Hopeless as a host nation?

The Government has abandoned plans to host the 2005 World Athletics Championships at Picketts Lock, increasing fears that Britain could lose the event.

Does the UK have what it takes to host a major sporting event?

Plans for a 43,000-seat stadium in north-east London have been abandoned, and the Government now wants to stage the championships in Sheffield.

But world athletics officials have already insisted a British championships could only be held in London.

The championships are considered the third biggest sporting event in the world after the Olympic Games and football's World Cup.

If they are taken from Britain, it would not only be a major embarrassment but would also have a knock-on affect on any future British bid for an Olympic Games or a World Cup.

Is this latest debacle another sign that Britain is hopeless as a host nation?

Send us your views.

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We built a great stadium for $350m (about £120m). Why can't Britain build one similar for the same price? Why does it have to be five times more expensive? By the way, the Sydney Olympic Stadium site is a bit of a white elephant at the moment. It has been seriously underused and the government is trying to desperately to get new life into it. Remember to build something that can be used by many sports and events.
Jim, Sydney, Australia

The person who thought Picketts Lock would be an international venue for athletics was probably the boy at school who always came last and has now taken his revenge. It was never a suitable venue. Only Crystal Palace was ever appropriate.
AMS, U.K.

Once again we Aussies have shown up the Brits on the world sporting stage

D. Danilovic, Australia

I have viewed your video interview with a Richard Caborn MP. I don't know where he fits into the scheme of things but that clown could talk under mud! If this bloke is typical of those at the helm over there, then God help the Brits.
Reg Swinnerton, Australia

With the most successful Olympics in history in Sydney last year, and now London losing its right to host the World Athletic Championships (an event on a much smaller scale) due to Government incompetence and mismanagement, once again we Aussies have shown up the Brits on the world sporting stage. Well done Britain, we salute you!
D. Danilovic, Australia

As a council taxpayer living in Edmonton I'm overjoyed that the plan has fallen through. The proposals were steamrollered through despite protests of local residents and Enfield Council Tax payers. If the government thinks that a national stadium is essential, why not convert the Millennium Dome, using yet more Lottery money?
Nick Wilson, UK

I feel that the whole Pickett's Lock debacle just goes to prove how FIFA were right to award the 2006 World Cup to Germany. We have nothing to offer the international sporting community if the Government are not prepared to pay for it. I hope the Government decide not to bid for the 2012 Olympics, if only to save us further embarrassment.
David Pinder, UK

Another stadium planned for London abandoned and people see it as a national disaster. I say congratulations to the government for recognising that sport does not start and end within the M25. This is a victory for common sense that will hopefully be repeated when the replacement for Wembley somewhere accessible to the majority of the population.
David, Wales

Perhaps I'm being a little naive, but there is a whopping huge dome sitting empty

Julian, Manchester, UK

Huge sigh of disbelief. Yet again the British people (as this will be reflected on us) have been made to look like a bunch of no-hopers. Our so called politicians need to be dragged from their ivory towers and shown what it is to be proud of our nation. Come to Australia and ask anyone from anywhere in the world what the Olympics did for this country.

Yet in Britain, politicians can't get off their backsides and organise an event which will make British people proud. But I guess in the UK now, it is an offence to be proud of our country it's not politically correct. Wembley and now this, what can I say. Mr Blair is a liar, and cannot be trusted to hold the interests of the British people: he is far too busy trying to be president of the world. I feel very sorry for you lot back in Blighty.
Daniel Mendham, Australia

I grew up in north London and now live in Sydney. I saw what was required to stage the Olympics so magnificently here, and I'm incredulous that anyone ever thought an event of similar magnitude could be held in good old Edmonton. How was everyone going to get to the new stadium? On the notorious North Circular, or the Victoria tube line? Yeah, right.

Even a Londoner like me can see that the only place in England to build a big new stadium would be right by the National Exhibition Centre near Birmingham, next to major road, rail and air hubs. All you'll need then is some decent weather!
Paul McDonnell, Australia (English)

Come on, now. Didn't we successfully host the Olympics in 1948 and 1896? The first sub-four minute mile was run on a British track. Our history is proven. Shame about the present, though. Still, which overseas visitors want to come to Britain, with its hooligan soccer fans, constant rain and poor road and rail network? Let the government save the money for more important expenditure.
Howard, Singapore

Perhaps I'm being a little naive, but there is a whopping huge dome sitting empty. Why can't that be developed to host the championship?
Julian, Manchester, UK

Our inept politicians have made Britain and British sport a laughing stock around the world

