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?

Interesting piece though. Thanks for linking

I wouldn't mind if it was the employees who didn't pay tax; on the whole that's peanuts. It's the corporations themselves.

Dont Panic
14 Jul 2012 14:03

CAPTAIN MAINWARING: Gather round men, I have some important news.

CORPORAL JONES (shouts): Gather round, everyone gather round, at the double?

CAPTAIN MAINWARING: Thank you Jones. Now, headquarters have entrusted us with an important mission.

CORPORAL JONES: Important mission, important mission.

CAPTAIN MAINWARING: Indeed. As you know, the Olympics are upon us, and we have been ordered to guard the Olympic stadium.

PRIVATE GODFREY: Why that?s marvellous news Captain Mainwaring. My sister Dolly will be so pleased. Perhaps she can make her upside down cake to feed the athletes.

CAPTAIN MAINWARING: I?m afraid not, Godfrey. Hodges the ARP warden and Greengrocer has the catering contract. Anyone selling unauthorised foodstuffs will be prosecuted.

PRIVATE GODFREY: But I thought Mr Hodges was on the vicarage roof looking for enemy aircraft. Won?t he be overstretched?

CAPTAIN MAINWARING: He?ll just have to make do like the rest of us.

PRIVATE PIKE (giggling): The vicar isn?t half annoyed. Says it make the vicarage a target.

SERGEANT WILSON: Oh do be quiet, Frank.

CAPTAIN MAINWARING: Meanwhile, the road to London is out of commission. Seems the bridge is falling down. I?ve sent Private Sponge and his men to repair it. Should be ready in time, if it doesn?t rain

PRIVATE PIKE: Mr Mainwaring sir, my mum says there aren?t enough of us to guard the whole Olympics. She says there are thousands of terrorists dressed as nuns, all in black. They might have bombs in their wimples.

CAPTAIN MAINWARING: Stupid boy.

SERGEANT WILSON: Maybe Frank has a point. After all, there will be lots of people there. We can?t search them all.

CAPTAIN MAINWARING: Hmm... Perhaps you?re right. (Looks around the platoon) Any suggestions?

PRIVATE WALKER: I can supply as many men as you want, Captain. Just say the word.

CAPTAIN MAINWARING: Really? But how? Most of the army is busy, and the rest are being laid off.

PRIVATE WALKER: Not to worry Captain. I have a contact in the Boy Scouts.

CAPTAIN MAINWARING: Splendid.

PRIVATE WALKER: Mind, they won?t come cheap. I?ll need to thoroughly train them first.

CAPTAIN MAINWARING: Money is no object. How long will it take to turn them into crack guards?

PRIVATE WALKER: Half an hour. Including vetting.

CAPTAIN MAINWARING: That?s settled then. Any more questions?

PRIVATE FRASIER: Aye. How in God?s name can youngsters guard the Olympics? The whole thing is a shambles and will come to ruin, mark my words.

CAPTAIN MAINWARING: Nonsense Frasier. I have complete confidence in them all. Look at the initiative they showed last summer when they supplied us with cheap flat-screen TVs and trainers.

CORPORAL JONES: Don?t Panic!

PRIVATE GODFREY: May I be excused?

PRIVATE FRASIER: We?re all doomed?

:)

@ Spawater

The whole sponsors are needed to pay for the games line is just a pure deliberate lie that people swallow for some reasons. How much could an Olympics cost to put on with no false corporate and nationalistic ego trip? 500 million probably , use existing venues , make it more about taking part than winning is all and let officials and athletes travel on public transport to their events. Ban corporate involvement and let people watch events for free through ballots, 500 million between all of us in this country can't amount to more than a fiver each.

Nobody is going to make a tax free fortune. The corporations are not exempt their normal taxes and only get a small break for the part of the business that runs during the games at games venues.

Individuals are only exempt UK taxes which is fair enough since to compete their are having to be here for 2 to 3 weeks some of them and for those who have large sponsorship deals they have been getting penalised by the UK having a silly and unique tax regime for sportspeople up until now. It is one of the reasons that the has not had large athletic events with real stars for many years and the top tennis players try to avoid UK competitions except Wimbledon as the UK claims a pro rata tax element on world wide sponsorships if you are a sportsperson. e.g. If you win Wimbledon not only do they want to tax the prize money but if you have a 2 million a year deal with cola company they UK expects tax on 2/52's of that too even if the competitor is normally tax resident in Spain or Austria etc so effectively theses sportspeople get double taxed.

Journalists from most countries will still be paying tax on their games earnings in their home countries.

You've got to laugh at the more about taking part than winning lines. The olypmics are about competing at the highest level and whilst Eric Mousambani may have warmed everyones hearts for a couple of minutes those who watch the olympics want to see the fastest, the strongest etc.

