It will come as no surprise that I still keep an eye on news related to the Olympic Games, and talk of potential future UK olympic bids. The matter cropped up on the breakfast news this morning, albeit fleetingly, in reference to a potential future bid to host the 2040 games in the North-West. If that comes about, it would be incredible: I may live in London, but I was born and brought up in Cheshire, so the prospect of my home area being thrust onto the world stage is something I’m completely behind. With a view to updating myself on what is being said about this bid, I naturally hit Google, only to find this story from two weeks ago which automatically put a very nasty taste in my mouth. “Sir Sadiq Khan has criticised the government’s plans for a possible north of England bid for the Olympics and Paralympics, saying that excluding the capital city would be “a missed opportunity”.”

I’ve written here before multiple times how enamoured I am with London and how captivating I find it: it is surely one of the greatest cities on Earth. Yet there comes a time when it can grow all too presumptuous, and assume the world revolves around it. This is obviously such a point. We all remember how awesome the 2012 olympics were, but surely it is time to give other UK cities their crack of the whip and their chance to shine. Assuming that any UK olympic bid must involve London is the epitome of London-centrism. Wouldn’t it be fantastic to see cities like Liverpool and Manchester become the centre of global attention, just as London was fourteen years ago? And why should London be allowed to muscle in on that? More to the point, such remarks create a nasty discordant rivalry between north and south, the capital and other cities, which I’m not at all comfortable with.

Even so, this is something I’ll be keeping quite a close eye on. After losing out in Manchester’s bids for the 1996 and 2000 Olympics, surely it’s time for the North of England to get it’s turn.