The price is right

THERE were protests in Madrid last week over the cost of the visit to Spain by the Pope. There was criticism in Britain earlier this year of the cost of the royal wedding between Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge. What I don´t understand is why these demonstrators just don´t see the bigger picture? Hundreds of thousands of people travelled to Madrid last week for the Pope´s visit. They would have spent alot of money in the capital on hotels, restaurants and spending in shops. The amount of money they spent would certainly outweigh the cost of the Pope´s visit.

The same could be said for the royal wedding, with one million people in London for the big event. Everything these days seems to come down to cost. Someone has even calculated how much the Libya campaign has cost the British tax-payer, (about 250 million pounds). But the initial cost, in most cases, is more than worthwhile. In the case of Libya, a limited action by British forces has helped a popular uprising oust the country of a hated dictator. Now, while I understand that in these hard times money is short, we shouldn´t just measure everything by its cost. I sometimes get the impression that some people would do absolutely nothing because it cost too much! The latest it-cost-too-much project will be the London Olympics. Already, many Londoners are said to be opposed to the Games, because they cost too much. Just watch this space.