Lottery The Loser In Olympic 2012 Money Marathon

ALMOST two years have passed since London was awarded the 2012 Olympics.

How has-been athletes, the construction industry and London mayor Ken Livingstone all rejoiced over the, apparently, momentous decision.

However, with the cost of hosting the event continuing to rocket, the heads of lottery-funded voluntary bodies have joined leading names in the arts world in demanding that the plundering of lottery money for the Olympics be investigated.

Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell’s recent decision to siphon off another £675m of lottery money from the arts, sports, heritage and good causes means that, so far, a whopping £2. billion of lottery funds has been diverted to pay for the Games.

Tim Lamb, chief executive of the Central Council for Physical Recreation, says: “If there is to be a real legacy of increasing participation in sport, it seems ironic, if not perverse, for money to be taken away from community sport to fund the Olympics”

Jowell is adamant, however, that her decision was the right one, “This isn’t about taking money from the lottery to build a new Trident. This is money from the existing good causes to an exceptional once-in-a-lifetime good cause.”

Taking lottery money to use for the arms trade? Why didn’t New Labour think of that one before they started blowing things up in Iraq?

Anorak

Posted: 24th, April 2007 | In: Back pages Comments (2) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink