The London 2012 Olympics: Current affairs discussion

[denphone]

Gold in the Mens Cycling team medal pursuit.

Originally Posted by martyh

Having lived in ,worked and visited quite a large portion of this country i would say that we most definitely are multi cultural so it is in my opinion not a fake picture and in all my travels i have yet to see anyone starve to death

---------- Post added at 18:28 ---------- Previous post was at 18:26 ----------



great stuff .

It's just a shame that so many people are starving to death to make all this waste of time and money happen

Let's not spoil the moment, please....

Originally Posted by Hugh

Let's not spoil the moment, please....

well i'm just fed up with some people being all negative about the greatest sporting event we will be involved with in our lifetimes. It is exactly what this country needs ,a bit of success ,a bit of patriotism and a chance to show the rest of the world that GB is still on the map

going up..3rd place...

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19112520

The man behind an unofficial Olympic ticket alerts feed says he is "shocked" by an effort to block the service.
Adam Naisbitt wrote a computer program that checked the official Olympics ticket site to spot when tickets for events were released.

Now, he said, all that those wanting tickets could do was keep re-visiting the official site and endlessly refreshing the page to see if they can spot when tickets were released.
A spokeswoman for Locog said the block was not aimed specifically at the @2012ticketalert service.
Instead, she said, the block was imposed by TicketMaster, London 2012's ticket agency, on all automatic scrutiny of the site in a bid to stop touts snapping up tickets and selling them for a profit.

I'm not sure that will stop ticket touts and how do people manage to keep going back to the site when they have to work,travel,sleep.

[carlwaring]

Originally Posted by Maggy J

going up..3rd place...

Going down! (Oo-er!) 4th now

[Osem]

Awesome performances today one and all. Soooo happy for Victoria Pendleton - she destroyed Anna Meares!

Must be hard for the perennial whiners to see all this glory and happiness and it certainly makes a very pleasant change to see good news being reported in stark contrast to the usual fare of doom and gloom which just makes everyone feel negative.

There's a week of this amazing festival left to enjoy and the wonderful Paralympics to follow so there's still time for even the most gloomy of pessimists to lighten up a bit and get in the swing. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity!

London 2012 is the best!

[alferret]

Originally Posted by Osem

so there's still time for even the most gloomy of pessimists to lighten up a bit and get in the swing

Not a chance, my tax £'s wasted IMO

[Osem]

Well if that's your view, the money is already wasted so why not at least enjoy what you're seeing or does being negative make you feel better about "all the waste"? It rather seems like you're cutting off your nose to spite your face...

Would GB failing miserably, transport chaos and the legacy/payback being negated be a good thing? Would it make you feel happier? If so, why? Surely we have to make the most of this given that the die is cast??

Anyway, if you're that worried about what it's cost you personally maybe the rest of us could have a whip round to make you feel better...

[denphone]

Originally Posted by alferret

Not a chance, my tax £'s wasted IMO

Come on alferret lets see that smile just for us.

[carlwaring]

I could possibly accept his POV if he has a good reason for holding that opinion. "Because I don't like it" isn't really good enough. Neither is "just think what we could have spent it on instead" because you could say that about almost anything.

(Personally, I think most footballers are paid far too much, but that's a whole other thread )

The facts are that without the Olympics the money would not have been spent on us,on London,on anything..There would have been no new schools,hospitals etc beyond what was already planned.

Anyway I am going to ignore all naysayers and nitpickers and enjoy a spectacle that won't occur in my lifetime again..It will probably be another 60 years before we get the Olympics again.

[Osem]

Originally Posted by Maggy J

The facts are that without the Olympics the money would not have been spent on us,on London,on anything..There would have been no new schools,hospitals etc beyond what was already planned.

Anyway I am going to ignore all naysayers and nitpickers and enjoy a spectacle that won't occur in my lifetime again..It will probably be another 60 years before we get the Olympics again.

That's the spirit!

Originally Posted by Osem

That's the spirit!

Nothing else to say

[alferret]

I did actually watch the women's 800mtr freestyle final, only because my wife put it on to watch our local girl Adlington.

---------- Post added at 05:36 ---------- Previous post was at 05:36 ----------

Originally Posted by Osem

Anyway, if you're that worried about what it's cost you personally maybe the rest of us could have a whip round to make you feel better...

---------- Post added at 05:37 ---------- Previous post was at 05:36 ----------

Originally Posted by denphone

Come on alferret lets see that smile just for us.

---------- Post added at 05:49 ---------- Previous post was at 05:37 ----------

Originally Posted by carlwaring

I could possibly accept his POV if he has a good reason for holding that opinion. "Because I don't like it" isn't really good enough. Neither is "just think what we could have spent it on instead" because you could say that about almost anything.

(Personally, I think most footballers are paid far too much, but that's a whole other thread )

My POV has a good enough reason for me to have an opinion. Never said I didn't like it (or did I? sure you'll point me to the post where I said it (or didn't))
Whilst appreciate the spectacle of the Olympics & I fully understand that when we bid & won 2012 we wasn't in the grips of the financial quagmire we are in at the moment, what irks me is that our initial bid of IIRC £2Billion has more than quadrupled & we have had to foot the bill once again because of corporate BS. So my negativity is not against the competitors or the sports they compete in, its down to the cost, the BS we have had to endure & the incompetence of certain parties (not political) that mean we have been screwed over once again.
Seems like austerity is only for the poorer folk & the rest just laugh & spit in our faces. I am not a naysayer because its a sporting event, its because of the cost.
The redevelopment of the eastend & surrounding area's has turned what was once a pretty desperate part of the city into something else is commendable as long as the locals get to reap the benefits from it & it doesn't turn into another status symbol to live in like the Isle of Dogs did/still is.

I will also add that I have the up-most respect for all of the athletes competing aside from those that dont want to win & the ones caught doping.
I understand the hardships that most UK competitors go through, lack of funding etc when other countries throw considerable sums at their entrants. So its down to their true grit & determination that they do so well.

[carlwaring]

Originally Posted by alferret

Never said I didn't like it (or did I? sure you'll point me to the post where I said it (or didn't))

And I don't believe I said you did or didn't either. Mine was a general comment.

To your specific comments, I don't know the actual costings but I'm sure that "corporate BS" (whatever that was supposed to mean) has actually paid for most of the costs. Happy to be corrected though

Also, to your comment about the cost now the country's financial situation has changed somewhat. Exactly what were we supposed to do/say? "Really sorry and all that, but there won't be any Olympic Games this summer as we can't afford it!". Yes, I'm sure that would have gone down well with everyone