This thread would indicate that the Olympics haven't exactly brought the nation together.
I live up north and it's true that people are hardly any more interested than if it was in Paris. There are exceptions, of course.
I don't follow why it has to be here to incentivise young people either.
What I don't like is the privileges afforded to the hordes of allegedly corrupt officials and hangers on, not to mention the sponsorship by such healthy lifestyle advocates as McDonalds.
Any shred of evidence of hordes of corrupt officials? Any at all?
So, people dont like the cost (and are blind to the benefits), and they dont like sponsorship which reduces the cost.
hmmm
Some people just like seeing the worst in everything. Living in Britain does that, I suppose.
Didn't we buy them luxury gifts for their wives when we were bidding? Or was that the world cup? Personally I think the whole bidding thing is a bit smelly but no, I use the word allegedly. Presumably you think it's all as clean as a whistle then?
Don't want you to think I am negative. Got tickets for an event, but I like to be realistic and I wouldn't have spent all that money on the games myself. Is it hypocritical to go in these circumstances? No I don't think so.
This thread would indicate that the Olympics haven't exactly brought the nation together.
I live up north and it's true that people are hardly any more interested than if it was in Paris. There are exceptions, of course.
I don't follow why it has to be here to incentivise young people either.
What I don't like is the privileges afforded to the hordes of allegedly corrupt officials and hangers on, not to mention the sponsorship by such healthy lifestyle advocates as McDonalds.
Any shred of evidence of hordes of corrupt officials? Any at all?
So, people dont like the cost (and are blind to the benefits), and they dont like sponsorship which reduces the cost.
hmmm
Some people just like seeing the worst in everything. Living in Britain does that, I suppose.
I don't like sponsorship when its from companies like this
It's quite clear that by basing them in Shooters Hill they will be able to take out those cars using the VIP lane on the A102m, who are not entitled to.
The Olympics do not benefit the population of the area they are held in beyond the creation of a few thousand temporary jobs (which generally go to people from outside the area anyway), building of new housing developments (which they invariably can't afford to live in), gentrification of the immediate surroundings (which serve to push them away from the very community the games is supposed to be benefitting) and improvements to transport infrasturcutre (which are always at the expense of other, much more needed transport projects, elsewhere in the host city/country).
Raising everyone's taxes to pay for what amounts to a two-week commercial for questionable corporations is an outrage. The 'Olympic Ideal' shouldn't involve junk food and soft drinks companies sponsoring supposedly 'healthy' (more on that later) activity like Athletics. As taxpayers, we most certainly should not be expected to foot the bill for it. If we were asked to vote on whether we'd like to pay extra tax for decades to cover the cost of hosting the Olympics (not just a ballot that asked whether or not people were in favour of bringing the Olympics to London, but told them how much it was going to cost them for this two weeks of 'feeling good about ourselves'), I'm pretty sure there'd be about an 80% 'No' vote - and that's just in London.
The so-called 'wider benefits' of the Olympics for the host nation are almost completely unquantifiable - and for every supposed 'benefit' there are counter-arguments. For instance, the 'it will improve the perception of Britain across the world' argument relies on outdated, naive perceptions of how many people care about the Olympics. The places where Britain's image NEEDS to be improved are unlikely to give two shits about the Olympics because they'll be busy clearing away the rubble of their houses after the latest US drone strike which Britain (and the rest of the Western world) has turned a blind eye to. How daft would anyone have to be to think that some dirt farmer in Afghanistan would give a shit about how quickly Usain Bolt can run a 100 metres with a computerised backdrop of the Union Jack superimposed over a montage of London landmarks running in the background after his country has been bombed back to the stone age.
Drug-testing regimes are an absolute joke. The current 100m world record holder (an absolutely phenomenal athlete, no doubting that) competes for a country where the drug testing is so poor that they don't even have a national framework for it. Entirely coincidentally, in the last three major international meetings, athletes from that country have completely dominated the sprinting events - despite having a comparitively previously poor record in them. The best 'hope' of a medal for British male sprinting is an athlete who is a convicted drugs cheat being allowed to overturn his lifetime Olympic ban. How does this square with the 'Olympic ideal'?
