2012 Olympics

citroenzx · Post by **citroenzx** » 07 Jul 2005, 02:47

as well tax just think of all the money mr livingstone will make from the congestion charges!

demag · Post by **demag** » 07 Jul 2005, 05:59

Sorry, can't get excited about this, much as it is such a fantastic event. I just think it gives B and B more chances to screw the working bloke for even more tax. Looking at the plus side, it is a few years away yet and we might have a proper government then.

Forth · Post by **Forth** » 07 Jul 2005, 06:59

The money that will be blown on the Olympic celeb-fest is not an extra, it is a diversion of what could have been better allocated for the benefit of the whole country and population on road maintenance, playing-fields, education, pensions (preferably via Citizens Income), defence, NHS and umpteen other things in serious need of sorting.
Sadly symbolic of the way things are nowadays, that BBC News 24 kept showing the Olympic piglets jumping for joy at the prospect of a bigger cream-trough ---- while the scrolling news banner at the bottom of the screen mentioned a National Trust report that hill-farming in England was just about dead.... governance by "bread and circuses" for sure, but the sqealingly Americanised crowd shown celebrating London's Olympic "win" seem so dumbed down they don't care that their "bread" side is ever more dependent upon imports from foreign countries... effectively, a gun at their stomachs, with the result that one day soon they will have no choice than to squeak to dictatorial order or go without.

kid · Post by **kid** » 07 Jul 2005, 08:59

By the way will we have any 'athletes' for the games, i can’t think of many in Athens!
Also the congestion charge will stop for the games, simply for publicity and political reasons.
On the other hand its good GB win something, very unusual
the next issue on the IOC meeting is where will the new xantia be built!..... and the winner is........

Kowalski · Post by **Kowalski** » 07 Jul 2005, 14:51

I think Andy (ActivaV6) is building it in his back garden....

Forth · Post by **Forth** » 07 Jul 2005, 21:55

On the other hand its good GB win something, very unusual
Clever one that, by the French -- just like smart countries do with the Eurovision song contest, try to come second, so you still get the credibility, but some unfortunate dupes somewhere else are left deluded that they've "won".... and of course with a massive bill to come for hosting it.

tomsheppard · Post by **tomsheppard** » 10 Jul 2005, 04:07

No Forth. Much as I might agree with your political stance, the Olympics will be good for national pride. As we have just lost Britannia, Concorde and The BBC is being privatised, we need all that we can get.

bxbodger · Post by **bxbodger** » 11 Jul 2005, 04:43

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">By the way will we have any 'athletes' for the games, i can’t think of many in Athens!
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Ahem....Kelly Holmes (2 golds....), Amir Khan, Shirley Robertson, Brad Wiggins ( who beat Brad McGee, sorry, Aussies...) and of course Matthew Pinsent......
Contrary to popular opinion, we are actually pretty good at athletics in this country, and came 8th overall in the medal stakes in Greece- this may not seem brilliant but when its taken by size of population its damned good!!! Obviously the USA and the former USSR are going to win lots more, but look at their population sizes compared to ours....
Stop it with these negative waves Forth, have you no pride in this country???No self respect?????
If the games for some reason don't go ahead, do you for one minute think any extra hospitals or schools will be built?? Of course not!!!
This country is one of the richest in the world- we are a G8 member-i.e. pretty rich, and compared to most of the world we are absolutely awash with health services, schools, etc we are very lucky and have it pretty easy compared to much of the world- go and have a look at India to see what its like in a developing country: you can still see dead bodies in the streets if your'e 'lucky' enough.....remember, for all its faults, if you lose your job or become ill in the UK, you won't die.
To put things in perspective, talk to some of the Poles, Lithuanians , etc who come here to work on the sites- to them this is a wonderland: you DON'T starve if you become ill....

Kowalski · Post by **Kowalski** » 11 Jul 2005, 04:55

Its easy to be negative about this country when you're a car enthusiast, OK our mainstream car industry died a death but there is always Ariel and Noble. We do a good job of putting together various rally and racing cars, wasn't it a British team that won at Silverstone? I heard Martin Brundle saying that 60% of Renault's F1 staff were british too.

