To think that the Olympics is a disgusting spectacle of thuggery and corporate whoredom

[MonkeysNuts]

The last one was in China where no-one would be surprised to hear about abuses done in the name of the spectacle.

It seems however we've imported this totalitarian state to the UK.

To wit, boy riding his bike assaulted by the Torch Guardians:

All the food vendors at the Olympics banned from selling chips, because McDonalds sell them:

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2172168/London-Olympics-2012-McDonalds-force-Olympics-bosses-ban-restaurants-selling-chips-unless-FISH.html

Ground-to-air missiles sited on blocks of flats

stoptheolympicmissiles.org/

13,500 troops deployed, more than in Afghanistan, thousands more, many unpaid, private security staff, attack dogs, sound torture device
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18042528

www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/10/london-olympics-lockdown-2012-games

All cashpoints shut down at Olympics sites if they take cards other than Visa, non-Visa cards banned for payment
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2153008/Visa-branded-cynical-bans-rival-cards-Olympics.html

Advertising exclusion zones around all the Olympic sites

www.london2012.com/business/advertising-and-trading-regulations/

£675m taken from charities to pay for it

www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/london-2012/9366935/London-2012-Olympics-Charities-who-lost-funding-to-pay-for-the-Games-wont-see-their-money-for-another-decade.html

Total fuck-up for central London for transport/living for weeks.

Tourist numbers massively down

www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/news/9311869/Third-of-London-hotel-rooms-empty-for-Olympics-as-normal-tourists-stay-away.html

Olympics sponsored by shit: McDonalds - shit foreign food; Heineken - shit foreign beer (all other beers banned, arrests likely for anyone trying to promote/sell them); Coca Cola - shit foreign drink.

The Olympic ideal was supposed to be pure athleticism, competing for nothing more than honour, instead basically we give our country over to a bunch of plutocrats who get their own Zil lanes to whisk them from Mayfair (they couldn't possibly demean themselves to stay in Stratford) to Stratford and around the country to other venues and to a few big corporations who, in return for putting up a tiny fraction of the cost of the Olympics, get to dictate what we can and can't do in our own country. Did we really want this? A militarised city, where the armed forces are there essentially at the behest of a foreign force, namely the IOC?

Well how would you fund it / run it/ advertise it/ provide security SpringGoddess?

This thread is generally whingeing about the whole Olympics imo hence no wish for athletes or admiration for their acheivements.

You can't have it both ways - complaining about the cost and then complaining about the sponsors. Remove the sponsors and the Olympics becomes financially impossible, which would be an awful pity for the people who will enjoy the event and the athletes who see this as the pinnacle of their careers.

As far as the security costs are concerned, of course they've soared. The London bombings were the day after we won the bid, and changed completely the way security had to be handled. I suppose that's LOCOG's fault as well.

I know it's not all perfect and smiley faces all round, but I can't understand anyone not wanting to get the best out of a once in a lifetime event for themselves and their DC.

We have a logo that's a global laughing stock, a typeface that looks like something a toddler produced with a roll of masking tape, a budget rivalling the military expenditure of a totalitarian state and an Orwellian "thought police" charged with protecting commercial interests and "image". Is it surprising people are hacked off with the whole thing ?

Noone argues with the dedication of the athletes though the sports on display feel like an afterthought. Still, this is the first Olympics where every national team includes female competitors (including two Saudis).

That doesn't stop me going to Spain for the fortnight of competition, then coming back and going to the Closing Ceremony...

Well said Greatauntirene.

The OP cut and pasted a load of anti-olympic shite and the miserable nodding dogs are out in force agreeing.

We know what is really bugging the OP is the interruption to her precious soaps. Maybe she should just go out and buy a boxset or two.

Peetle
The logo is not a laughing stock. Many people like it, many people don't - like most things.

ajandjjmum: I (and many people) can't see it as anything other than Lisa Simpson performing felatio on a headless man. I struggled to see the 2012 before and can't at all now.

I forgot to mention the Team GB strip - I quite like the design but rather expected something with red, white or blue in it.

I can't stand all the Olympics doom and gloom misery.

Bloody hell it is once in a lifetime, it's just fallen at an unfortunate time for the UK/ world

I'm really looking forward to watching it.

Also: boycotting McDonalds forever because they sponsor the games? Bloody hell get a grip won't make a jot of difference to them

I would imagine that our Great British press have teams of journalists and reporters who are tasked with nothing more other than to pick holes in every aspect of the games and look for any angle or story that they can get their grubby mitts on to nit pick and bring the whole thing down.

So we can all look forward to more threads like this unfortunately.

Great to see so many people actually seeing the positive side of the Olympics!

Ariel - I know what you mean, but without the corporate involvement, no-one would be able to afford the Olympics.

Peetle - who's Lisa Simpson? As I said, I like it as do many others, but we're all entitled to our opinion!

