Why London should win

So busy with work and life in the past couple of weeks that no time to tell you more about what’s happening down in Queenstown. Bear with me, I’ll update soon (but probably see you sooner). With the vote reportedly on a knife edge in Singapore, I want to briefly explain why I think the Olympic Games would be good for London.

When it was first confirmed that London would be submitting a bid for the 2012 games, some friends of mine moaned about the potential and how it would all cost too much money etc. For me this sums up why London should host the games. As Brits we’re often down about ourselves and not proud of who we are. In London, these feelings can be even worse. Compare that with Australians, Americans or even Kiwis, all of whom are proud of their identity. As a city, London needs to strengthen that feeling of communal spirit and the Olympics would be the ideal vehicle for this (as well as a good way to jump-start investment in the transport system).

Earlier in the selection process, London scored relatively lowly on public support relative to other cities. Like the IOC I’ve seen the original surveys rather than the summaries published to the media, and can assure you that from the sample size used, differences were almost within the margin of error and a blunt analysis of the findings would make little allowance for differences in national attitudes, which are considered in most international research projects.

My reason for supporting the bid is simple: make London feel good about itself, and the world feel good about London. It’s a shame that Paris will (still, probably) win.