By Mike Wells, posted 16th February 2012, edited 17th Feb 2012

For security reasons there will be no commercial flights within 18 miles of the Olympic stadium for the duration of the Games. This will mean that VIPs and heads of state will not be able to use their preferred mode of transport - the helicopter - they will have to slum it with the rest of us on the roads.

Via Twitter in a convo with @NOGOE2012:

@jennifermjones: This is a legacy chart from the DCMS evaluation document for legacy of London 2012? #wtf: http://yfrog.com/h3ye9yp

Department for Culture, Media and Sport
London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games Impacts and Legacy Evaluation Framework Final Report, 2009

Oh the humiliation! The market rules. The royal name, 'Queen Elizabeth', is just another brand. Before it could be used to re-brand the Olympic Park it had to be 'market-tested' with possible investors, local boroughs and businesses.

Updated Background Papers are now available at http://www.gamesmonitor.org.uk/media_centre

Background Paper 1 - Impact (PDF) 170.23 KB

By Mike Wells

Security precautions for London 2012 include the construction of a 17.5 km, 5,000volt electric fence, topped with 900 daylight and night vision surveillance cameras spaced at 50 metre intervals. On first sight of the fence you could be forgiven for thinking you had slipped through a wormhole in the space-time continuum to find yourself on the perimeter of a Soviet era Gulag.

Conclusions and Recommendations of the House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee Report 22 April 2008

1. Foreseeable requirements for public sector funding were excluded from the estimates at the time of the bid to host the Games, giving an unrealistic picture of the expected costs. Contrary to good practice, the Department [of Culture Media and Sport] did not include programme contingency, now £2.7 billion, because the scale and complexity of the undertaking were not appreciated at the time of the bid. The costs of tax and security, now estimated at over £1.4 billion, were also excluded from the estimates as they were uncertain. Yet £738 million of funding from the private sector was included, despite not being supported by robust analysis. All costs and revenues should have been included from the outset, with the uncertainties explained and a contingency provided.
   
   

Almost three out of four people believe the 2012 Olympics will bring no real benefit to their area, a survey finds.

In London, host city of the Olympics, six out of 10 people said there was nothing really in the Games for them, the survey for BBC's Inside Out found.