The inconvenience to the host city/country is considerable. The Olympics bring enormous upheaval to those who have little or no interest in it - including transport problems, increased security and surveillance (in a country already ridiculed for it's fetishistic love (and relative ineffectiveness) of CCTV), price-hiking by the hospitality industry, the aforementioned lack of investment in essential infrastructure projects elsewhere in the city/country, enormous white elephants in the shape of stadia that will be almost completely unused after the games and an Olympics delivery authority that seems almost to delight in rubbing this in by insiting on huge quantities of event tickets going to them and their hangers-on and transport lanes on roads that punish people trying to get to work whilst leaving half of the road almost entirely unused for 99% of the day.
There are dozens more arguments against the Olympics. The only hard-to-refute one 'for' it seems to be a nebulous 'it'll make everyone feel proud and make Britain look great to the rest of the world'. one. Well, personally, i couldn't give a fuck how Britain looks to the rest of the world, and I certainly don't give a fuck about any nationalistic pride. The concept of 'belonging' to a nation is dying on it's arse anyway, and has been for years (witness the risible spectacle of a woman now competing 'for Britain' after competing at the last two Olympics for two entirely different countries). The most laughable aspect of it is that some of the biggest supporters of the move away from nationhood and the concept of 'birders' across the world (Coca Cola, McDonalds etc) are being given what amounts to months worth of free advertising by a population that is being told to convince itse'f that the games are 'good for Britain'.
I think the Olympics will be wonderful...but in true British/English spririt we'll sure as hell find 1001 way's to slag it off like we do anything that we do (oh what a surprise!)....Great Britain is doing something that we can be proud of but no way, we can't have that, so let's find those 1001 way's to beat ourselves up before it's even started and put a squib up the arse of those who want to enjoy it, just because some of us saddos wont/can't. Well I'm going to 'enjoy' it, as I always have, and fuck those who are already lining up to have a go...the poor sad 'half empty' sods that they are. Sure budgets are going to over run (didn't we all know they would) sure there's going to be some things that don't go quite right.......with such a huge and complex mission what do you expect 100% perfection all the way down the line FFS! Go away and sulk and spread your negativity elsewhere...as if this nation needs it right now, we all need a lift of some kind in these depressed times, so let's unite and be proud....even if it's only for a short while......you only live once and you're a long time dead. There's plenty of us 'simple minded know nothing' gullable folk around who simply want to enjoy the events and the spectacle and be left in peace to do so......and damn you all, I'm bloody well going to!!
What a farce, the economy is in crises, the building industry and house buying market needs a kick start and we are wasting money on this crap.
I wish we had never won the bloody Olympics, waste of money.
I dont think we can write it off as a waste of money it has kept thousands of construction workers working in our biggest decline for a long time. there could have been a hell of a lot more unemployed if it wasnt for these games. The fact that these olympic projects are finishing is meaning these firms that have been working in there are coming into the open market at cut throat prices, i think it really will be survival of the fittest come summer.
Sorry CAFCBourne but I cannot buy into that concept, my company tried to quote for the fire alarm, security alarm & CCTV work a long, long time ago but surprise surprise this was all done and dusted long before tenders came out because ADT are a games sponsor. We could have done the work for half what ADT charge but we were ushered away out of earshot from Lord Coe when the meeting was held.
I know contractors that are working over there and they are raking it in simply because of the dead lines and the fact its government money, the same happened when they built the Dome.
Open markets and cut throat prices do not sit hand in hand with the Olympics or any other large event such as these.
Oh sorry did you actually want some benefits or did you just want to have a moan?
Or maybe you were looking for how it would benefit you personally. Well no sorry it might not, but then if we all only allowed things to happen that personally beneifited us I would not pay taxes which went towards education, health, defense, public transport etc etc as I never actually have to use any of those services personally.
i was thinking about joining in but i don’t know if i can be arsed. got a bit of a headache as well. still heres some of my thoughts on it...
