aP = what legacy? seriously there is so little that will be a public benefit.
Much of what we were told would be a legacy is not happening.
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So just what benefit is the olympics going to be for UK PLC
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Posted 4 months ago #
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the Olympic legacy seems pretty good to me:
Seoul: democracy
Aha ha ah ahhaha ahha ahahaha ha hah aha haha hahah ha ha!Posted 4 months ago # -
I love the Olympics. I'll be watching lots of it on TV. I'll also be out to wave as the Olympic torch goes past less than 100m from where I'm sitting right now (it goes right past the front gates of my son's school). Sadly I won't be going to see any of it live, as it all just seemed like too much hassle with a couple of very little kids (though I wish I had applied for tickets to the sprint canoeing - the most easily accessible venue, a sport I kind of do, and one where we're very likely to be winning medals every finals day). I guess I'll just have to take them to see some other major event in the future, where the performances will doubtless be just as good, but it will be far less hyped and much easier to attend.
However that doesn't mean the whole thing isn't a huge waste of money and a big junket for the big boys. I can't help feeling that we'd all be better off if Paris had won the bid.
Posted 4 months ago # -
London already receives massive subsidy and the SE is already the most economically developed area of the country. The reason most places get trail centres etc is because they are economically under-developed.
FFS - London makes more money and pays more taxes for UK than any other region and always has done.
As for questioning the legacy what do you bright boys all think is gong to happen to the athletes' village, the media city, the velodrome etc - they won't just just sit their rotting will they? Media city = offices = jobs (geddit?); athletes village = housing; velodrome, well if Manchester has one we need a better one and so on. I live 3 miles from Olympic Park and the area has been improved massively already so to say there will be no legacy just makes no sense. Weymouth gas a long overdue new road, hotels and other misc infrastructure. You may argue its poor value for £10 billion that may be a better argument but not much.
If you all have such a miserable attitude to the rest of your lives you really will have short sad miserable existences. Where do you get it from? I blame your parents. Everyone I know in London and Dorset (Weymouth, sailing) thinks it will be great. Cheer up FFS.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Athletes village - wrong sort of housing and not significantly more than was demolished to make way for it.
Media city - hugely expensive office buildings in a city full of unused office space
Posted 4 months ago # -
London
mtakes more net money andpaysuses more taxesforfrom UK than any other region and always has done.FTFY
You may argue its poor value for £10 billion that may be a better argument but not much.
It's actually an incredibly good argument when you look at how much useful infrastructure you can get for that much money. I mean exactly how much was Weymouth's new road?
Posted 4 months ago # -
London makes more money and pays more taxes for UK than any other region and always has done.
This is complete balls - successive London mayors have made this claim and the substantiation has always been dodgy. Most likely it relies on corporate taxpayers based in London and describing their domestic tax revenue as being "earned" in London because it was reported there - but of course it was paid as a result of profits made all over the UK.Posted 4 months ago # -
PS I blame Fatcha.
Posted 4 months ago # -
As aracer says enjoy the games, a celebration of sport, a good thing. Hopefully win some medals and get a few more people into various sports (but no it's not going to motivate the nation) But the event is being used by a lot of people to make money, gain kudos or improve their image and I think all the bull***ers, industrial strength scam artists and outright liars should get nailed to the wall afterwards.
Hosting the olympics is something to be proud of (altho being typical brit I'm half expecting it all to go wrong, an unreliable guy at work is involved in the cycling stuff
good luck with that) Spunking an obscene amount of cash (is it so hard to get a proper budget and set penalty clauses for rubbish contractors) and lying about UK net profit and legacy (hah) is not something to be proud of and dare i say it, worth getting our collective knickers in a twist about.
Posted 4 months ago # -
I've never been a fan of the Olympics in general. Not really a sporty type, cycling is a bit of an enigma in my make up. But then it is more of a pass time than sport for me.
What really turned me against the whole Olympics thing was news footage of people in China being forcibly evicted from their homes in the middle of the night with nothing new offered, just turfed out on the streets. This just illustrated the whole thing for me. The sport is secondary, it's all just a PR campaign for Politicians and their corporate masters. It does sicken me and I really have been sick to death of it since this time last year. I dread the rest of this year.
And don't give me that crap that areas are redeveloped as a result. Yes they are, but if you really cared you could have done that anyway. Window dressing on the grandest most morally dubious scale IMHO.
