SebCoLtd and the IOC's Denis Oswald took a stroll along Brick Lane as part of further attempts to pacify Tower Hamlets after the marathon was rerouted to Buck House. Tower Hamlets' reward? To be proclaimed London's 2012 Curry Capital.

The European Tour Operators Association gets it right again. After multiple attempts to warn the various Olympic hype merchants that there would be no tourism benefits from the London Olympics its predictions of an actual decline in tourism are coming true. Among those taken in by the hype are hotels which have been jacking up their prices in expectation of a visitor bonanza. This has only added to the developing disaster and brought BoJo out in hives as he warns of 'repercussions for years to come' if London gets it wrong.

So, turns out it's not just the 2012 Host Borough of Hackney that bans books (well more specifically bans the launch event of an Olympics critical author from one of its public libraries).

The saga of the Stadium's non-legacy rumbles on.

Ken has waded in claiming waste of public money and horrendous environmental consequences should Tottenham succeed with their bid entailing the demolition of the currently under-construction stadium and it's replacement with something more suitable to the needs of Premiership football. So it appears poor old West Ham are still highly likely to be saddled with that "fundamentally flawed" Olympic Stadium according to coverage by Paul Norman and Amanda Baillieu in Building Design.

Money talks. The East End managed to scrape together £10million to brush up its High Street for the 2012 marathon. Now the West End shows what really pulls in the likes of SebCo and his corporate buddies at Locog with a £1billion scrub up. Meanwhile threats of East End legal action have fizzled out as Tower Hamlets finally accepts its position at the back of the field.

Cheap tickets for kids from the host boroughs? You betcha!
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Alternatively, in the words of Greenwich's 'Great Leader':

Greenwich Council has accused LOCOG of making “secret deals” to price out thousands of youngsters from the host boroughs from watching the sports.

Lots in the blogosphere on Coe&Co having chosen to re-route the marathon away from East London.

This comment on Diamond Geezer is really quite touching:

The disinformation continues:
According to the blurb Bob Allies, Allies & Morrison, Games and legacy masterplanners; Stephen Bayley, architecture and design writer for the The Times, author of Labour Camp; Ricky Burdett, Centennial Professor of Architecture and Urbanism, LSE and advisor to the Olympic Park Legacy Company; Tony Hall, director of Cultural Olympiad and chief executive of the Royal Opera House and Alison Nimmo, Director of Design and Regeneration, Olympic Development Authority will be discussing that "largest new urban park in Europe for over 150 years" at London and the Olympics: Predicting the legacy of the 21st century, in one of BoJo's Story of London gigs at the British Library?

In 2005, when London won the 2012 Olympics, Seb Coe of Locog Ltd wrote "The London 2012 Games will provide a unique opportunity for businesses of all shapes and sizes across the UK, providing essential goods and services for this historic event." Unsurprisingly, as with most Olympic promises, the reality has turned out to be somewhat different.

Following the appointment of Olympic budget masseuse Tessa Jowell to the 2012 Games Board two Liberal Democrats have joined her. It had been suggested there was a competition between Don Foster and Ming Campbell for just one place but it looks like another seat has been added to the table.