tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057487038565855826.post4664420929649823433..comments2024-02-21T08:52:55.878+00:00Comments on Your Freedom and Ours: Olympic newsHelenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13799545178433498944noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057487038565855826.post-17774353397629083752015-08-05T19:03:52.246+01:002015-08-05T19:03:52.246+01:00Indeed so, and what was so absurd about all of thi...Indeed so, and what was so absurd about all of this was the fact at the very time we were saying it (and all others saying 'rubbish'), Athens was just reporting the fact that the 2004 Olympics had actually apparently seen their tourist figures drop to an all-time low. And all quite logical and reported in regard to previous Olympic Games. <br /><br />You have only to listen to people talk about these events to see why. For every person who is breathlessly talking about going to the Olympics, there are two regular visitors to the host city who are saying "we'll give it a miss, rip-off prices, nowhere to stay...". Friends and family who regularly visited London told me this in the run up to 2012.<br /><br />The curious thing is, though, that however many stats prove the point, people just do not want to believe them.Damian Hockneynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057487038565855826.post-57612845192977937022015-08-04T19:19:44.475+01:002015-08-04T19:19:44.475+01:00As part of the Olympic "dream" funding w...As part of the Olympic "dream" funding was removed from small local sports clubs, which are of greater use to the population at large, particularly the juvenile section. But no, we had to have the Pharaonic dream of our rulers instead. Helenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13799545178433498944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057487038565855826.post-10533810268437884302015-08-04T19:17:31.722+01:002015-08-04T19:17:31.722+01:00We also said that predictions of an incredible num...We also said that predictions of an incredible number of tourists was completely wrong, basing our comments on past experience. Well, guess what.....<br />Helenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13799545178433498944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057487038565855826.post-35628786425503818452015-08-04T01:34:06.940+01:002015-08-04T01:34:06.940+01:00You may remember Helen that we worked on this toge...You may remember Helen that we worked on this together over a decade ago and were the only people in the public eye to state categorically that the budget would not be around a billion but 10 billion or more - and we were derided as 'extremist' by Labour, Tory and LibDems for giving this figure (which three years later the Government admitted was almost spot on).<br /><br />Interesting again, given that control of the event was supposed to have been with 'the devolved body' for London in City Hall, the London Assembly was denied any information about it (supposed to be the body that held the Mayor and London government to account eh?) and almost anything of any vague importance was kept within the government's remit. Even the Mayor was denied much involvement. <br /><br />The facts that we gave about previous Games as loss making (now proved absolutely) were derided as untrue, the issues around decrepit stadia (Greek venues were already falling into ruin in 2005!) were ignored however much we made them clear with photos and facts. The reality is that in all the whipped up hysteria, very few in the media or public life wanted to listen to facts. <br /><br />Damian Hockneynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4057487038565855826.post-57851244995545431512015-08-01T21:52:41.325+01:002015-08-01T21:52:41.325+01:00Hooray! Hooray! And so say all of us! (or at least...Hooray! Hooray! And so say all of us! (or at least me) .<br /><br /> I have never thought the Olympics anything other than a crashingly expensive bore and a platform for the self-importance of corrupt politicians - a sort of bigger and more expensive Millennium Dome with the added irritant of frequent appearances in the news programmes by athletes of remarkably restricted vocabulary ("brilliant!" "fantastic!" "amazing"), all of whom have been "following their dream" in one way or another, doing remarkably boring things very intensively and apparently, for the most part, being stunted mentally as a result - and doing it all at great expense of taxpayers' money from something called "Sport England" or whatever in all the years between the astronomically expensive games. <br /><br />Bah! Humbug!Edward Spaltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04168350315689612490noreply@blogger.com