I’m against the Olympics mainly due to the amount of money it costs, the inconvenience, the corny build up, the tourists and now the threat to my life from terrorists and our own. Oh and Stratford was a crap area, probably because there was nothing there. whether its nice now or not i really don’t care because i was never likely to visit it before and I’m just as unlikely now. apart from those who have always liked the Olympics and those who are making money from it, they would be the only groups of people i can understand ever wanting the Olympics. otherwise i dont get it.
OK so you dont live in Stratford so that means there's no benefits to the Olympics so you are against them?
What exactly were you expecting the benefits to be? Jamie Cooke, a leading pentathelete, to personally come and fit luxury toilet paper in your bathroom? Laurence Lllewellyn Bowen to pop by your gaffe and redecorate your front room. Richard Rogers to nip over and provide you with your own Olympic swimmimng pool in your back yard?
Just how selfish do you want to be?
So apart from the transport, sporting facilities, motivated atheletes, housing, jobs and the 'must not mention' nebulous benefits - what have the Olympics ever done for us?
Actually sod it -every person in Britain isnt benefitting, so they are rubbish ...frankly I'm disgusted only one area of the capital city has been improved beyond belief...bah...mumble mumble #kicks can.... #kicks cat.....
Going back to being a bit more realistic...
Stratford could of easily been rejuvenated years ago. you know why they haven't? its because an Olympic bid can take over ten years to put together. which means money, political interests and land are reserved for the Olympics. So just in case old "lord" Coe and London gets the Olympics the next time it comes to our continent we need space to hold it. so imagine if like china they hadn't thought ahead and built those homes they should of built years ago. they would have to throw out people from their homes in Stratford. "sorry guys, just have to bulldoze down your homes, but don't worry, you'll get free tickets to go see the synchronised swimming." No they thought ahead. so now millions of people who want to come out with the benefits of the Olympics will use the "well at first it was a wasteland but now we have all these homes ok admittedly at slightly higher price than if we had just built them anyway." yeah 'slightly'.
Then with all the money that was spent on the bid alone would of been able to make Stratford beautiful. with probably a little bit left over to maybe make newham look a bit nicer as well. And the rest of the money we are now spending since we won the bid could of been used on what?... the failing NHS maybe? Oh and the sporting facilities, yeah. Sydney a place we all know loves its sports are forking out $32 million a year to keep those underused stadiums open.
but what I'm not saying is that Stratford isn't now a lovely place to go and have a picnic.
Sorry but if that post was aimed at me DRF you have the wrong end of the stick, I knew in the beginning we did not have a chance of winning any work for the Olympics as we are too small a company, I was merely hi-lighting the fact "cut throat prices" & "Open markets" (as quoted by others) do no exist on projects such as these.
And as for your list I really cant see what the "average man in the street " is going to gain from numbers 3-5.
3/ There are numerous areas in the UK that would have benifitted from any sort of sporting facilities as apposed to what London and the SE already has.
4/ Can you really justify the cost of the games as a good way to get kids and adults interested in non main stream sports.
5/ Ditto re Arts & Culture, there are already numerous debates as to how much money the Lottery spends in this area because the "average man in the street" has no interest.
Wouldn't it be a very grey old world if people didnt occasionally spend on something that although not essential it would add to the general joy of the world and enrich the planet. No Eifffel Tower, no decoration on buildings, no flower gardens, no.......on and on. The Australians have a very real point calling us whinging poms.
Wouldn't it be a very grey old world if people didnt occasionally spend on something that although not essential it would add to the general joy of the world and enrich the planet. No Eifffel Tower, no decoration on buildings, no flower gardens, no.......on and on. The Australians have a very real point calling us whinging poms.
All depends on who is making the sacrifice to pay for it.
I love sport and the Olympics but find myself in almost complete agreement with Leroy which is probably a first
I realise that there is always a price to pay for everything but I am glad that I am on the whole a glass half full non lemon sucking person who realises that you are dead a long time and therefore my philosophy is to get as much enjoyment out of life while I can and stop moaning about every god damn thing.
