The Government Lied to us all. Allegedly.

Do you ever get the feeling that the government is pulling the wool over your eyes?  It seems they can never be straight about how much money they are going to take off you to spend on their latest social experiment or landmark building... or the Olympics.  Ever since Tony Blair looked the electorate in the eye in 1997 and said there would be no tax increases, the government has been putting its hand in our back pockets and stealthy helping itself to our loose change.  Or how about the time the government said the Olympics would "only" cost us £3.4bn?  That was good one - it even fooled the Olympic committee!  How unlucky was it, then, when due to forces out of the government's control the bill started rising.  And then rocketing.  And completely spiralling completely out of control to the point that it is anyone's guess how much the final bill will be come 2012.  Poor old Tessa Jowell, what was she to know...

Quite a lot actually, if Channel Four are to be believed.  Dispatches, to be screened on Monday night, will allege that the Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell knew that the original budget for the games was possibly underestimated by "several billion" 16 months before she admitted costs had spiralled to £9.3 billion.  Surely the government hasn't told everyone it would be a bargain games just get the buy in from the public knowing that it will actually cost us £10bn – aka lied?  How very cynical.