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.

Research paper into the experiences of small businesses forced to move to make way for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

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.

The 2012 Olympics are working their magic and bringing people together - in frustration! East London rings to cries of 'Betrayal!' and 'Civil Unrest'!

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:

High Street 2012 is an initiative that will use the 2012 Games as a catalyst for improvements to the A11/A118 corridor through the centre of Tower Hamlets (taking in Whitechapel High Street, Whitechapel Road, Mile End Road and Bow Road) and on into Stratford in Newham. See also: Stratford High Street public realm improvements

.: © Martin Slavin

Recent Freedom of Information responses from 2012 Olympics 'host boroughs' confirm the suspicion that local council funds and resources are being diverted into Olympics matters in ways that are not easily identifiable or accounted for. The lack of transparency and thorough accounting procedures make it almost impossible to calculate how much council tax payers are contributing to the 2012 Olympics as a whole, over and above the highly publicised £9.3billion budget.