I realise that there is always a price to pay for everything but I am glad that I am on the whole a glass half full non lemon sucking person who realises that you are dead a long time and therefore my philosophy is to get as much enjoyment out of life while I can and stop moaning about every god damn thing.
Was it really neccessary to go to the moon.....no it wasn't but the spirit of mankind sometimes shines through and you just bloody well go for it. Haven't we all spent money on things we can't really afford or done some crazy thing that was completely daft and illogical but at the end of the day turned out to be real fun and immensely satisfying....I know I have and many a time.....sometimes I regret it and sometimes I don't, that's life.....and long may I do so! I know that I'm a glass half full individual......I can live with that and with great pleasure too.
I realise that there is always a price to pay for everything but I am glad that I am on the whole a glass half full non lemon sucking person who realises that you are dead a long time and therefore my philosophy is to get as much enjoyment out of life while I can and stop moaning about every god damn thing.
Shooters: To put the record straight my original post on here has been quoted a lot so I am guessing some of those comments are aimed at me.
Whilst I do not agree with the money we are spending on the games and the fact what we will be left with after the event will be put to good use I am by no means a moaner, glass half empty, lemon sucking type of person.
If you look at a vast majority of my posts on here I am taking the piss, having a laugh and generally on a wind up, I finish a lot of my posts with a smiley face and as in the way I live my life I take much of what is written on here with a pinch of salt.
I am sure a lot of people are going to enjoy the games and not care a less where the money to fund them came from nor what else it could have done.
However I do not share this opinion, have no interest in the Olympics whatever country they are being held in and think the money could have been put to better use.
I realise that there is always a price to pay for everything but I am glad that I am on the whole a glass half full non lemon sucking person who realises that you are dead a long time and therefore my philosophy is to get as much enjoyment out of life while I can and stop moaning about every god damn thing.
Shooters: To put the record straight my original post on here has been quoted a lot so I am guessing some of those comments are aimed at me.
Whilst I do not agree with the money we are spending on the games and the fact what we will be left with after the event will be put to good use I am by no means a moaner, glass half empty, lemon sucking type of person.
If you look at a vast majority of my posts on here I am taking the piss, having a laugh and generally on a wind up, I finish a lot of my posts with a smiley face and as in the way I live my life I take much of what is written on here with a pinch of salt.
I am sure a lot of people are going to enjoy the games and not care a less where the money to fund them came from nor what else it could have done.
However I do not share this opinion, have no interest in the Olympics whatever country they are being held in and think the money could have been put to better use.
I realise that there is always a price to pay for everything but I am glad that I am on the whole a glass half full non lemon sucking person who realises that you are dead a long time and therefore my philosophy is to get as much enjoyment out of life while I can and stop moaning about every god damn thing.
Shooters: To put the record straight my original post on here has been quoted a lot so I am guessing some of those comments are aimed at me.
Whilst I do not agree with the money we are spending on the games and the fact what we will be left with after the event will be put to good use I am by no means a moaner, glass half empty, lemon sucking type of person.
If you look at a vast majority of my posts on here I am taking the piss, having a laugh and generally on a wind up, I finish a lot of my posts with a smiley face and as in the way I live my life I take much of what is written on here with a pinch of salt.
I am sure a lot of people are going to enjoy the games and not care a less where the money to fund them came from nor what else it could have done.
However I do not share this opinion, have no interest in the Olympics whatever country they are being held in and think the money could have been put to better use.
:-)
Like setting up Lemon orchards in Stratford.
Lol, and half size glasses so they are neither empty or full :-)
DLR extensions London Overground improvements and extensions benefitting people from Islington via Hackney, Newham, Lewisham and Croydon Jubilee Line upgrades and increased spend on projects like new trains for the Met, Vic and sub surface lines. Investment in the O2 Investment in Stratford and Lea Valley New hotels in Woolwich, Greenwich, Charlton creating jobs beyond 2012 major investment in the public space. New sports facilities at UEL which will be open for people across the capital London finally gets a Velodrome, world class athletics venue, a modern olympic sized pool, decent hockey facilities, new indoor venues such as the Cooper Box. All of which will be used post 2012 First new park in the city for nearly 100 years
Apart from that, along with the new jobs and training, and the experience of having the games in the city, it's doing nothing for the 7 Million people here.
