The London 2012 Olympics: Current affairs discussion

[carlwaring]

Originally Posted by TheDaddy

The British House of Commons Public Accounts Committee puts the figure around 11 billion Pounds ($17.31 billion); Games Monitor calculates costs at 13 billion Pounds ($20.45 billion); but a Sky Sports investigative report estimates that, including public transport upgrades, the price tag will be closer to 24 billion Pounds ($37.76 billion)]

Fair enough. You could have written £13bn.

That said....

Originally Posted by Maggy J

I suppose nothing less than wall to wall council housing will suit your agenda.

[OT]
You know what. I never noticed there was a picture of me as a smiley. It's even quite aptly named
[/OT]

Well you can ask for your taxes back if you like..you'll be in the minority..and I'm sorry you hate anyone feeling good about their taxes being put to showcasing how terrific GB really is.

I'm feeling really proud to be British and I'm going to be shouting our Paralympians onwards and up in two weeks time.No one especially beancounters are going to make me stop feeling that life isn't all doom and gloom.

[TheDaddy]

Originally Posted by Maggy J

Well you can ask for your taxes back if you like..you'll be in the minority..and I'm sorry you hate anyone feeling good about their taxes being put to showcasing how terrific GB really is.

I'm feeling really proud to be British and I'm going to be shouting our Paralympians onwards and up in two weeks time.No one especially beancounters are going to make me stop feeling that life isn't all doom and gloom.

What I'm not a fan of is people trying to tell me we got value for money from these games, that's all I've said all along and you in particular seem to have taken exception that and for the record I'll be shouting the papalympians on as well except unlike most people here I'll actually be there, just like I was at the Olympics and I suspect/ hope just like the Olympics it'll be a fantastic day out and something for my children to remember.

Originally Posted by TheDaddy

What I'm not a fan of is people trying to tell me we got value for money from these games, that's all I've said all along and you in particular seem to have taken exception that and for the record I'll be shouting the papalympians on as well except unlike most people here I'll actually be there, just like I was at the Olympics and I suspect/ hope just like the Olympics it'll be a fantastic day out and something for my children to remember.

Me in particular has taken exception??
I rather think it has been you in particular who has taken exception to anyone saying that it was value for money.

[TheDaddy]

Originally Posted by Maggy J

Me in particular has taken exception??
I rather think it has been you in particular who has taken exception to anyone saying that it was value for money.

I don't remember putting words in peoples mouths or accusing them of having agendas...

I think the olympics was fantastic value for money mind you i had supported the idea of the uk hosting it from day 1.

A real greatest show on earth.

Not too keen though on the person who really wanted it to also get that area of London re-invigorated Ken Livingsone not getting a look in,whilst Boris hogged the limelight but thats politics i guess,as Ken said on his LBC radio show when this was bought up,when one dictator takes over from another,the old dictator gets airbrushed out.

[carlwaring]

Originally Posted by richard1960

Not too keen though on the person who really wanted it to also get that area of London re-invigorated Ken Livingsone not getting a look in,whilst Boris hogged the limelight but thats politics i guess,as Ken said on his LBC radio show when this was bought up,when one dictator takes over from another,the old dictator gets airbrushed out.

Boris did acknowledge and thank Ken in the big Press Conference the other day.

Just thought I'd mention it

Originally Posted by carlwaring

Boris did acknowledge and thank Ken in the big Press Conference the other day.

Just thought I'd mention it

Thanks Carl thought he had mentioned Ken,just i would have liked to have seen Ken have a prominent position in the seating.

But Ken has said in the past he is not really a sports fan,he just wanted to get the olympics to get that area of London regenerated, so probably was not that diappointed anyway,he was quite honest and open about that,objective acheived.

[TheDaddy]

Originally Posted by TheDaddy

Funny you mention the housing, I wonder how affordable the affordable housing is actually going to be.

Heard earlier on the radio how affordable it'll be, the maximum anyone will pay for a flat will be £300k, mind you that's the maximum, sure the rest will be very reasonable...

[TheDaddy]

Its what the olympic spirit is really all about imo

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19271094

[mertle]

http://summergames.ap.org/lubbockonl...uring-olympics

some interesting stats info come from over the pond about the effect london olympics have had.

Tourism was down by 10-30% all over the country which disapointing to hear. London net yet known if they was down likely difficult to judge.

some of the reasons was worry has olympics gone tooo comercial for its own good become counter productive to those hosting it now.

"A lot of people thought London would be very busy and very expensive at this time," said Mary Rance, the group's chief executive. "We weren't completely surprised but we were a bit disappointed that (the Olympics) seem to have had an impact around the U.K., not just London."

another sad problem was another

"The people who came to the games really didn't do very much sightseeing, didn't do very much shopping, didn't do very much eating out," said Miles Quest, a spokesman for the British Hospitality Association.

I think rio will have to address these issues. Balance tourism with olympics.

Visa had massive boom wonder if many used there credit cards for tickets.

There were some positive signs. Visa, the only credit card accepted at the Olympics venues, reported that international visitors to Britain spent more than 450 million pounds ($705 million) on their cards during the first week of the games, up by 8 percent on the same time last year.

looking these early indicators aint looking good for total effect of the olympics financial side.

looking at this you would not be shocked if the country made a loss.

Sad visitors did little sight seeing athletes can understand but shame to hear all the same.

[carlwaring]

Although, to be fair, if you've spent all that money to come here, and on tickets, then I would have thought you'd spend as much time as possible actually at the games

I think any extra money might come in now; ie after the games, with those people coming back to do other stuff.

Of course, I could be completely wrong

Of course the country will have made a loss. That's not the sole metric to judge if it was a success.

[Stuart]

Whether the games helped local business depends who you ask. I work in Greenwich, next to the park, so although I didn't go to the games, I got to see the impact on local business. Greenwich Market (which had been told by both LOCOG and the council) that it would do well was nearly empty every day (actually had a fraction of the customers it normally does). The shops apprently did well (all reporting increased takings), but there might be a good reason for that..

They put barriers up everywhere in Greenwich, to direct pedestrians between the station and the Park.

The route they chose goes past pretty much every shop in the Maritime area of Greenwich (the area between Greenwich station and the Cutty Sark), but they didn't seem to allow Greenwich Market to advertise along that route, and while the market was still accessible, the people going there had to know where exactly to cross the road, and the holes in the barriers don't directly line up with the Market entrances or exits.

Of course, that had nothing to do with the fact that Greenwich Market sells food, and at the officially approved stalls near the entrance to the arena, they were selling Sandwiches for £7.50.

I had a delivery down to Stratford today and went past the Olympic villiage ,last time i was down that way was just before the games and now it's sad to see the area being torn apart ,necessary but sad