[digitaltoast]

Best thing I've heard about the Olympics is one of Starkey's greatest rants on last Friday's "Any Questions"; listen at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode..._2012/?t=7m25s (7m 25s in in case that doesn't work) or here's the transcript of part of it.

“I am fed up of this national act of everybody get together, jump up and down and pretend they’re at a school camp for the Olympics. I hate forced celebration, I hate turning my capital city into a theme park. I hate Zil limousine lanes. I hate the Olympic emblem which has become a kind of plague curse on the entire city, distorting it, perverting it; and I hate the rape of Greenwich Park in which one of the noblest of parks is defaced by this monstrous erection, and I use that word deliberately, this monstrous erection for a lot of prancing horsemen and women for about five minutes to satisfy the television cameras. I won’t rejoice and I hope the whole thing is buggered.”

I hope, when the boss of G4S comes before the select committee later, that he'll be grilled and roasted to a crisp. I have this feeling he won't be, though, because of the danger of it going back down the line. Look at Hunt being interviewed here - he's absolutely crapping himself, he knows the game is up:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18866153

You heard it from the man - he "guarantees" a safe Olympics with no problems. Really worth watching just to see the man wriggle....

[Divingbrit]

Free speech is a wonderful thing

[MagicNMedicine]

Miserable git.

[squeakysquirrel]

(Original post by digitaltoast)
Best thing I've heard about the Olympics is one of Starkey's greatest rants on last Friday's "Any Questions"; listen at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode..._2012/?t=7m25s (7m 25s in in case that doesn't work) or here's the transcript of part of it.



I hope, when the boss of G4S comes before the select committee later, that he'll be grilled and roasted to a crisp. I have this feeling he won't be, though, because of the danger of it going back down the line. Look at Hunt being interviewed here - he's absolutely crapping himself, he knows the game is up:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18866153

You heard it from the man - he "guarantees" a safe Olympics with no problems. Really worth watching just to see the man wriggle....

Starkey is a bit like Enoch Powell in that he talks about the elephant in the room- (and if you know your history you will see he was maligned - his speech was taken in such a wrong way - he was predicting conflict not complaining about immigration)

I am fed up with the Olympics - already. The torch is coming through our town today - all the signs went up weeks ago; empty shops have been given pictures on the windows to make them look occupied - all at what cost. Traffic will be awful. And if it is a torch relay - surely you are supposed to pass it onto people not get a new one each time. And... I wonder how many people who get excited abut this bloody thing realise that the torch lark was started by Hitler for the Berlin games.. rant rant.

[Divingbrit]

torch lark was started by Hitler for the Berlin games.

yes, we all knew that, and Enoch was mis quoted many times, but the cost of the torch route is being met, by the sponsors, so its 'no cost to you!' Traffic will be awful, yes it will because people want to see it, some don't, but many do. Its the flame that is passed not the torch, and thats always been the case. Difference this time , while in 1948 they had a much shorter route and only used 1600 torches, now so many more wanted to take part they are using 8000!

[Miraclefish]

No, the cost of the torch route is not being met by the sponsors. Some of it is. But the knock-on costs of policing, arranging, route scouting, closures... all of that is being paid for by the taxpayer.

The whole thing is a farce. The amazing ideal of amateur sports for everyone to enjoy, something wonderful, has been subsumed into the overbearing corporate sponsorship. Flower shop owners making rings to hang in their window to celebrate are forced to take them down for copyright reasons... that isn't something glorious. That's a shame for the entire nation.

[digitaltoast]

(Original post by Divingbrit)
yes, we all knew that, and Enoch was mis quoted many times, but the cost of the torch route is being met, by the sponsors

I very, very much doubt that, but assuming you're correct, are you saying it's OK for towns, business and people to be put to cost and expense so Coke and McDonalds can get their giant mobile billboards see?
I didn't get any money for my 12 mile 1 hour detour round town. Where do I put in my claim?

(Original post by Divingbrit)
Its the flame that is passed not the torch, and thats always been the case.

As you'll have seen, due to poor torch design, the flame has been blown out multiple times by wind. What happens then is a bloke with a cooker lighter runs up and gets it going. Explain how "the flame" is being passed here?

[Quadratic]

I'm quite fed up with the olympics locally. When the Torch came through my town they cleaned and weeded all the roads on which it would be going down. Consequently they spent a lot of extra money and couldn't host the half marathon that they host every year. What for I'll never know because it's hardly like we'll get on TV or anything... EVERYWHERE has the Torch, there's nothing special about our town.

[Marlo Stanfield]

starkey probably unhappy at how blacks will dominate the sprinting. no doubt he will claim they have an unfair advantage from their years of looting.

starkey needs to stfu, lay down the pies, take off his goddamn appalling glasses, and try doing some exercise. then maybe he'd appreciate what the olympics is about. come on GB!

[M'Ling]

God bless misanthropy.

[digitaltoast]

(Original post by Marlo Stanfield)
starkey probably unhappy at how blacks will dominate the sprinting. no doubt he will claim they have an unfair advantage from their years of looting.

I must have missed that bit. Listening back to it again, perhaps you'd like to take 3 or 4 of his points and let us know where your disagreement with them lies?

(Original post by Marlo Stanfield)
starkey needs to stfu, lay down the pies, take off his goddamn appalling glasses, and try doing some exercise. then maybe he'd appreciate what the olympics is about. come on GB!

OK, what IS the Olympics about? Is is the £2bn which turned into £12bn?

Is it the kit and equipment which is made in China?

Maybe the special tax haven which surrounds the Olympics and profits on corporate sponsors?

Is it the embarrassment of a logo scrawled by a child which cost nearly half a million?

