The London Olympics has much to delight but forget Profit(Silver Medal)

London 2012 is fun and competently delivered, but to think we'll ever recover the cost is like believing in Santa Claus.

'Trade at hotel, restaurant, theatre and other tourist venues in London' has fallen by an average of 30% this August.

So are olympics dellights worth £9bn? No, of course not. The Games was never worth that. But those who doubted that a passably competent nation with unlimited cash could deliver two weeks of sport were wrong. The Games seems enjoyable and remarkably scandal-free.

London will not recover the cost of the Olympics and may as well forget it. Having spent the money we should at least lie back and enjoy it. But we should stop pretending. The real victims of London's mind-numbing mendacity will be the poor and hapless citizens of Rio in 2016. They really cannot afford it..."