Lol @ Sarah :-)

Woo hoo, go team GB! Though it's a little weird to have it starting 2 days before the opening ceremony! Also, I'd got my dates mixed up, I thought it was starting tomorrow - so I am home Friday night to watch the opening ceremony, yay! :-D

Anyhow! We have won our first match woohoo,

Well done footie girls, that's the way to start.

Nobody is saying you are not intelligent, and you are not all entitled to your opinions. As usual people do not want to know the truth about what has really gone on.
In my last post I was answering some of the inacurate statements made by previous posts re the minimun wage and interview availability.
But as long as you can watch TV and nothing upsets your own little worlds, what does it matter about how billions of tax payers money has been spent.
And people who have lost their homes, for want of work and contracts that were deliberately put back till after the games, well never mind it was probably their own fault anyway !!!

Is your OH directly involved in recruitment and the strategy behind how it was going to work ?

How can you say we are not entitled to opinions or even actually know a lot of the 'truth' as maybe some of us know abit more than you are giving us credit for. You seem to be very emotive about this so have you lost your home recently ?

> As usual people do not want to know the truth about what has really gone on

I think it fair to say that your view of the truth may be different to that perceived by others.  Sometimes it depends on the source, other times it may depend on your personal world view.

I'm very happy that we all have differing views on this event - each to their own - but I do find some of your sweeping generalisations a bit grating dorcas...

No my OH is not involved in recruitment he is a tradesman. I have no strategy other than to tell people what has gone on.
Sorry the not was a typo in the wrong place of course everyone is entitled to an opinion

We do know people who have been devastated by the recession and who have lost their homes, that is why I am emotive about the issue. People who could have been employed on the Olympic site if given the opportunity.

We have been lucky as my husband has managed to obtain work, but it has involved travelling all over the country and considerable time away from home. But others from this area have had little work in the last few years. Once the Olympic site was completed it was amazing that projects that had been put on hold were suddenly released. Yes I am very cynical lived long enough to have seen and experienced a lot.

I wish very good luck to the athletes as it is not their fault, and they have trained hard I hope they get lots of medals and I will be cheering for them.

I just get annoyed that the profits of large companies go before what should have been great opportunities for employment for a lot of people.  The security situation is another example of cheap labour policies, and the police and the armed forces having to be drafted in. Profits Profits instead of sensible solutions.

Ok so with all due respect you have made some very sweeping statements without knowing what has actually happened :-)

I also have to travel and work away from home but if you want to make sure you make a living and pay the mortgage it has to be done.

Not complaining as I said we are lucky my OH has had the opportunity to work, others have not.

I know exactly what happened.

Choose to believe what you want.

  We all live in Fairy Land where brown envelopes stuffed with cash do not exist.

> I know exactly what happened.

Yes but to you or some people you or your husband know NOT necessarily the whole picture - that's why I commented on differing points of view depending on source...  I too have some personal experience and it genuinely doesn't match yours.  However, this is to be expected and is why I haven't given my examples as I don't have the whole picture either :)   I do disagree with many of your sweeping comments such as "most of the rest of the country could not care less".  By all means tell us what you think but please don't presume to know my thoughts

> We all live in Fairy Land where brown envelopes stuffed with cash do not exist

Er... ?

I believe what I know rather than perhaps your understandably blinkered view.

Corruption is in every walk of life but I think envelopes full of lolly is a bit far fetched when it comes to the whole picture ;-)

Blinkered I don't think so.

If you think that corruption is far fetched you are very naive the construction industry is built on it.

Not going to comment any further as absolutely no point.  

How very typically British......knock it all down!

Im looking forward to this historic occasion and accept that there will be the same people moaning ... just the way it is.

Our tabloid press have pandered to this culture of 'set 'em up...knock 'em down' for decades until it has become the UK hobby!

For those that are less interested in the sporting aspect of the games do have a look at what else might be on.  On The Culture Show they covered a few different exhibitions and music events which I thought were well worth looking into so I went Googling!  It's really interesting to see how artists and musicians have responded to the games coming to London and the Cultural Olympiad has been on the go since 2008.  I suspect I've been deaf to much of this and was surprised just how much else is going on...

