NYC and Paris are also competing for this. I think the leaders in NYC are nuts, and I hope Paris gets it.

Likewise I hope that Paris gets it but it seems to be having its own problems regarding its Olympic bid, still it beats having a complete tosser like Ken Livingstone in charge of your bid. Personally I think Baghdad should host the 2012 Olympics, that would so totally stick one in the eye of the disgusting Saudis and Al Queda.

"...a complete tosser like Ken Livingstone in charge..." In what (other) way is Lord Coe like Ken Livingstone?

I think London has a pretty good shot at the Olympics now. 680,000? That doesn't prove that they weren't trying. It proves that Britain is able to compete with the best of them in corrupt accounting. Congratulations!

Just remember to keep the defrocked priests away from the marathon course, and your Olympics will be a roaring success!

I think that Paris will probably get it...althought NYC might manage it as well. It might be in their favour that Lance Armstrong has slagged off the US bid. (The man may be a great cycle rider but he is sure a moron. His sponsor, the US P.O., is an arm of the US government. His comments to the free press went down like a lead ballon.)

God I love British slang; having said that, what is a "complete tosser?"

Thanks, guys!

Richard Easbey, glad to help: a "complete tosser" is the same as a "complete wanker". The term is interchangeable with "Blair".

A ha! Now I understand. (I've understood "wanker" since watching Merchant Ivory films in the late 80s...what a nice alternative to "jerk off.") And I'll have to take your word about the synonym for Blair....lol.

It might be as well to use even an obscene metaphor correctly. Wanker and tosser should be used of people who produce nothing that resembles results, useful or otherwise.

For those with literary tastes, this is explained in "Jake's Thing" by Kingsley Amis; when someone shouts "wanker" at Jake and he enquires what it means as metaphor (he'll know its literal meaning, of course), this is the explanation given him - "a waster, a shirker, someone who's fixed himself a soft job or an exalted position by means of an undeserved reputation on which he now coasts (p. 123)"

Dislike Ken Livingstone as much as you like, I don't think that quite fits him.

Hmmm, like Dan Rather, I gather.

You fellows on the other side of the pond need to get your acts together. Otherwise our asshole mayor will foist the games on us poor suffering New Yorkers...

I mean latent 9/11 sympathy alone should be enough for you noble Europeans to take a hit for the team and let your own governments waste tax money on the games. We've enough problems with that over here...

fuck the olympics, why have these tosspots not put money into grass roots instead. Basic, well maintained and managed sporting facilities should be freely available for all ordinary people. Sadly what we have is closed swimming pools, run down tracks, playing fields given planning approval for property developers, thoughtless/aggressive car drivers forcing cyclists off our roads, no British representation in the Worlds biggest sporting event ( le tour ). This olympic farce is just a gravy train for businessmen, politicians, media people and has-been overpaid elite 'popular' sporting stars. Use the £2.2bn to help ordinary people learn to enjoy the opportunity of using good local facilities e.g. outdoor swimming pools, all-weather running tracks, cycle tracks, wardened parks with tennis courts, well maintained playing fields.