FOR four days their every question, gesture and remark will be scrutinised for the slightest indication of their response to London’s bid for the 2012 Olympics.
The 13 members of the International Olympic Committee Evaluation Commission sat through nine hours of slides, charts, maps and bullet points yesterday on the 17 “key themes” of the London bid, including transport, environment and funding. They were addressed by Tessa Jowell, the Culture Secretary, Jonathan Porritt, the environmental campaigner, and Sir Ian Blair, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, as well as officials from London 2012 on the fine details of the bid. The event opened with a stirring speech given by Lord Coe, the London 2012 chairman, which was honed by The Times’s Daniel Finkelstein.
But despite