HOWZAT

The Olympics are a joke. Hundreds of drug-taking egomaniacal attention seekers parading totally boring skills (cycling, rowing, diving, gymnastics and hammer throwing, etc), performing mainly for an audience of couch potatoes. Leave them in Greece permanently, save us all from boring Olympic bids and a monumental waste of money. Olympic ideal - don't make me laugh. Michael Rigby, Chorley

Athens is the home of the Olympics. Let them stay there and we won’t have wasted all that money. The East End is already awash with traffic. Try going home via the Blackwall Tunnel, the proposed centre of the Olympic Games. David Callaghan, London E1

You are right. If we are unlucky enough to be awarded the games, overall tourist numbers will decline as regular overseas visitors stay away from the chaos. Once again, Blair is looking for personal glory at the expense of the rest of us. Tony Hird, Windsor, Berks

I could not agree more with your comments about the Olympics. As do you, I love sports, track and field especially, but this whole cult around the Olympics is pure madness. All these events are fine, but should be financed without any use of public money. Too many taxpayers who don't give a hoot end up footing the bill. With tsunami relief and other more pressing matters the world needs to deal with, the amount of money spent on this largely self-congratulatory event is ludicrous. Bram Vandermey, Shelton, WA

Spot on! The pollution of sport by patriotism reaches its peak during the Olympics. Athletes singing national anthems wrapped in national flags are obscene and should be censored by some decency body. Louis Massana, Edinburgh

I could not agree more. During the 2004 Olympic Games what was striking was the fact that, apart from the opening and closing sessions, most of the stadiums for track, field and other events were half empty, and some with very few spectators at all. And this despite the fact that the Greek authorities were giving tickets away simply to try to fill empty stadiums. If the stadiums cannot attract capacity audiences during the Olympics, when will they? Ernest Jacques, York

A country like the UK, where the favourite phrase when it comes to hospitals, schools, whatever, is “we can't afford it”, makes itself look ridiculous when trying to compete for this moth-eaten carrot on a threadbare string. I do believe that Seb Coe is sincere, and maybe some others are, but the whole thing comes across as yet another tub-thumping gravy train, like the Dome. I can barely get to work on our ramshackle transport system and yet I’m being asked to believe that a futuristic transport system can be created by 2012. I also object to the lordly manner in which we taxpayers are informed that the whole junket will only cost £20pa on council tax for the next ten years. When my mother was terminally ill the impression I got from some quarters of the NHS was that her care mustn't cost too much; we had to fight for all of it. And now I am expected to fork out for these games. I agree with you that the whole junket is out of control. Millions squandered just on the bid alone - that can't be right. Carole Tyrrell, London

We have a Government which instinctively behaves in a populist fashion - always looking for, and seizing, the next opportunity to provide an emotional lead with the usual array of celebs and opportunists riding behind. L. Hughes, Stockton on Tees

UK governments have for decades ignored our nation’s sporting talents and needs. Now that this poisoned chalice is up for grabs, the Government has decided that there is enough cash around to add a further white elephant to its already extensive list (Dome/Wembley/London Assembly, to name but a few). Why is it that London always has to pay, in more ways than one, for Blair’s ego? Give it to Paris, I say (Brussels will always find a way of picking up their tab). Stuart Morrice, London

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