What a farce, the economy is in crises, the building industry and house buying market needs a kick start and we are wasting money on this crap.
OK then, name the benefits of the Olympics. Name five of them. And I don't mean things like the nebulous 'feelgood factor' here - I mean real, definable and quantifiable benefits - for Londoners, and for the rest of the UK.
Try looking at a 'before' and 'after' picture of Stratford - have you even been to see the massive developments of transport shops and offices, never mind the thousands of extra houses ? (which would have to be built anyway to accommodate London's increasing population.)
Name me 13 and three quarters disadvantages.
So the extra houses would have been built regardless of the Olympics? But presumably spread around London in a more equitable and rational way? Stratford's gain is everyone else's loss. I feel grumpy about it living in South London; I don't know how I'd feel if I Iived in the North of England.
Skint & cold probably. Oh, you'd have a tache and a silly accent too!
Stratford looks great now and it was absolutely horrible before.
There would have been some regeneration without the Olympics but nowhere near as much. I worked on both the Olympics and non-Olympics planning permissions and the latter did about 25% of teh regen of the former.
A large amount (just under 50%) of the housing is affordable or intermediate or shared ownership.
Stratford City would never have been built were if not for the Olympics, it would not have secured the funding. In itself this has prodduced a great deal of regeneration and jobs.
Transport improvements were planned even in a no-Olympics scenario but many of them would never have secured sufficient funding.
Thornton Fields would never have been regenerated without the Olympics. Network Rail would have stopped it.
Lots of other porjects benefitting London managed to get funding by jumping on the Olympics bandwagon including the East London Line extension.
The Olympics leaves us with beautiful meadowlands in place of stingking polluted rivers, housing instead of scrap yards and a wonderful acquatics centre whcih can be used by everyone.
But carry on moaning and being miserable. Us Brits would definately get a gold medal for that.
Comments
Any at all?
So, people dont like the cost (and are blind to the benefits), and they dont like sponsorship which reduces the cost.
hmmm
Some people just like seeing the worst in everything.
Living in Britain does that, I suppose.
Don't want you to think I am negative. Got tickets for an event, but I like to be realistic and I wouldn't have spent all that money on the games myself. Is it hypocritical to go in these circumstances? No I don't think so.
I don't like sponsorship when its from companies like this
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=oly&id=7684500
Raising everyone's taxes to pay for what amounts to a two-week commercial for questionable corporations is an outrage. The 'Olympic Ideal' shouldn't involve junk food and soft drinks companies sponsoring supposedly 'healthy' (more on that later) activity like Athletics. As taxpayers, we most certainly should not be expected to foot the bill for it. If we were asked to vote on whether we'd like to pay extra tax for decades to cover the cost of hosting the Olympics (not just a ballot that asked whether or not people were in favour of bringing the Olympics to London, but told them how much it was going to cost them for this two weeks of 'feeling good about ourselves'), I'm pretty sure there'd be about an 80% 'No' vote - and that's just in London.
The so-called 'wider benefits' of the Olympics for the host nation are almost completely unquantifiable - and for every supposed 'benefit' there are counter-arguments. For instance, the 'it will improve the perception of Britain across the world' argument relies on outdated, naive perceptions of how many people care about the Olympics. The places where Britain's image NEEDS to be improved are unlikely to give two shits about the Olympics because they'll be busy clearing away the rubble of their houses after the latest US drone strike which Britain (and the rest of the Western world) has turned a blind eye to. How daft would anyone have to be to think that some dirt farmer in Afghanistan would give a shit about how quickly Usain Bolt can run a 100 metres with a computerised backdrop of the Union Jack superimposed over a montage of London landmarks running in the background after his country has been bombed back to the stone age.