The country is in dire straits but we can afford an EXTRA £40M for the opening F***ing ceremony on top of whatever was originally set aside for it. And that is just one example that "they" haven't even hidden away.
I wonder how long it will be before the IOC simply award the rights to opening ceremonies and they ditch the sport as it costs too much to do that. It would alos mean they could make it an annual event rather than every four years.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Perhaps the unemployed should be asked for their views? It's insulting to those who are struggling whether due to unemployment, disability etc.
There's no legacy to be left, just another example of financial mismanagement of a vanity project.
Posted 4 months ago # -
I think we should actually start wondering quite why it is that Scottish railways receive nearly 15x the subsidy that Wessex region railways gets? Just got 2 more tickets to an Olympic cycling event - quite looking forwards to it all tbh.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Given the amount of 'work from home' projects being initiated through the public and private sector on the back of the expected transport overload and disruption, the biggest benefit could be a change in culture to show working at home is viable, succesful etc. Leading to more time spent productively - whether that's with familes, pursuing interests or working, and less time sat in car/trains etc. Oh, and a few less cars on the road wouldn't hurt either.
Richard
(working at home productively today)Posted 4 months ago # -
The latest installment of olympic cringe...
Posted 4 months ago # -
Why is that cringe?
Would you prefer superimposed fireworks that aren't real instead?Posted 4 months ago # -
We could go for the comedy angle, as haapened when Diana Ross opened the World Cup in the USA by scoring a goal... she missed but the grand climax started anyway...
Posted 4 months ago # -
why is it cringe - cos its a bit shit
Posted 4 months ago # -
So then TJ, as you're an expert on everything, what would you do instead?
Posted 4 months ago # -
Why not have a simple (and cheap) opening ceromony and just get on with the games?
Posted 4 months ago # -
I wouldn't be doing it at all.
There was an opportunity to take the olympics back to basics. It was missed.
Assuming I was in charge of this I would simply have a parade and a simple opening ceremony - what is the purpose of wasting all this money on something we all know will be a bit shit
How much money is being wasted on this and compare that to where that money could be used to do something useful 80 million quid is it?
Posted 4 months ago # -
£81 million, but as it's only taxpayers' money, who's counting?
Posted 4 months ago # -
Exactly, It's just an international dick waving exercise - because other countries have gone to town on the opening ceremony we feel we have to as well. We are constantly being told how broke the country is, but we can afford this?
Posted 4 months ago # -
No, I'm not pessimistic or on a downer, thank you very much, in fact I'm known for being a very smiley upbeat person.
My problem with the Olympics is that it's gone massively over budget, at a time when the country is broke, and that we have been fed a load of shit about the "legacy" when in fact the "legacy" is crumbling before our eyes. Athletes village? That's not housing in the sense of housing families, more offices you say? Oh good, because we really need more empty offices in London. More shops? That's handy, especially for people who are on the dole and have no money to spend.
£40m for the opening ceremony? What a total and utter waste of money. Absolutely agree with C_G, when people are waiting for operations, the government is going to spunk £40m on fireworks. FFS that's obscene.
The Government should man up and simply say to the rest of the world (as if the rest of the world cares) that we're broke. No shame there. We're broke. Admit it. Have a small parade for the opening. Return the Olympics to the SPORTING event it should be.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Money designated for the 2nd phase of Manchester's tram system was re-routed to pay for the Olympics. This meant that for several years there have been weird sights like tram stations without tracks, and whole business estates without cutomers because they were built on the promise of the trams bringing in the workers.
Yes, the 2nd phase is finally going ahead after a hiatus of several years but how many businesses have lost out, how many jobs have disappeared in the Manchester area so that London and the South East can have even more tax-payers money spunked on them?
Posted 4 months ago # -
It's true then - some of the benefits are flowing north. For instance, the Swedish MTB team are setting up their training camp in Innerleithen. I'm sure the local supermarkets are already stocking up with meatballs and pear cider.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-16757099
Posted 4 months ago # -
Now that will help Scottish tourism - I might venture down to Inners to catch a glimpse of the swedish womens team training.
I won't however be venturing down to London. How could that be feasible when you live up here - you could have ended up tikets for events 2 weeks apart (although none at all would have been more likley.
Posted 4 months ago # -
why is it cringe - cos its a bit shit
Succinct AND accurate!Posted 4 months ago #
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