Ken Livingstone - My Fake Diary

Wednesday, 11 July 2012

It's billed as the greatest show on earth. But the closer you get to the London stadium that will be the centre of the Olympic Games in just over a fortnight's time, the more it's starting to look like a militarised occupation zone. East London has become lockdown London. The Olympics are the focus of Britain's largest security mobilisation since the second world war.

Soldiers are already on the streets. Around 13,500 are being deployed, more than currently in Afghanistan!

I fought for the Games to win the investment in transport for east London that would almost certainly never have been secured without them. But at a public cost that has already risen from £2.5bn to over £14bn... glad I'm out of it now!