By Paul Charman and Mike Wells

After spending hundreds of millions of tax payers’ money on a high profile ‘clean-up’, it has become clear that the 2012 Olympic Park actually remains classified as a contaminated brownfield site.

Holding the Equestrian Olympics in Greenwich Park is a bad idea, and it may never have got off the ground if the bid company: a) had not over-estimated the size of the Park; b) had carried out rudimentary environmental research; and c) had done a cost-benefit analysis against comparative sites.

Having won the bid, the organiser, LOCOG, is determined to go through with its plans despite the problems posed by holding such a major event in a fragile World Heritage Site. Its determination is rooted in the fact that equestrian is in decline; an iconic setting in an urban location might help to promote it, and the International Equestrian Federation has made it clear that, if Greenwich Park is not used, then the prospects for the sport in future Olympics are in peril. Hence the pressure to take risks.

While traveling to Vancouver, Canada to speak at the Vancouver Public Library at a benefit for community radio stations, Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and her two colleagues were detained by Canadian authorities. The armed interrogators were particularly interested in whether she would be speaking about the upcoming Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. Amy was questioned extensively about the speech she intended to give; their car was gone through by armed border guards, and their papers and laptop computers were scoured.

2010 Olympic Torch Relay Starts Off Disgraced, Delayed, and Disrupted

Protesting the Corporate Five Ring Circus seizure of public assets

Tom Tresser - (Tom is an educator, organizer and consultant in Chicago's creative community.)

[ Note -- I was one of the three No Games Chicago delegates who travelled to Copenhagen last week to deliver materials and messages to the members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC)]

Olympic contractor tests a soil sample for radiation with a Geiger counter. Photo © Mike Wells

A document obtained from an undisclosed source reveals that hazardous radioactive waste was excavated and moved within the London Olympic Park before official permission was granted.