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.

Now it's Delhi's turn to discover that tourism does not prosper at mega events. Travel agents report cancellations of almost 50%.

Apparently the reason the 2012 Olympic marathon will not be run in East London is because East London's roads will be needed to get the Olympic family to the Games on time in East London, where, of course, they will not get to see the marathon and will, therefore, probably choose to stay in Central London!

Looking at some recent stories in the Indian news media about the construction of the Commonwealth Games facilities it is apparent that the 'same old same old' influences of privatisation, poor institutional oversight, greed, corruption and the brutal exploitation of the vulnerable poor labouring on the project have been clearly highlighted for some time.

The European Tour Operators Association has warned that the London Olympics may well turn out to be toxic to tourism in the UK. The ETOA's latest report says: "The problem is not restricted to the host city. London is the gateway to the UK and its biggest draw. If you remove London from a visit to the British Isles, everywhere else becomes far more difficult to sell. Athens has nothing like the central importance that London occupies, yet when its visitor arrivals dropped by 6% in the Olympic year, regional Greece fell by 11%."

VisitBritain has finally admitted that tourist numbers will fall during the Olympics. VisitBritain Chairman Christopher Rodrigues said: "To maintain visitor numbers across the year would be a quite extraordinary achievement; we are seeking to do just that but I am pragmatic enough to know it would be difficult.' Claims of tourism benefits from the Olympics are now replaced by vague assertions of long term gains although these are not borne out by research by the European Tourism Operators Association.

Mayor BoJo plans to spend £32million on dressing up the centre of London around 'iconic' Trafalgar Square for the Olympics even though the Games are actually happening several miles away to the east. As has already been noted East London just isn't iconic enough. This culturally vital project includes covering a large area around Trafalgar Square with flags, inflatable boxers and an arch over the Westway in the shape of a high jumper. A zip wire will take people eye to eye with iconic Nelson atop his pillar. Well, if they can put up a 115 metres tall leaning sculpture on the Olympic Park and a cable car over the Thames why not a zip wire over Trafalgar Square?

CABE has sent the already iconic Kapoorbit back to the drawing board. The design has some 'mundane' flaws in its entrance pavilion, viewing platforms, lift and stairs. CABE fears that "Without these details being submitted as part of the planning submission, we, and the planning authority, are being asked to take on trust that they will be elegantly resolved."

On the Newsgroup Charlie points out it's last chance to object to the Planning Application (application ref 10/90250/FULODA ) for the 'Snorbit'

Over the weekend plans were announced in the media for a cable car crossing the Thames between the 2012 venues The Dome and Excel Centre, perhaps in time for 2012. But it seems this isn't an entirely new brainwave from Bojo and his chums.