London Olympics

[Abby Normal]

whats going on with the security fiasco?

[Robert]

I'm afraid that the competitors in these events are pretty colourless and quickly forgotten. One sprinter is much like another, etc, except that every four years one of them shades a tenth of a second off the time. Same goes for the other events. Every now and again there's a character like Wattle, but really it's all much of a muchness and the reason we in the UK remember our medallists is because we have so few of them.

[Limehouse]

Re the North Koreans, I think it was very wise of the footballers to feel insulted. I think that if they hadn't felt insulted, they'd have got a rather warm welcome when they returned to their socialist egalitarian democracy and its dear leader (son of previous leader and grandson of leader who preceded previous leader).

True Robert, but it would have been much, much better to have got it right in the first place.

[Robert]

Hi Limehouse

Yes, of course people want to get things right. But none of the mistakes were made with any intent to offend. The Olympics are supposed to be a festival of international friendship, yet to hear some of the reactions, it's as though the lawyers are already there waving their compensation contracts.

[brummie]

Personally I shall watch some of the Athletics and maybe some of th eother event finals, much as I always do for the Olympics. Having it in London doesn't make me any more intersted, in fact being given the games is a dubious honour at best in the middle of a recession. For the £9 billion being wasted on the venue white elephants I would much rather have some more hospitals,nurses etc. We've just had a defence 'restructure' which means redundancies for thousands of servicemen and women, and today we learn there are the lowest number of police on the streets for 9 years and yet money is magically available for this.
As for the torch relay which is supposed to get us all excited,I diddn't bother going to see someone run past me with a flaming torch,might have brought back memories of the rioting! One good thing I don't live in London so at least I won't be getting any added council tax costs for the next umpteen years to pay for the games.

[brummie]

Following on from the North/South Korean flag fiasco, perhaps at the opening ceremony we could feature the war and upset the Germans too! Maybe a flypast by the Lancaster bomber or a B-52. But I dare say it will be just 3 hours of mind numbing jingoism and self congratulation finishing in a firework show - a snip at 27 million.

[Steadmund Brand]

I must admit that I am a big fan of the Olympics, always have been...but the opening ceremony stuff has to stop....let the athletes march in with their flags, that’s great, but £27 million for some pyrotechnics and choreographed nonsense is a bit much…..that being said, as sad as it is I wont miss a minute of it….however, I can’t say that I would miss it if it were gone.

After reading these posts I am glad I did not fly to London for the games as I had been planning….but now I have to find another excuse to visit again….that shouldn’t be too hard.

[Cogidubnus]

Same as they did in 1948 Heinrich...we generally all muck in together...

All the best

Dave

[Red Zeppelin]

What can Scottish and Welsh people do to avoid English nationalism during the London Olympic Games media saturation?

Get rid of those chips from their shoulders for a start.

[Limehouse]

What can Scottish and Welsh people do to avoid English nationalism during the London Olympic Games media saturation?

As far as I am aware, our teams are all GB - standing for Great Britain. Wales and Scotland are still part of GB so the Scots and Welsh can join in and enjoy the fun or ignore it all, as I am doing.

Alternatively, in future years, the Welsh and Scots can apply to the Olympic Games Committee to field teams of their own.

However, I would think that many of the GB teams and individuals currently representing GB are Welsh and Scottish so they're not being excluded.

[Harry the Hawker]

Huge farcical commercefest culminating in further curtailing of civil liberties and erosion the last vestiges of what used to be good about the U of K.

Chin chin!
Harry

[jason_c]

As far as I am aware, our teams are all GB - standing for Great Britain. Wales and Scotland are still part of GB so the Scots and Welsh can join in and enjoy the fun or ignore it all, as I am doing.

Alternatively, in future years, the Welsh and Scots can apply to the Olympic Games Committee to field teams of their own.

However, I would think that many of the GB teams and individuals currently representing GB are Welsh and Scottish so they're not being excluded.

Heinrich is a troll. Don't feed the trolls.

[jason_c]

Following on from the North/South Korean flag fiasco, perhaps at the opening ceremony we could feature the war and upset the Germans too! Maybe a flypast by the Lancaster bomber or a B-52. But I dare say it will be just 3 hours of mind numbing jingoism and self congratulation finishing in a firework show - a snip at 27 million.

I know someone in the opening ceremony camp. In a dedication to the NHS I've been told dancers dressed as nurses wheel out kiddies in wheelchairs. Hospital beds then turn into trampolines, nurses and kiddies then start dancing on the trampolines. It may turn out cringeworthy.

British music is known around the world, its what we do best. Personally, I think it should be just a huge Pink Floyd/Led Zep concert with athletes walking around the track.

[Robert]

Can't we just have a bloke saying, "All right, you lot, button it because we're going to have the first race."

[brummie]

The BBC trailed a few seconds from the rehearsal last night with a snippet of 'Tiger Feet' by Mud (must be a weather reference), Nurses dancing round hospital beds (ah the good old days when we could afford nurses and hospital beds), and what appeared to be men dressed as flies riding around on bikes(???)