Small feed compared to the debt the country will find itself in because of the games. Only winners Olympic officials and consultants.

steve tea, manchester, cheshire

Someone should inform Labour about the lack of wage restraint they want us all to follow but they cannot practice with their own quango!

steve tea, manchester, cheshire

any venture where tax payers are the ultimate payers of the inv the cost spirals into the billions. this is allways the case. its a case of either incomptetance or corruption ruling. if tax payers money wasnt involved, then no olympics as no one would wld be stupid enough to underwrite the cost.

zugerman, zurich, switzerland

Who exactly wanted the Olympics in the first place?

Tim, Bristol,

Phil Austin, you are clearly wrong in regards to your point about peoples worth. If you had a choice between having a splinter removed from your hand by a surgoen who would just cut off your hand and one who would just remove the splinter you would pay more for the 2nd

Chris, London, UK

I have been to every Olympics since 1984 (I was in LA on business in '84 and the whole thing was great) I despair that successcul businessmen like me have not been drafted in to make it work on a tight budget. LA was run by their version of Branson/Rose/Leahy - not an ageing 1500 metre star.

Nigel Gee, London,

A pound to a penny, we won't know the true amount of money already spent on the games until AFTER the next election! Outside London we already know, with National Lottery money being siphoned down to that great carbuncle in the SE by the millions.

John, Runcorn, Cheshire

MIke - is Lord Sebastian Coe part of Nu Labour. Funny how we saw him on the opposition bench.

I think this more the sign that the gravy always flows at a certain price bracket and that teh upper echelons of business are unaffected by the day to day problems faced by most.

cgmasson, Perth, Australia

Yet more evidence! Paris won the 2012 Olympics!!!!

Bob Evans, Anaheim, California

Just how big is that Mars bar that Ken Leninspart told us it would cost the equivalent of?

Rob Bain, Derby,

London got the Olympics. Paris got the last laugh.

Jake, London, UK

Some of you seem to forget that Lord Coe is a Conservative!

Daniel McGuinness, London,

As I remember 'taxation without representation' got the British government into trouble before....

Miss Dee, Tayside, UK

" “tightest possible financial control” must be exerted because of the credit crunch and the deteriorating property market."

Well those should squeeze costs and prices- not increase them- if sales of flats etc after the event were on projected silly prices that sounds like a mistake & bonus cut

Damian, Brighton, UK

This makes the Great Train Robbery look like a mild case of shop lifting. And those guys got 30 years each.

Mike, Berlin,

Those that wanted the Olympics should be made to pay for them perhaps if Coe etc. were personally liable...

NO taxpayers money should be going towards this nor should money from the National Lottery be taken from grass roots sports projects to pay for this multi billion pound scam

Bill McLaren, Stirling, UK

What an absolute travesty! All this money (ours) going into the pockets of so few while the majority of us are struggling daily to support ourselves and our families. There's a deep swell of anger building in this country, time to look out for the little guy or else! Are you listening Brown?

Ian Dickson, Brighton, UK

Awful. So the top guy is yet another Aussie import, no doubt non-dom and tax free status just like the boy behind the SATS debacle. Who the hell are these people and where is the justification for this obscene give away of tax payer funds to foriegn nationals who deliver no legacy value?

john, Preston,

Simply another mess that will be left by nulab when they get kicked out of office to join the ever growing list

Tom Mein, Chorafakia, Crete

Be sensible. If we did not spend it on the olympics, Gordon Brown would only give it away to another country.

Arthur, Newcastle,

Just when you think there can't possibly be any other way to waste your money, they do again. I'm not surprised, Calamity Brown is touring the world handing out our tax money like confetti while the rest just surround themselves with consultants as they are clueless.

Roger, Surrey.,

I have always maintained that the London Olympics is just a big ego trip for Lord Coe and others. Most of the country has little interest in a London Olympics and are aghast at the cost of it all. Just another gravy train for a lucky few.

Rod, Preston,

This is a big rip off. The bill should be sent back with a "get stuffed"note. Otherwise London council tax payers should be billed, thank you Mr Livingston.

m wilson, bidache, france

Like everything else from NuLabour, Lord Sebastian Coe and his team of passengers on the gravy train continue to take us for a ride. Let's throw them out like we did with Ken Livingstone. Its never too late.

Mike, Denham, UK

This is obscene! The UK cannot afford this travesty called the Olympics!

No man alive is worth more than another just because his skills differ.

If ther is any 'change' left over from £25 billion when the final auditing is done then I will be very urprised.

Im glad I wont be here.;

Phil Austin, RAUNDS, England