[Nondescript Human]

This was so bloody predictable. I didn't support the Olympics because it was a waste of whatever amount of government money goes into it even if it isn't that large an amount in relative terms, but what really pisses me off is how inaccurate the cost predictions for these big projects always are. Surely they knew roughly what needed to be built, so how can they have predicted £3bn when the final cost will probably now run to at least £10bn?

I could understand a prediction costing 120% or 130% of the expected amount, but more than 300%? And it isn't a one off - it happened with Holyrood (1100%, no less) and Wembley too, and no doubt others. Surely it must be someone out there's job to make these cost analyses? Someone with access to all sorts of expertise and information about how much projects tend to cost and how often early guesses horribly underestimate the actual cost? And are these people getting sacked for this rank incompetence? For having a project gain our government's approval on the understanding that it will cost a third of what it actually will? I wouldn't even mind the £9bn cost that much if it bore any relation to what was predicted, it's just the ridiculous discrepancy between predicted and actual cost that pisses me off.