Is it the G4S fiasco where costs rose from £80 million to nearly £300 million and yet only a third of staff have turned up and the army are filling the gaps?

Is it the butchers and bakers threatened with prosecution for making olympic-ring shaped sausages or cake decorations?

Is it LOCOG with their ban on any links to their site unless it's positive coverage? Is it the so-called "legacy" which won't happen, those jobs which never got created or went to overseas workers?

Maybe it's all those "targets" and "aspirations" for sport participation which have now been quietly dropped.

You tell me...

[Fires]

(Original post by digitaltoast)
Best thing I've heard about the Olympics is one of Starkey's greatest rants on last Friday's "Any Questions"; listen at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode..._2012/?t=7m25s (7m 25s in in case that doesn't work) or here's the transcript of part of it.



I hope, when the boss of G4S comes before the select committee later, that he'll be grilled and roasted to a crisp. I have this feeling he won't be, though, because of the danger of it going back down the line. Look at Hunt being interviewed here - he's absolutely crapping himself, he knows the game is up:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18866153

You heard it from the man - he "guarantees" a safe Olympics with no problems. Really worth watching just to see the man wriggle....

LOL, love the bit about the Zil lanes. Starkey speaks for the nation.

[Fires]

(Original post by squeakysquirrel)
Starkey is a bit like Enoch Powell in that he talks about the elephant in the room- (and if you know your history you will see he was maligned - his speech was taken in such a wrong way - he was predicting conflict not complaining about immigration)

I am fed up with the Olympics - already. The torch is coming through our town today - all the signs went up weeks ago; empty shops have been given pictures on the windows to make them look occupied - all at what cost. Traffic will be awful. And if it is a torch relay - surely you are supposed to pass it onto people not get a new one each time. And... I wonder how many people who get excited abut this bloody thing realise that the torch lark was started by Hitler for the Berlin games.. rant rant.

Meanwhile the state security police (PC plod to you and me) continue to harass and arrest anyone who so much as unfurls a banner in the vicinity of the torch.

The UK is increasingly becoming a China-like state, or even a branch office of Beijing.

[Marlo Stanfield]

(Original post by digitaltoast)
I
You tell me...

nah, worth it for that feeling when I see Alistair and Jonny Brownlee coming round the final bend in Hyde Park for a 1-2 triumph

[alis-volatpropriis]

Fed up of the damn Olympics, wish I was travelling to another country for the whole summer.
Olympics this, Olympics that..
People are acting as if this is the first ever Olympics.
So much money has been spent on the stadium that will be most likely abandoned after the games.

[Ham22]

Yeaaasss, in a similar vein, I enjoy Will Self's sentiments on The Ol-im-pix:

I think the Olympics suck dog**** through a straw. People believe they encourage da yoof to take up running, jumping and fainting in coils – but this is nonsense. They’re a boondoggle for politicians and financiers, a further corruption of an already corrupt self-appointed international coterie of Olympian *****, an excuse for ‘elite’ athletes to **** each other, snarf steroids and pick up sponsorship deals, and a senseless hitching of infrastructural investment – if there’s any reality to this anyway – to a useless loss-trailing expenditure on starchitectural bollix. The stadia themselves are a folly. The new Westfield is a temple to moribund consumerism – in ten years time they’ll all be cracked and spalled; a Hitlerian mass of post-pomo nonsense.

Full interview: http://www.epigram.org.uk/2012/01/wi...olympics-suck/

[Pitt1988]

I'm so glad I don't live in London.

[Ham22]

(Original post by Pitt1988)
I'm so glad I don't live in London.

Me too! I can't imagine how intense the olympics b.s. is down there. Good luck to anyone wishing to leave their house over the course of it all. Sardines.

[Fires]

(Original post by alis-volatpropriis)
Fed up of the damn Olympics, wish I was travelling to another country for the whole summer.
Olympics this, Olympics that..
People are acting as if this is the first ever Olympics.
So much money has been spent on the stadium that will be most likely abandoned after the games.

In the comedy series "2012", which is increasingly seeming more real than the real thing, the stadium is currently being touted to local greyhound racing firms for use as a dog-track after the Games.

[geetar]

I hate the Olympics. £10 billion of public money is going to be wasted on a glorified party, so a bunch of overpaid, steroid abusing athletes can run around in a circle several times, and then cry about it. Britain is undergoing terrible social problems at the moment, and people like Tessa Jowell and Sebastian Coe have the gall to claim that it will be of a benefit to the country at large. We will end up with empty stadiums, and a legacy of incompetence, decaying buildings, and false promises.

We should be spending this huge amount of money on schools, hospitals, defence, updating our creaking transport system. Have people forgotten about the riots? Do they think that hosting the Olympics is going to help with these issues? This latest scandal with G4S is symptomatic of the whole ridiculousness of the entire situation. The only people who are going to benefit from this are the corporate sponsors - just take a look at how many adverts are piggybacking off the games - the ministers, and corrupt quangos and committees, like the IOC. Nobody else.

This won't encourage exercise and health. This won't encourage 'national pride', or whatever asinine statement is used to justify the project. This won't help Britain, or be of value to the British taxpayer. The country will come to a standstill, and many people have already lost out.

I realise that this is an unpopular opinion, and I imagine that many of you will disagree with me, call me a killjoy, whatever else. But it's the truth, and I say it because I care about Britain and the people who live in it. I care that we live in a society which gives us value for money, which is focused on key services like health and education. I care that the vast amount of money each taxpayer gives away is put to good use. And I care that those in power are not afraid to focus on the real issues, that will help improve the quality of life for each and every person. The Olympics is a fool's paradise, and we will be paying for it for decades to come.