Drug-testing regimes are an absolute joke. The current 100m world record holder (an absolutely phenomenal athlete, no doubting that) competes for a country where the drug testing is so poor that they don't even have a national framework for it. Entirely coincidentally, in the last three major international meetings, athletes from that country have completely dominated the sprinting events - despite having a comparitively previously poor record in them. The best 'hope' of a medal for British male sprinting is an athlete who is a convicted drugs cheat being allowed to overturn his lifetime Olympic ban. How does this square with the 'Olympic ideal'?
The inconvenience to the host city/country is considerable. The Olympics bring enormous upheaval to those who have little or no interest in it - including transport problems, increased security and surveillance (in a country already ridiculed for it's fetishistic love (and relative ineffectiveness) of CCTV), price-hiking by the hospitality industry, the aforementioned lack of investment in essential infrastructure projects elsewhere in the city/country, enormous white elephants in the shape of stadia that will be almost completely unused after the games and an Olympics delivery authority that seems almost to delight in rubbing this in by insiting on huge quantities of event tickets going to them and their hangers-on and transport lanes on roads that punish people trying to get to work whilst leaving half of the road almost entirely unused for 99% of the day.
There are dozens more arguments against the Olympics. The only hard-to-refute one 'for' it seems to be a nebulous 'it'll make everyone feel proud and make Britain look great to the rest of the world'. one. Well, personally, i couldn't give a fuck how Britain looks to the rest of the world, and I certainly don't give a fuck about any nationalistic pride. The concept of 'belonging' to a nation is dying on it's arse anyway, and has been for years (witness the risible spectacle of a woman now competing 'for Britain' after competing at the last two Olympics for two entirely different countries). The most laughable aspect of it is that some of the biggest supporters of the move away from nationhood and the concept of 'birders' across the world (Coca Cola, McDonalds etc) are being given what amounts to months worth of free advertising by a population that is being told to convince itse'f that the games are 'good for Britain'.
Well I'm going to 'enjoy' it, as I always have, and fuck those who are already lining up to have a go...the poor sad 'half empty' sods that they are. Sure budgets are going to over run (didn't we all know they would) sure there's going to be some things that don't go quite right.......with such a huge and complex mission what do you expect 100% perfection all the way down the line FFS!
Go away and sulk and spread your negativity elsewhere...as if this nation needs it right now, we all need a lift of some kind in these depressed times, so let's unite and be proud....even if it's only for a short while......you only live once and you're a long time dead.
There's plenty of us 'simple minded know nothing' gullable folk around who simply want to enjoy the events and the spectacle and be left in peace to do so......and damn you all, I'm bloody well going to!!
I know contractors that are working over there and they are raking it in simply because of the dead lines and the fact its government money, the same happened when they built the Dome.
Open markets and cut throat prices do not sit hand in hand with the Olympics or any other large event such as these.
http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/handle/2100/443/OlympicGamesImpactStudy.pdf?sequence=1
1. Boost regeneration of one of the most deprived areas of Britain
2. Boost tourism
3. Enhance sporting facilities in the Capital
4. Increase interest in non-main stream sports in the UK
5. Increase interest in arts and culture through a range of related events.
Oh sorry did you actually want some benefits or did you just want to have a moan?
Or maybe you were looking for how it would benefit you personally. Well no sorry it might not, but then if we all only allowed things to happen that personally beneifited us I would not pay taxes which went towards education, health, defense, public transport etc etc as I never actually have to use any of those services personally.
Stratford could of easily been rejuvenated years ago. you know why they haven't? its because an Olympic bid can take over ten years to put together. which means money, political interests and land are reserved for the Olympics. So just in case old "lord" Coe and London gets the Olympics the next time it comes to our continent we need space to hold it. so imagine if like china they hadn't thought ahead and built those homes they should of built years ago. they would have to throw out people from their homes in Stratford. "sorry guys, just have to bulldoze down your homes, but don't worry, you'll get free tickets to go see the synchronised swimming."