Prepare to be woken up at 8.12 am on Friday by Martin Creed - All the Bells Work No. 1197 (simultaneous, nationwide bell-ringing to celebrate the first day of London 2012).  I'm looking forward to this one and really hope I can hear something where I live - it should sound fantastic in the cities :)

Tom Dyckhoff spoke very eloquently about The Architecture of London 2012 in a previous culture show edition so his book ought to worth a look, as are the buildings themselves. 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2167471/London-2012-Foreign-workers-nearly-half-Olympic-Park-jobs.html

The Daily Mail must have also got it wrong !!!
Also the  figures are distorted as anybody with a London Postcode was counted as Local Labour.

http://www.davidicke.com/headlines/68786-many-olympic-park-jobs-went-to-foreign-workers-despite-government-pledges

and how can the cost possibly be justified ? - I've just read that my original figure of £9 billion is way out  - the real total will be over £20 Billion pounds !!- heck the opening ceremony will cost £63 million - and all the spin about how much money it will bring into the country and it's lasting legacy is just that - spin - Spain was left with a deficit of £5 Billion , the Athens games left Greece with huge debts and unused crumbling stadiums and the Montreal games took over 30 years to pay off !!.

And all this for 3 weeks of running, jumping and throwing things  - and lets not try and pretend that anyone outside of London will have any kind of lasting legacy - I'm a 57 year old women living in the middle of the Lincolnshire Fens - what possible benefit could a super duper, hugely expensive,  purpose built, cycling track in the East End of London be for me once the games are finished ?

...meanwhile the Hydro pool at the Special school I teach in has had to close for lack of funds...our country is on it's economic knees and more and more people are being made redundant as small firms go under - it's like some kind of bad joke - look at that figure again £20 BILLION and ask yourself is it truly worth it just so that we can watch synchronised swimming and beach volleyball and the government can play corporate host with their cronies around the world ?

Yvonne

>I'm a 57 year old women living in the middle of the Lincolnshire Fens - what possible benefit could a super duper, hugely expensive,  purpose built, cycling track in the East End of London be for me once the games are finished ?

The same benefit as the M5 has to people living in Newcastle - it's available for them to use.

You can't please all of the people all of the time.

> I'm a 57 year old women living in the middle of the Lincolnshire Fens - what possible benefit could a super duper, hugely expensive,  purpose built, cycling track in the East End of London be for me once the games are finished ?
>

If it inspires more people, particularly young people, to become actively involved in sport and become a fitter nation we will all benefit from that.

>Prepare to be woken up at 8.12 am on Friday by Martin Creed - All the Bells Work No. 1197 (simultaneous, nationwide bell-ringing to celebrate the first day of London 2012).  I'm looking forward to this one and really hope I can hear something where I live - it should sound fantastic in the cities

I'm afraid we can't do that in our little village, we don't have enough retired bellringers - 4 out of the 6 of us need to go to work on a Friday morning! It's a nice idea though. :-)

Is that really happening? I thought it was something they'd invented in Twenty Twelve! :-o Now I don't know what's true and what's fiction!

The same benefit as the M5 has to people living in Newcastle - it's available for them to use.

seriously ???...and you're right - they can't please all of the  people all of the time and  I'm sure those whose hobby is sport and who live in London, will be pleased to have a 'lasting legacy' paid for by the rest of the UK   - but lets just have a show of hands here shall we - who on this forum is REALLY gong to use any of the facilities built for the Olympics once this whole jamboree has finished ?

Personally i don't know anyone who will

Yvonne

I guess we'll just have to wait and see until after the whole shebang is over, what positive or negative effect the games will have had on the economy. Certainly the reporter on the news last night seemed to be hanging the turn around of our economy on the games .

For what it's worth, I'm with Trevor .

Another thing to add I think it also is a great family event as I know quite a few people who are going to the events with their kids and also I think that the tv coverage will be excellent ( thank goodness it is with the Beeb but let's hope or doesn't rain much and we have another Royal Pagent type thing !)

I know Dingo my soon to be nine year old has had great fun at school doing loads of Olympic based things both sporting and presenting as her class did an assembly on it ! Dingo had to name all the Olympic events and she was struggling on pronouncing equestrian and she practiced so hard. On the day she can to the word took a deep breath and said it perfectly and had a grin from ear to ear. I was choked up as had a real proud mummy moment !!

That is what the Olympics is all about getting nations together and taking part on sports which people have dedicated their life's to and to take part is one achievement but to win I should imagine must be one of the best feelings ever.

I did county athletics and the thrill of racing was just brilliant !

Did anyone else see the thing about the Olympic pool in the papers ?
Because of the way the roofs been designed, anyone sitting in the top tiers can't see the top diving board !, they'll get a view of the bottom board and the pool, not much use to those who have ticket's for the diving. Some spokesperson explained that it was perfectly acceptable, as they'd still be able to view it on the big screens that will be installed, I'd be livid if i'd spent all that money just to watch it on a big telly.

Behind all the glitz and glamour there are thousands of people who have trained and dedicated their lives to competing in these games, for themselves and for their countries. Only a few will go on to make a fortune from promotional work afterwards and the majority have done all this while having to study at school/college/uni, hold down jobs, raise families etc etc. Not every sport has huge amounts of sponsorship given them and for so many these few weeks are what all the hard work has been about and very probably their one and only chance. My nephew was in a GB Olympic squad but in a less publicised sport. That meant very little funding and in the end he had to step down as financially it was impossible to continue to work and train.  But I say 'Good Luck' to all the people who the Olympics are for. I hope Team GB are amazingly successful and this Country gets behind them and supports them all the way.

Well said Val :-)

I can see your point but like in any big event not everybody has a grand stand view so not unusual.

It is the same for music events as well .

Behind all the glitz and glamour there are thousands of people who have trained and dedicated their lives to competing in these games, for themselves and for their countries. Only a few will go on to make a fortune from promotional work afterwards and the majority have done all this while having to study at school/college/uni, hold down jobs, raise families etc etc.


but is'nt that true of any hobby ?- a friend of mine competed in the World Agility finals last year, it required just as much dedication and training but she certainly did'nt expect the rest of us to pay for it !!  -UK Olympic competitors have received over£300 million in funding so that they can concentrate exclusively on their sport - including those 'plastic Brits' who are funded by the Uk and compete under our flag but then go back to  to their home country.

Yvonne

I can see your point but like in any big event not everybody has a grand stand view so not unusual.

It is the same for music events as well .

yeah, I suppose that's true, but this thing was built specificly  for the swimming event's, you'd think somebody would have noticed at the planning stage.

but is'nt that true of any hobby ?- a friend of mine competed in the World Agility finals last year, it required just as much dedication and training but she certainly did'nt expect the rest of us to pay for it !!

But your friends hobby isn't a recognised Olympic sport. If it was she'd be entitled to some form of help if she was of the aquired standard.

Those plastic Brits have just as much right if they have relatives which give the the correct criteria to be classed as British.

If anybody is in the UK and is good enough and has the commitment they have the same chance of funding and getting in the team.

I wanna go!!! I really do but don't have tickets and have work to do :(

oh dear best keep my finger of the key pads.... :)

who on this forum is REALLY gong to use any of the facilities built for the Olympics once this whole jamboree has finished ?

And the facilities that have been built all over GB to say nothing of the increased access to sport that is being offered to the countries children.

Then, of course, there is the benefit to those now in work all round the country who would not have been had it not been for Olympic inspired contracts, but there will be those who are only happy to be complaining so each to their own I suppose.

> but lets just have a show of hands here shall we - who on this forum is REALLY gong to use any of the facilities built for the Olympics once this whole jamboree has finished ?

Yvonne WE are not the target audience/user and of the 20 or so people who are reading and replying to this thread I suspect we aren't even remotely representative of those  that will ultimately benefit from direct use.  In fact most of the benefits of these buildings and parks are likely to be indirect and longer term

The ethos behind the buildings of the London 2012 Olympics is well worth a read: A story of sustainable architecture.  I suspect that our architects, town and city planners, engineers, and designers will all learn lessons (as they have from previous olympic events) and will influence the way we approach the design of public buildings.  This architecture will form part of the vocabulary for design and will be used in teaching and training for years to come

The negatives of the games are so easy to quantify - given that we can all find stories involving the financial cost - but the positives are always going to be harder to quantify and only really apparent in time.  Pride, enthusiasm and inspiration are huge motivators for change but so difficult to pin down and possibly not immediately obvious.

In the meantime there does appear to be a solid groundswell of support for our athletes and a creeping sense of enthusiasm for the event.  Hip hip hooray :)

What facilities ? - the kids in my class have had their pool taken away from them because our local education authority cannot afford to keep it open - and note this is a therapy pool for special needs kids - I'm racking my brains here but cannot think of one single new facility that's been built because of the Olympics in my local area.

Yvonne

Yvonne WE are not the target audience/user

but we sure as hell are the ones that were targeted to fund it !! -

Yvonne

Yvonne I find your level of negativity really very depressing.  The negative stuff is simply too easy a target and I'm no Pollyanna but there are positive stories wherever you look.  Can you genuinely not see them or are you just presenting the worst for the sake of argument?

Yvonne, have they tried for lottery funding?

As it worries you so much, how much have you had to personally pay for the Olympics?

Yvonne I find your level of negativity really very depressing.

...and I find it equally as depressing that you think this is the best use of over £20 Billion ...

Yvonne

The same could be said about anything that taxes go to.

I pay tax and use my GP but have private health insurance and pay tax on top of that because it is a benefit but I don't begrudge others who are worse off than me that have to use the NHS a lot because off illness that perhaps can't work and so don't contribute much.

The benefit from the Olympics are both tangible and non tangible and just because everybody doesn't  see or experience a personal gain is going towards quite a selfish attitude.

If you lived in a place where things were visible would you feel the same ? You choose to live where you do for a reason but that reason is not there to get funding for everything to have it on your door step.

here...here Trevor!!

I don't think you all quite realise how this has significantly contributed to the economy and how much it will in the future.

Thousands of people and companies have benefited ( and not the majority are over seas ;-) )

It is an investment project to get this up and running otherwise it would never have happened.

> you think this is the best use of over £20 Billion

Do I think that?  I've certainly not said it in this thread or any other... !!

It's worth mentioning though at this point that the figures you quote are not all from the public pocket and much of that figure is from corporate pockets who will expect to (and will) get a more than adequate return on their investment.  This is not money that has been 'robbed from Peter to pay Paul'

> don't think you all quite realise how this has significantly contributed to the economy <

we are now in a double dip recession??

Yes and so are many more countries and without the Olympics we would have had a shed load more people going out of work and also companies collapsing.

One of the things they are looking at us more investment in large infrastructure programmes like this as it is a good way to boost the economy and create jobs and keeping ailing companies afloat.

> In fact most of the benefits of these buildings and parks are likely to be indirect and longer term
>

I think the games themselves will also have indirect and long term effects. My hope is that it will inspire others, people who will not be going within miles of the actual games themselves.
  It was a London Club that gave us Bradley Wiggins but I bet thousands of young men up and down the country who will never go near that London club have dusted off their bikes and been out for a spin whenever the rain stopped :)

I think some of those bikes may well have been retired as this is a clear example of the positive effect :-)

http://m.guardian.co.uk/environment/bike-blog/2012/jul/25/bradley-wiggins-boost-uk-cycling-sales?cat=environment&type=article

Also the effect of the potential boost to uk businesses

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18988181

Your posts have been very inspirational to me, dogs a babe :)
I have been rather focused on the health aspect of the games but I shall definately be taking a closer look at the architecture when I visit London in September.