The wooly only about the taking part thinking ruined sport in UK schools and education in general

Considering the games were foisted on the nation by Labour it's amazing how many on the left are slagging them off. Maybe you'd prefer a few brass bands, an egg and spoon race with everyone getting a free council house for taking part and a job for life and London second home for the chief organser and for culture a dramatic reading of the socialist worker.

The current Labour party are centre right not left. You accept that new venues not being built is fine surely especially during an economic recession and to help the environment too, makes common sense and cuts the costs massively.

No, as there has not been a suitable venue for athletics in the capital for decades and the only olympic sized pools in the UK with a proper depth are in Manchester with far fewer seats, same with a velodrome. The stadia that have been built are environmentally friendly and will be dismantled, re-used after the games and those that remain will be the legacy venues allowing the UK to attract great events in the future like the FINA or cycling world championships.

Those venues have employed masses of construction workers over the last 6 years and the vast majority of the costs have gone to these UK workers not to corporations pockets.

The bid that was foisted by labour was done in 2006 with the stadium plans etc and construction started almost immediately long before the credit crisis started.

Labour are left wing and could only be called centre right in comparison to socialist France now they have Hollande. Your statement calling them centre right is like saying actually the Conservatives are socialist liberals, compared to the republicans in the USA.

There was a fair ballot for tickets and you could buy them in most other European countries too. I bought our tickets for the opening ceremony, swimming and athletics at the FNAC store months ago and they had hundreds of them available for all events whilst folks were saying there were none unavailable.

I like the sport, I just think that the way it has been held is a disgusting spectacle of thuggery and corporate whoredom.

adbusters
I'd love to see your budget proposals for putting on an Olympics for £500 million!

YANBU...I tried 3 times to get tickets and was unsuccessful, all I wanted was an event in Stratford/Greenwich/Woolwich that didn't cost half a month's salary.

Yes I know I can go and watch a football match in Coventry or wherever, but I want to go to an event that is actually in London!

I can't go away as I'm starting a new job, I already know that it's going to be a nightmare getting there, can see that I'm going to be walking a lot of the route...just hope the sun will be shining

I am trying my best to get excited about it all, on TV/radio everyone saying we should just embrace it and feel the ecstasy of it all ...but now I'm just feeling a bit meh about the whole thing & cannot wait for it all to be over.

Maybe I will have a change of heart when it all starts...actually, will reserve judgement & wait to see how it takes me to get in to work!

NovackNGood: The shooting venue in Greenwich is being build and then completely removed after the Olympics at a cost of many millions. Britain already has a world-class shooting range at Bisley in Surrey - with half the money spend on Greenwich going to Bisley instead we'd upgrade a tired venue to the state of the art and have a permanent legacy.

There was also an article in Private Eye suggesting the Olympic Village could be used for MP's London accommodation to save all their expenses, etc, and the Jubilee line connects it straight to Westminster. They are supposed to live in their constituencies most of the time after all.

Personally I'll be in Spain, missing the transport chaos and security paranoia. I'll also miss the "atmosphere" but not the saturation media coverage.

Peetle +1

The Olympic Village is being converted after the Games for use by essential workers. Actually I do think they could probably re-use some of the marquees on Parliament Green, as overnight accommodation for MPs. But that's another thread!

Oh that would be fun, putting MPs into tents! Long rows of camp beds, the sort where the legs collapse when you move, and the whole thing tips up if you sit on the end of it!

They'd only be in them for about half an hour per session - they'l be at home for the rest of the time!

Oh, (disappointed), I was thinking that they could use them instead of expensive flats overnight. They could have campfire sing-songs, roast potatoes on the fire, and pee in bushes.

i'm a trader at a famous east london sunday market. we got a notice slapped on our car windows on sunday saying that we couldn't park there for TWO MONTHS. so we are buggered. i have a friend with a shop there with a HUGE rent to cover. people will keep away as they can't park apart from tourists who don't spend much, traders won't be able to go there with their stock. i am lucky as dh is the main earner however i trade with other people who don't have that same security to fall back on, they are REALLY worried about how they can pay bills etc. 'the olympics will be good for local business' - they can fuck right off, what a load of lying false bollocks, i am SO FUCKING ANGRY ABOUT IT. we should have been given temporary parking permits, the toursts vistiting for the games will (alot of them) want to come to our market, the market probably won't be and if it is it will be barely functioning, bastards

houses near games venues in roads that have NEVER had parking restrictions have had permits enforced
its one permit per household
even if you have two cars
and have parked them outside your house for 50 years

www.guardian.co.uk/sport/shortcuts/quiz/2012/jul/17/olympics-2012-twenty-twelve oops

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2177018/Ministers-daughter-exposes-Olympic-safety-scandal-Stewards-fake-NVQ-qualifications-trained-hour-nightclub.html