Forth · Post by **Forth** » 11 Jul 2005, 06:14

Stop it with these negative waves Forth, have you no pride in this country???
As it stands, quite frankly NO. None whatsoever.
Certainly do wish it was otherwise, but it isn't.
No self respect?????
errr.... yes actually -- well, just enough to not sink as low as pretending to be blind or indifferent to the present day multi-layered governance by corrupt profiteering pc-weasels, or the disintegrating alienated meeja-dumbed celeb obsessed mess that's replaced what (despite its many flaws) could once have been called a viable and cohesive society. That's why I have no pride in this country (whatever it might claim to be).
And in serious political/socioeconomic context, so called "sport" (whether win or lose) is no sustainable substite for reality.

Forth · Post by **Forth** » 11 Jul 2005, 06:45

No Forth. Much as I might agree with your political stance, the Olympics will be good for national pride. As we have just lost Britannia, Concorde and The BBC is being privatised, we need all that we can get.
Re-asserting control of British territorial waters and fishery policy would be a rather more convincing boost than hosting a bunch of highly paid steroidal celebs to run around in pointless circles.
Why worry about the Britannia alone (just another floating gin-palace, albeit a classy one) -- where's the great naval power that Britain once had?
Concorde, impressive though it was, was half French... surely something like the Lightning interceptor or the Buccaneer or the Vulcan bomber was more worthy of British pride. Maybe TSR2 would have been as well, had the government not sabotaged it to evade being pulled into Vietnam.
As for the BBC, it has been getting progressively worse for years, to the extent that far from being a matter of pride it is more a contributor to decline and might be better closed down altogether. As recently as ten years ago I would argue for the BBC's preservation as a national institution (despite its faults) when others argued it should be sold off.... but not now.

bxbodger · Post by **bxbodger** » 11 Jul 2005, 20:35

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Maybe TSR2 would have been as well, had the government not sabotaged it to evade being pulled into Vietnam.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
And there was me thinking we didn't commit troops to Vietnam because of Harold Wilson doing one of his best pieces of political juggling ever while sitting on the fence of mid 20th century anglo-american politics!!!
<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">where's the great naval power that Britain once had?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Currently patrolling the straits of Hormuz.....

Forth · Post by **Forth** » 12 Jul 2005, 05:52

Let off the Vietnam hook in return for totally destroying the TSR2 project, and buying a substitute from USA corporations instead; the so-called Lockheed bribes scandal featuring Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands wasn't the only dubious transaction back then. And who happened to be in the British cabinet of the time, and squeaklessly went along with making the UK even more a subsidiary of the USA --- yes, 'twas Anthony Wedgewood "keeping the title of Viscount in the family in case grand-children might want to use it" Benn.

Forth · Post by **Forth** » 12 Jul 2005, 05:58

Currently patrolling the straits of Hormuz.....
.... while our sea-borders leak like a Tetley's incompetence pad, and the (exceedingly) Foreign Office prepare to betray the Falklands yet again.

howiedean · Post by **howiedean** » 13 Jul 2005, 03:48

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Forth

Stop it with these negative waves Forth, have you no pride in this country???
As it stands, quite frankly NO. None whatsoever.
Certainly do wish it was otherwise, but it isn't.
No self respect?????
errr.... yes actually -- well, just enough to not sink as low as pretending to be blind or indifferent to the present day multi-layered governance by corrupt profiteering pc-weasels, or the disintegrating alienated meeja-dumbed celeb obsessed mess that's replaced what (despite its many flaws) could once have been called a viable and cohesive society. That's why I have no pride in this country (whatever it might claim to be).
And in serious political/socioeconomic context, so called "sport" (whether win or lose) is no sustainable substite for reality.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Perhaps your right and we need to bring back some pride in this country and say Bol*?"*s to those corrupt profiteering pc-weasels.[:D]
To touch on the Falklands I've been their twice now, don't you think that being part of NATO and all our new found CLOSE ties with USA we should be able to reduce the numbers of people Down South safe in the knowledge we would get help if needed?[:o)]