Derrick Stansfield, UK

This decision is an absolute disgrace and a disaster for Britain. Germany will again be able enjoy the fruits of the ineptitude, incompetence and lack of ambition of our Government. Good luck to them!
James Lawson, England

Unbelievable! First Wembley, now this. I cannot begin to understand how a Government can make such a mess of so many issues. Forget the £750m on the tent (oops dome) and the money spent to keep it empty. Forget the ongoing debacle of the national stadium. How can they justify this? They have made a promise to the people of this country and to athletics. They should not be allowed to get away with it!
Stephen Driscoll, England

What an absolute mess. There are wonderful stadia all around the world subsidised by governments from poorer countries than Britain. Can the government not see what the Sydney Olympics, together with Stadium Australia has done, and the respect Australia now has with the rest of the world. When will we ever learn?
Mark Davies, UK

There comes a point where the economic viability of a project should no longer be a concern. The prestige that a major event such as the World Athletic Championships or the Olympic Games brings is second to none, and cannot be measured in money. The government should realise this. The Sydney Olympics are the perfect example, where the sheer presence of such an event made people proud to be Australian and also lifted the spirits of an entire nation.
Kam Gill, UK

Once again our inept politicians have made Britain and British sport a laughing stock around the world. Isn't it time someone took a leaf out of the Aussie's and American's books, learned how to develop a successful sports strategy for this country and built a stadium or two that we can be proud of?
Derrick Stansfield, UK

An utter shambles. It's a sad day for British sport

Jim Erwood, UK

I have been lucky enough to see the benefits of two major sporting events in the USA and France, and cannot understand why the investment cannot be found here. We are a 'rich' country and such events can rejuvenate an entire area with investment as well as helping a country's image, (look at Sydney last year) and helping the sports it displays. The most shambled aspect of all is for the second time a grand project has been announced and then over a period incompetently dropped. We need vision and leadership from the government. At the moment all we have is incompetence and fear of another "Dome" and with no alternatives offered. The government needs to act quickly and with vision or only event that will ever be hosted in England will be the Eurovision Song Contest!
Paul Israel, UK

If Manchester can host the Commonwealth Games and Britain can host the cricket and Rugby World Cups, what surprises me is the lack of effort and complacency about the track and field championships in London in 2005. There is a certain negligence on the part of the Tony Blair government to boost the image of Britain by hosting major sporting events.
Hussain Ali, USA

With Wembley sitting empty and the football happy to move from big venue to big venue round the country, why didn't they revamp the existing stadium at Wembley into a 55,000 all-seater athletics stadium which could be used for concerts and football and rugby as well as athletics, and not be as big as the footballers' dreams
Desmond, UK

Athletics - yet another sport that claims to be "professional" at the top level until it comes to doing anything important. The government is partly to blame, but Athletics UK cannot avoid its responsibilities.
Rodger Edwards, UK

An utter shambles. It's a sad day for British sport.
Jim Erwood, UK

The IAAF ought to count themselves lucky they aren't coming here. UK is patently incapable of organising any major sporting event. Any thought of the Olympics is totally unrealistic. The government is all talk and no trousers when it comes to sport. £100m is small beer money when it comes to this kind of project.
Jon A, UK

The Government is to blame, and sport will suffer

Stephen, UK

We are a bureaucratic, useless, shambled and disorganised country to stage a world athletics event. We currently have just one all seated outdoor stadium in Britain. Our premier venue in London, Crystal Palace, is now a dirty old dump, with a score board missing more bulbs every year, and now we have embarrassed ourselves still further with this appalling show of hosting a games.

We've spent £700m on the Dome and over £100m on the feasibility study alone for Picketts Lock - enough to build eight stadiums in Britain. The Government is to blame, and sport will suffer.
Stephen, UK

The argument for building a National Athletics Stadium at Picketts Lock will no doubt drag on and on. However as a resident of the London Edmonton I feel it is a good idea. The basic transport infrastructure is in place with a major road right next to the proposed sight that joins the North Circular Rd about half a mile to the south and the M25 a few miles to the north. These would obviously need upgrading but the basics are there. There is also a train station across the road that runs south into Liverpool Street Station and north to Stanstead Airport. Like the roads, this would need investment to come up to the standard required, but the basic transport infrastructure is in place. As to what the venue could be used for after the championships.

As for Edmonton itself, staging these championships, and future events, would surely provide a welcome boost to the local economy. There is a feeling that London is a 'rich city' and doesn't need the money. However, the London Borough of Enfield and the surrounding boroughs, would welcome the investment that building this stadium and hosting the World Athletics Championships would bring.
Tim Brown, UK