No they thought ahead. so now millions of people who want to come out with the benefits of the Olympics will use the "well at first it was a wasteland but now we have all these homes ok admittedly at slightly higher price than if we had just built them anyway."
yeah 'slightly'.
Then with all the money that was spent on the bid alone would of been able to make Stratford beautiful. with probably a little bit left over to maybe make newham look a bit nicer as well.
And the rest of the money we are now spending since we won the bid could of been used on what?... the failing NHS maybe?
Oh and the sporting facilities, yeah. Sydney a place we all know loves its sports are forking out $32 million a year to keep those underused stadiums open.
but what I'm not saying is that Stratford isn't now a lovely place to go and have a picnic.
The blackheath bugle keeps gettting updated and plenty more stories on there this morning re the subject.
http://blackheathbugle.wordpress.com/
And as for your list I really cant see what the "average man in the street " is going to gain from numbers 3-5.
3/ There are numerous areas in the UK that would have benifitted from any sort of sporting facilities as apposed to what London and the SE already has.
4/ Can you really justify the cost of the games as a good way to get kids and adults interested in non main stream sports.
5/ Ditto re Arts & Culture, there are already numerous debates as to how much money the Lottery spends in this area because the "average man in the street" has no interest.
I love sport and the Olympics but find myself in almost complete agreement with Leroy which is probably a first
:-)
Haven't we all spent money on things we can't really afford or done some crazy thing that was completely daft and illogical but at the end of the day turned out to be real fun and immensely satisfying....I know I have and many a time.....sometimes I regret it and sometimes I don't, that's life.....and long may I do so!
I know that I'm a glass half full individual......I can live with that and with great pleasure too.
Whilst I do not agree with the money we are spending on the games and the fact what we will be left with after the event will be put to good use I am by no means a moaner, glass half empty, lemon sucking type of person.
If you look at a vast majority of my posts on here I am taking the piss, having a laugh and generally on a wind up, I finish a lot of my posts with a smiley face and as in the way I live my life I take much of what is written on here with a pinch of salt.
I am sure a lot of people are going to enjoy the games and not care a less where the money to fund them came from nor what else it could have done.
However I do not share this opinion, have no interest in the Olympics whatever country they are being held in and think the money could have been put to better use.
:-)
London Overground improvements and extensions benefitting people from Islington via Hackney, Newham, Lewisham and Croydon
Jubilee Line upgrades and increased spend on projects like new trains for the Met, Vic and sub surface lines.
Investment in the O2
Investment in Stratford and Lea Valley
New hotels in Woolwich, Greenwich, Charlton creating jobs beyond 2012
major investment in the public space.
New sports facilities at UEL which will be open for people across the capital
London finally gets a Velodrome, world class athletics venue, a modern olympic sized pool, decent hockey facilities, new indoor venues such as the Cooper Box. All of which will be used post 2012
First new park in the city for nearly 100 years
Apart from that, along with the new jobs and training, and the experience of having the games in the city, it's doing nothing for the 7 Million people here.
P it was the Greeks!!!!!
anyway think what sport has done for World Peace and understanding too
:-)
Stratford looks great now and it was absolutely horrible before.
There would have been some regeneration without the Olympics but nowhere near as much. I worked on both the Olympics and non-Olympics planning permissions and the latter did about 25% of teh regen of the former.
A large amount (just under 50%) of the housing is affordable or intermediate or shared ownership.
Stratford City would never have been built were if not for the Olympics, it would not have secured the funding. In itself this has prodduced a great deal of regeneration and jobs.
Transport improvements were planned even in a no-Olympics scenario but many of them would never have secured sufficient funding.
Thornton Fields would never have been regenerated without the Olympics. Network Rail would have stopped it.
Lots of other porjects benefitting London managed to get funding by jumping on the Olympics bandwagon including the East London Line extension.
The Olympics leaves us with beautiful meadowlands in place of stingking polluted rivers, housing instead of scrap yards and a wonderful acquatics centre whcih can be used by everyone.
But carry on moaning and being miserable. Us Brits would definately get a gold medal for that.