THE final taxpayers' bill for security at the London Olympics has been put at anything between £500m to £540m ("Security costs for 2014 games triple to £90m", The Herald, December 19).

Surely four months on from what were judged to be the most successful games ever, it must be the case that somewhere around the east end of London, there's a big cupboard stuffed full of highly refined and expensive security hardware. Why do we have to go out and buy all the same stuff again?

Alan Smith,

2 Kirkton Road, Neilston.

MY fond wish for 2013 is that someone will prick the never-ending 2014 Commonwealth Games PR bubble. We have seen 2014 linked to litter initiatives, food tsars and new art. Have we forgotten the £500,000 lottery investment in a temporary football pitch "installation" in the woods as part of the Cultural Olympiad – now a drinking den? Scotland's medal prospects in 2014 are thin; sport participation in all but the middle classes continues in freefall; competitive sport in schools is a thing of the past save for in the independent sector; councils have less resource to support sport so costs rise and availability of facilities decline; obesity is tomorrow's health disaster far greater than cancer in itself. The talk of a 2014 legacy and a bold new future is as wide of the mark as the Mayan predictions for the end of the world. The term "spin over substance" has never been more appropriate.

Robert Bennie,

Clayslaps Road, Glasgow.