Do As We Say, Not Do

Calls for an “austerity Olympics” will be ignored by the Government as the 2012 Games could help keep Britain out of recession, says the Culture Secretary.

Jeremy Hunt believes that hosting the Games is an “incredible stroke of luck” during the global economic crisis as it will provide a “huge plus sign” for the struggling British economy.  He also says demonstrators will be tolerated as long as their protests are legitimate and lawful.

Ministers have faced calls to pare back expenditure on the Games at a time when thousands of people are losing their jobs, public services are being cut and taxes are rising, but in an interview in TTel, he says voters will never forgive the Government if it does not “make the most” of an unprecedented opportunity.  He said:

“You can take two attitudes to the Olympics.  You can say: these are times of austerity and therefore we should pare them down as much as possible. Or, you can say: because these are times of austerity we need to do everything we possibly can to harness the opportunity of the Olympics.

We’re going to be the centre of global attention and it will be the first time that we’ve had a major sporting event that’s watched live by half the world’s population. People would not forgive us if we didn’t make the absolute most of this moment.  This is going to be an incredible expression of Britain’s culture, Britain’s history and Britain’s creativity. So, we decided that the sensible thing to do is to make sure that we finance it properly.” 

Whatever.  I'm just glad to be well away from this circus.