovered that even as the crowds were erupting in Trafalgar Square two summers ago, the government knew the real costs bore no relation to those set out earlier that day in Lord Coe's decisive presentation to the International Olympic Committee.

‘London Councils’ has been firmly behind the bid for the games and is working with the Olympic Delivery Authority and the Game's organising committee to ensure that they leave a positive legacy benefiting every Londoner.

Ken Livingstone has denied the 2012 Olympics finances are in chaos - as he contradicted what Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell told MPs on Tuesday. "Nothing is a mess, everything is going exactly according to plan," he said.

The cost of the 2012 Olympic Games rose again as Tessa Jowell admitted yesterday that the budget for the Olympic Park had jumped by 40 per cent.

The Culture Secretary also disclosed that the Government was paying £400 million to a consortium to manage the project and ensure that the Games came in on budget and on time. The new core budget for the construction of the Olympic Park in East London had risen £900 million from £2.375 billion to £3.3 billion, Ms Jowell told MPs.

Public support for the 2012 Olympics is in danger of draining away because costs are likely to reach an astonishing £8 billion, according to a devastating report by members of the London Assembly.

Campaigning lobby Rail Future have welcomed the 2005 Transport Select Committee's recognition that proposals must "fit into an integrated, long term transport plan" and leave a "legacy appropriate to the (ongoing) needs of [e]ast London". However, they query the extent to which the Government has agreed to fund basic improvements to the rail network in London.