You remember how a team of mystical nutters from madland sold the idea that London really wanted the “Millennium Dome” in order that Christians could mark the return of their Messiah after 2,000 years, or the end of the world, and it was to be a spooky arty farty waste of billions of tax Pounds?  Being stupid, the Government (dominated by Christians) went for it.  A year or two later they woke up to the reality that Jesus Christ didn’t return and the world didn’t end, nobody cared for the Dome or its ridiculous contents, and they’d all been conned by the mumbo jumbo of the day.

So, time has now passed.  Now it’s the turn of “The Cloud”.  This time a new group of nutters from madland have proposed what actually amounts (in plain English) to a large tower or two, similar to the Eiffel Tower (but modern), on the very top of which will be suspended an unspecified number of gigantic see through interconnecting glass (or similar see-though material) balls.  The balls will be huge and the idea is that people can walk around inside them (or bounce up and down, it seems) after riding bikes or walking up around a very giddy-making circular slope, or catching a lift, or whatever other method they can dream up, in order to get to the very top (some 125 metres up in the air).  Although the balls are see-through they will also have colours and huge led display screens mystically attached to them.

Anyway.  The Cloud is supposed to be built right next to the Olympic stadia in time for 2012.

Of course, saying, “We want to build some large sticks and put giant see-through globes on top of it,” doesn’t tug at anybody’s interest.  So, instead, the whole project has been dressed up in the most bizarre language designed to appeal to those who believe in climate change, those who are mystified by social networking, those who love Google, Facebook and Twitter, those who wear sandals, and those who take excessive amounts of recreational drugs.

Yes, the pictures are lovely.  The idea is lovely.  It would be a cool structure to see from afar; a cool structure to climb and explore and experience.  I’d love it.  I want it.  But do I want all the tree-hugging mumbo jumbo that goes with it?  No, absolutely not.

Let’s hope this project, erm, gets off the ground.  Apparently you can pay directly this time instead of having to pay the money as tax first.

Find out more at the really pretty http://www.raisethecloud.org but make sure you are not stoned first or you just won’t fathom what the hell is going on.

[PS. Shame about the awful bored sounding female voice-over artist they used on the video.  She didn’t sell it to me. The pretty pictures did.]