By Colin Borland
Doctors warn that making new year’s resolutions can lead to depression. Especially if you’re a publican, bookmaker or tobacconist.
For the rest of us, our habitual failure to stay away from pies and pints for any longer than it takes to pay off the January credit card bill can lead to feelings of failure and low self-esteem.
But if you’re having a mid-January wobble, hang in there. Because, according to the prime minister, this year’s London Olympics are going to inspire us all to take more exercise and get fitter.
This is one of many big claims made about the Olympic legacy to Britain – and, when you look at some of our frightening public health figures, it could be regarded, in sporting parlance, as “a big ask”. It is also promised that the games won’t just take pounds off our waistlines, they will add pounds to our balance sheets.
It seems, though, that businesses remain to be convinced. New figures from the Federation of Small Businesses show that, here in Scotland, only 4 per cent of our members expect some or a significant business benefit from the games. Over three-quarters say they will make no difference, while 19 per cent expect a negative impact.
Against a backdrop of regular comment about how Scotland is set to lose out, this scepticism is hardly unexpected. More interesting, however, is the fact that the figures don’t really vary throughout the rest of the UK. In England, only 8 per cent of small businesses are looking forward to an Olympic bounce. And more than in Scotland – over a quarter – predict a negative impact. Even in London itself, over half expect it to be bad for business (“significantly” bad, say 19 per cent), and only 12 per cent think they’ll benefit.
With fewer than 200 days to go, it seems that the scale of the inconvenience has been more effectively communicated than the possible opportunities. Further, if major events such as this do not help bolster the small businesses which comprise our economic base, they will not deliver the lasting economic legacy on which so many host-city bids are founded.
– Colin Borland is head of external affairs for the Federation of Small Businesses in Scotland
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