Without funding for such activities they can neither understand, nor engage with, the future problems and politicians of the continent.Britain's myopia over Africans is more starkly illustrated by the media failure to even notice a second event on Saturday; Wangari Maathi, who in 2004 was the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, was speaking just a few miles from the shallow cacophony of Hyde Park.Throughout her life, she has argued firstly that democracy, peace and environmental sustainability in Africa are inextricably linked; secondly that change can only come about through the activism, accountability and dignity of Africans themselves. Athens, given its history in creating the ancient games and giving birth to the modern Olympics, is the obvious choice.JONATHAN NOTLEYLONDON W3Sir: I'm awaiting the first government spokesperson to use the Olympics in 2012 as a reason to have ID cards forced on us.ANDREW CALVERTRUISLIP, MIDDLESEX Losing the power to understand Africa Sir: Two events of recent days suggest that even the Director of the Royal Africa Society's acute criticisms ("Our approach to Africa is riddled with contradictions", 2 July), underestimate Britain's failure to engage with African politics.Last week the University of London hosted 700 European scholars of Africa. Still, I mustn't be churlish - it would be unfair to deprive East London of its velodrome.COLIN STANDFIELDLONDON W7Sir: As a London council tax payer, I am concerned that London has won the bid to host the 2012 Olympics. Previous winners have seen huge cost overruns in their Olympic projects, which has left the host nation with large debts which have taken years to pay off. That is now the problem of the UK and Londoners in particular.Instead of the four-year cycle of lobbying the International Olympic Committee, and the construction of facilities by the winning city that are often underused after the games have gone, a once-for-all decision should be taken to choose one city that will host the games for ever. And we've won the Olympics. None of these things is a chance occurrence. For them to all be occurring simultaneously is indicative that this country is on a roll.
Perhaps now is the time that The Independent should give belated admiration to the man who's at the helm; a man that so many have been quick to knock and who has visibly aged in our service.PAUL DUNWELLEATON BRAY, BEDFORDSHIRESir: I suppose it is another Gulf war effect. The IOC wondered which city deserved to be bankrupted, and London edged it. I am now bracing myself for all the stealth taxes, and stealth council charges, that will be totted up to pay for it. Yet she surprised many in dropping her profile when she left Leeds to start an artists' centre in West Hampstead, north-west London.But from now on the Olympics will occupy her and give one woman the unique chance to show her vision of Britain's arts and British society to the world More from David Lister. Olympic victory confirms that Blair's Britain is on a roll Sir: In the last week we've seen the biggest fleet the world has ever known assembled off our shores in a gesture of friendship and respect.
We've seen our musicians put on, at a moment's notice, the biggest televisual and philanthropic event the world has ever seen. We've got a prime minister who is not only chairing the EU but also the G8. Her own productions have been staged at the National Theatre and the English National Opera, as well as at the Playhouse. Yet when she applied to run the National Theatre she failed to get the job, and was conscious of some unspoken bias against her.Certainly, she is an outspoken and determined woman, eminently likeable, intense and serious, and committed to the arts as both a political force and something that can be life-changing She has represented Britain within Unesco. Before taking on the role of Olympic artistic director, Ms Kelly built up an outstanding reputation in the arts, and yet seemed to be the "nearly" woman.She was the founding director of the Battersea Arts Centre and the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds.