^To be fair there should be a pay off in tourism. The Sydney Olympics kicked off an unprecedented boom in Oz tourism.
^To be fair there should be a pay off in tourism. The Sydney Olympics kicked off an unprecedented boom in Oz tourism.
Don't let facts get in the way, it was Labour who massively increased public sector employment and the amount they were paid + benefits they got. It was unsustainable, same as everytime in history Labour have been in power, they leave the country bankrupt due to their foked up, ill thought out socialist policies and pandering to the unions, then have the nerve to complain when cuts have to be made to clean up their mess.
As stated earlier. Don't be fooled by this Olympics red herring...
Britain has been fuked by the financial institutions, poor governance and crony capitalism. Money has been sucked out of people's pockets and given to the rich to feed their greed. This is continuing unabated and has wrecked/ruined society.
On a seperate note, you could watch and enjoy the Olympics.
Cycling should be banned!!!
Doubtful, London is already in the top three most desired tourist destinations in the world already.Originally Posted by Blue water dreaming
As for watching the televised events, you have to give it a chance and let the Olympic spirit flow. I enjoy watching most of it even though many of the sports I would never watch if it weren't the Olympics.
What we need is someone like khmen or Nige as Prime Minister.
2 fine upstanding guys who wouldn't be corrupted by power , swindle any expenses or accept any brown envelopes.
Fack Off, they'd both have their noses straight in the trough, especially Nige, he ate half of the Sea Life last time he was down here
^ we certainly need a major restructuring of politics with criminal casses galore to put the fukers where they deserve to be; take their wealth and put it back into the system; but, they just want ever larger governance (like the EU) with less and less visibilty and accountability. It is time for a revolution, after the Olympics...
Strange though how no ordinary member of Joe Public - borrowing GBP 350,000 from his bank to propel himself ever higher up the housing ladder - ever saw himself as part of the over-borrowing problem.
Just the bankers who lent him the money.
...though that's not to say he didn't want their money - he did, and still does.
Only thing that gone wrong is that his house hasn't made him even more free capital, that he hasn't had to graft for.
^ & ^is certainly true that everyday folk have been sucked into a greed culture. Let's consider: my dad had an average wage and at 25 bought a 3 bedroom semi-detached house in London by getting a mortgage of 1 x his salary. 12 thousand pounds. Go to the next generation, me, at a few years older, just under 30, I was on 60,000 pounds a year and wanted to buy a 1 bedroom flat in London, cost 3 X annual salary++. That is a massive change in 1 generation, and it is fuelled by bankers, landowners and property companies, all supported by goverment legislation that is put in place by the same group of folk who own the land, development companies and banks. It is completely unsustainable, but when the taxpayer, not the bankers or polis, are the ones who pay for it all when the system collapses (which it always will...) then the greedy bankers and their ilk just keep going with another cycle...
Yes, individuals have also bought into this greed culture, foolishly so. Some get out in time and maybe move abroad (my parents live comfortably in Spain, although their pensions have been cut to pay the bankers bonuses...), but most, and most noticeably the future generations, suffer, and end up paying for the wealth of the bankers...
The Olympics are another area that are used for profit, but they are hardly the route of the problem, they are symptomatic...
That's like fat people complaining that Mcdonalds offered to Supersize their meals, and they became obese as a result.
Even stranger is that the solution to over-borrowing is to kill returns for savers and make it even cheaper for borrowers. That's not the banks stipulating that. It's the western governments and central banks.
Anyway, the UK government just prints money to repay all its national debt and maturing gilts. QED - it prints the money to pay for the Olympics. That money printing hasn't caused UK inflation - so it means in a perverse way, the Olympics came for free.
I also have not watched any - and have not done for a few years. I think my interest started to wane when the last vestige of amateur status as a requirement hit the dust.
Just had a look at the web to see what is going on in the tennis:
Federer to face Murray
Roger Federer will face Andy Murray in the men's Tennis Singles final at London 2012
Now - what exactly the fuck is that all about?
The olympics used to have some sort of meaning - the "ideal" - people training for years for the glory of taking part and maybe winning.
Now it is largely a bunch of overpaid sportsment doing exactly what they do pretty much every day of the year.
Federer and Murray must make MILLIONS off their tennis professionally - get the fuck out of the olympics and leave it to people who do NOT make a living off it.
Seriously - just what IS the fucking point of it now???
Rant mode over.
^^The point is that people want to see the 'best of the best' competing against each other, not a bunch of part time amateurs.
So how would you explain that the domestic non-performing loan ratios of UK banks mortgage portfolios is not at all unsatisfactory?
To use my metaphor, ....that UK people have not become dangerously overweight on the borrowing have binged on?
I hear you - and it all seemed to change at some point.
However, Murray and Federer don't get paid to compete at the Olympics - which is a telling point, and has merit.
i.e, the fact that something drives professional sportsmen to participate without winning $$$. I also can't imagine that Roger Federer isn't going to make more in advertising fees that he can't already make. He seems to be playing simply to win a medal for the Swissers.
It's a new paradigm, but not necessarily a meaningless one.
Last edited by The Ghost Of The Moog; 04-08-2012 at 04:33 PM.
There's a double-amputee about to run in an Olympic 400m heat- that's a great thing for sports, and it sure isn't boring.
And he qualified- great stuff.
The point it changed for me was the 'dream team' - these professional multi-millionaires turning up to complete against teams, some of, which were complete amateurs.Originally Posted by nidhogg
Here I am watching the women's pentathlon, these are great athletes who work very hard to compete at the Olympics. I won't be watching the tennis or basketball or football. It is however a matter of degrees...
What would you rather see, the best performers in their chosen sports or some hairy arsed plumber/part time curler ?Originally Posted by nidhogg
The ideal you say of training for years for the glory applies to professionals too.
I for one would love to have seen Mike Tyson in his prime, knocking ten shades of shite out of and biting off johnny Ramsbottom the baker's left ear
Originally Posted by FailSafeYou're talkin about the Blade Runner right ?Originally Posted by FailSafe
Why is that so great ? it's fukkin cheatin
To be fair, this Olympic 'ideal' would always have been a myth. Even thousands of years ago, in the days of the ancient Greeks, or more recent history and the beginnings of the first Olympics, athletes were never competing on a level playing field, there were always elite athletes with rich sponsors, etc...
^^
I don't think it's 'cheating'- I think it's a terrific example of someone overcoming a tremendous disability and managing to be competitive.
Such as not cutting vital public sector jobs and pay, such as investing in training for young people to actually be able to compete with fully skilled immigrant labour, such as investigating and eradicating waste in private sector contracts with government departments, such as investing in construction of affordable housing so young people can actually afford to own a property, such as renationalising infrastructure sold off to inefficient companies for a quick buck, such as investing in decent sporting facilities in less affluent areas to save the later strain on the NHS due to the obesity epidemic.Originally Posted by The_Ghost_Of_The_Moog
How many people from a working class background do you know who can afford to devote their life to such a trivial pursuit as sport when they finish education, even with "sporting programmes", rather than y'know, actually having to earn a living?Originally Posted by The_Ghost_Of_The_Moog
If you're trying to tell me that the average kid from a sink estate has the opportunity to become the next rowing or equestrian Olympic champion you're off your rocker mate. Boxing, maybe, as we all love to see the proles beat the fuck out of each other, eh?
And if that Pattaya comment was aimed at me you're way off the mark. Having visited Pattaya is no badge of honour for me mate. I came, I saw, I emptied my nuts and left feeling all soiled and seedy, like. No particular desire to boast about it.
If he shattered the World Record by 3 seconds, or soon another double amputee comes along who is way faster than Oscar, what happens then ?Originally Posted by FailSafe
He belongs in the Paralympics not here
It is a great story though
Here he is in Beijing Paralympics, great finishing burst
Exactly, as you say later the Olympics is symptomatic of the system. My point entirely: It's yet another example of the cronies at the top having an extravaganza of pocket lining at our expense. They get all the kickbacks, we get to watch some cunts running around a track. Great deal.
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