Re: the fiasco of soldiers having to be drafted in to cover for lack of security staff, I saw this on a blog site (originally from a military blog) and thought it quite to the point:

Dear Serving Soldier,

You're sacked, but before you go, would you mind awfully helping out at a small sporting event we are holding in London this month. I know you're just back from Afghanistan, but I'm sure your family won't mind if I cancel your leave. You see I have just spent £475,000,000 on a private firm to do the security but they trousered the money and cannot commit. I know we're going to bung G4S an extra 47 million quid for organising this screw-up, but please don't feel that you're not valued, everybody loves you, but I can't afford to pay you overtime, or a 500 quid handout, I have managed to wangle an old warehouse for your accommodation & some rat packs for food, but you should be used to that by now.binrg your sleeping bag and I'll try to get hold of a few mattresses. (Gotta keep the cost down L.O.L).
Many thanks
David Cameron.

I think it's too easy to get hung up on every bit of negative press when actually there is a lot to celebrate.

I've only got tickets for one (rubbish) event but DC are excited, and will remember it forever. We'll watch the rest on TV and do our patriotic best to cheer on the British athletes.

I do appreciate that it must be an inconvenience to Londoners trying to go about their everyday business, but it is only for a few weeks and is showcasing your city, at its very best, to the whole world.

There is certainly good news if you look for it - quicker regeneration of a run down area, estimated benefit to GDP of over £16bn (£6bn to London, grumpy Londoners), improved prospects for businesses (mainly construction I suppose) throughout the UK despite difficult trading conditions, a tourism boost that generally comes in the years after the games etc.

And I agree that a lot of the news about the IOC sponsors - coke, McDs - leaves a sour taste but we are also showcasing British multinationals such as Lloyds, BA, BP etc and a lot of smaller businesses will benefit too; I was reading about a small company in Shropshire that won the contract to make the mascots, who have now won a worldwide contract to make toy cars for BMW.

I'm totally disgusted by the blind and stupid on this thread. Okay, idiots, you can enjoy the sport, you can respect the athletes, but you can still object to the multinational sponsorship, the violence, the complete lack of morals.
I object to the complete lack of morals shown by some on this thread:

Whats the matter, is it going to interrupt your soaps?
For example.

Funny, all this lot are the first to have a go when it's a benefit bashing thread!

I don't think that you can object to the multinational sponsorship actually dawndonna, not without suggesting how you would replace their billion pounds of sponsorship money.

I do appreciate that it must be an inconvenience to Londoners trying to go about their everyday business an inconvenience??

My ex-p (our DC's father who they quite rightly reply on to help support them financially) could lose a huge amount of wages over the Olympics if he is unable to get to work. As it is his working pattern has changed so that he might be able to travel on the jubilee line at a time when it might be less busy, we'll see, but if he can't get into work I am not sure what/if he will get paid.

He was going to live in London to be closer to work (and save the £300+) monthly train fair, but until the Olympics are over finding a place to rent is almost impossible (well, for normal people. Not everyone who works in London is on huge amounts of money).

That is a bit more than 'inconvenient' in my book!!

surely every £ paid by the sponsors is a £ that's not coming out of the public purse?

Sadly the tourism and regeneration boosts are often over estimated by the statisticians.

What upsets me is the corporate involvement and monopolies which in other circumstances would be illegal!

Not to mention that whilst show casing London, the inconvenience may only be a few weeks but it comes when I need to be in hospital in central London making it very difficult for DH and dd to visit. Yes, that's right, sod the world it's me me me!

It's all about money. Which is one of the reasons it's so boring. That's my opinion. (But feeling a bit grumpy this morning.)

So do we want the IOC to push for the best deal they can get in terms of sponsorship and funding, and accept that the sponsors will be expecting exclusivity and big benefits for their cash?

Or do we want them to push for the best deal for the fans, who want to buy chips from several outlets, and use their Mastercard, and accept that the sponsors won't stump up as much in those circumstances (with the taxpayer presumably picking up the difference)?

It's like Christmas. True meaning has been lost and it's all about making money.

YANBU in terms of the sponsorship and disruption, but IMO more good is going to come out of this than bad.

For example, £50 for an Olympic ticket is a lot, but it is infinitely cheaper that flying to Greece, for example, to see the Olympics. Also, for most sports, there are not national competitions for them in this country. We too are going to see the rowing and it is the only opportunity we will get to see the sport at such a high standard. Next time the Olympics come round, everyone will be complaining about not being able to watch any events due to them being in a different time zone!

sponsoring is great, but there is a lien that has been crossed.

everyone selling food that is not McD is not allowed to label, or even say what the name of the company is. That goes too far.

The idiocy of having some long standing caf called "The Olymic Cafe" or something like that being sued for using the name Olympic, and having to change its name...

It has gone a bit to totalitarian in its approach, and THAT's what I object to.

The missiles on people's homes...I would NOT be happy if I had missiles on my roof TBH!

I don't think countries who spend all their money invading other countries (illegally) should endanger their own people in holding a spectacle that only a few will benefit from and is just a pain in the arse for everyone else. It is expensive to fly into Heathrow at the best of times but this year, impossible for us. Let's just hope we don't have a real valid reason to need to get there.

ajandjjmum: Yellow, overachieving 8 year old girl, plays the saxophone in that American documentary series "The Simpsons".

I understand liking design is subjective, it's making it look lie a crude cartoon that's my problem.

A quick trip to the Olympic site tells you all you need to know; you have to walk past loads of high-end shops (Prada, Gucci, etc and, er, Pretty Green) in Westfield to get there. There are some fantastic human stories (look up the Rwandan mountain biker) but they get drowned by the commerciality.