1. I read with interest and full agreement your views that Britain should not make a bid for the Olympics in 2012. It is fundamentally, indeed morally wrong, that significant sums of money should be devoted to a healthy, young sports group of people while other essential services for the poor and elderly are still wholly inadequate. Many of the major agreements for and against are well­rehearsed but I would like to make a few observations.

FINANCIAL BENEFITS

2. Much is made of the benefits which will arise at the time of the Games and thereafter from increased tourism etc. but what about the 6­7 years in the lead­up to the Games? I have attended the last two Summer Games; my son is a member of the British swimming squad, and from my discussions with local people at Atlanta and Sydney, they suffered years of disruption, aggravation and frustration and could not wait for the Games to be over. London currently operates at full capacity with respect to the transport system etc; the inevitable disruption during the period 2005­12 must lead to a loss of economic activity in London, which could be a permanent downside. In Sydney, we rented a property 30 minutes from the main Olympic complex, a significant number of people in the area had rented their properties ­ this got them away from the Games and they made some money!

LONG­TERM SPORTS LEGACY

3. It is true that countries like South Korea in 1988, Spain in 1992 and Australia in 2000 exceeded their previous Olympic medal winning performances. However, South Korea and Spain have not maintained their new level and are now back at the level they were before they hosted the Games. It would be interesting to monitor Australia's performance at Athens. There appears to be no evidence of sustained sporting improvement for countries hosting the Games.

ETHICS

4. One of the reasons advanced for host countries doing so well is that the pressures to succeed are so great, given the level of investment, that countries step over the acceptable and normal rules of fair play. In South Korea, there were home team decisions for boxers. In Barcelona, the Spanish middle­distance runners did exceptionally well amidst suspicion of EPO doping. Already one or two Greek swimmers have been banned for drug abuse; the top Greek athletes rarely compete outside Greece, never in the Athletics World Cup meets, thus avoiding the drug testers.

DATE OF EVENT

5. No city in recent time has the number of major sporting events which London stages. Presumably the Olympics in London will be staged during the soccer closed season. In 2012 there will be a European soccer championship which will end around mid-June (and dominate TV coverage). The next football season will start in early August with the Community Shield match at the Lazarus stadium (old Wembley). In that 6­7 week period London will stage Wimbledon, Henley, at least one cricket test match and some one­day cricket matches. Where is the three week window for the Olympics? Some of these events, as well as the Open Golf Championship are listed events and will be covered by the BBC who presumably will be the host broadcaster for the Olympics. Can London cope with overlapping these events? Can the BBC cope?

SELF-PRESERVATION

6. Obviously, the BOA and the Olympic sports are going to give full support to the bid but this comes from a strong sense of self­protection amongst the leading officials in their organisations. Lottery funding is decreasing and if a sport like swimming fails to deliver at Athens, funding will be drastically reduced and the organisation will have to be pruned. However, a successful Olympic bid will guarantee levels of funding, almost irrespective of performance, and the organisation will be preserved up to 2012. In my experience, sporting officials are interested much more in their personal position than the athletes they purport to represent.

7. I look forward to the debate on the Olympic bid and trust you will be successful in your opposition to the bid.

2 January 2003