London Olympics 2012 ??? Are you sure ???

Question

We have all been told of the great advantages of ho9sting the Olympics and I am inclined to agree but... we are all going to have to pay so much tax from now until 2012 in all sorts of ways starting with increases in council tax.... all for what ??? For only two weeks of games ? I mean... TWO weeks ? Is it really worth our sacrifice. I say not !! I was amazed how fast the Beijing Olympics came nd went.... gone ! I am really undecided as to whether the 2012 in London are really that much of a benefit for the ordinary person.

I would love your views. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

I don't think we as a country are in the financial situation to host the olympics. Not only are we currently suffering from the credit crunch, but they're going to clamp down on us even more for the taxes to fund the olympics! Since when has the cost of living been so high?! We will never be able to out do the Beijing olympics, just look at our display to welcome in the millenium.

It will be a shambles. I'm not much of a sports person, but i do enjoy watching the games from the comfort of my home just out of curiosity. I believe our opening ceremony will be nothing traditional except for the queen. Our demonstrations won't depict our history but will also illustrate how multi-faith and multi-cultural we are. Therefore our display will show nothing except that we, as a country can be walked all over. I think it should have been handed to France to host the games! I do however understand the significance and pride felt by athletes, sports people and leaders of the country.

mehh

Answer 2

Have they never had an Olympics in England before?  You guys are sure worried about the financial aspect of it.  We've had many in the States and our country has always recovered from it.  Of course, we haven't recovered from our own governments blunders, but that is a different topic.

Edit: Oh I don't take offense, that's why I asked my question, out of curiosity.  I respect England, I have just never been there.

Answer 3

Anyone who feel this is a good way to spend money is seriously in need of psychiatric help.

Many areas of the country are being deprived of facilities either sporting or otherwise in order that we can raise the funds necessary for just two weeks of mickey mouse sport.

All this to benefit a bunch of crooks known as the Olympic committee to swan around the world on free junkets, we must be mad!!!

Answer 4

Sorry pal but the fat's in the fire. It's too late baby, as Carol King would say. You (and I) are going to be paying through the nose for these Games but don't worry. If you ever fancy a swim in a 50 metre pool after 2012, you only need to drive  to London. Bloody marvellous, eh?

Answer 5

Events like the Olympics are loss leaders. You make a large investment in hopes that it will pay off at the back end.

Great Britain is obviously in a different situation than Beijing. That was an opportunity to show off what China had become to the world, and the dictatorial government spared no expense toward that goal. Britain obviously doesn't have that goals.

Olympic cities actually attract attention for years and not just for the Games. (I've been to Calgary and Lake Placid after the fact.) The key is to take the facilities and use them for the public good. Athens spent many dollars for buildings, and now most of them are sitting empty -- you need a plan to help the population. Otherwise, you're simply talking about tourism dollars -- not insubstantial, but probably not enough to justify the expense.

As for the value of the Olympics, it's a great ideal -- people from all over the world gathering to compete peacefully. That's certainly worth something.

Answer 6

I'm old enough to remember when we won the World Cup. The Olympics is not just 2/3 weeks of athletic competition. The Olympics will leave a legacy of infrastructure in an area of London that has been in decline for the last one hundred years. Rejoice that the country has won the privilege of holding the Games.

It appalls me that so many of my countrymen are so concerned about how much money this will cost them. They are usually the most affluent people anyway!

Answer 7

There is really no justification for the Olympics coming to Britain except as an effort to give New Labour a poll boost. But even that has not worked. When you look at London, there are already too many stadia - Wembley, the grounds of Chelsea, Spurs, Fulham, Arsenal, W. Ham, etc. - and other sporting facilities. Beijing would have gone ahead and improved their infrastructure whatever happened. Our recent results have shown that without the Olympics, we have been able to boost our performance in Beijing. Hosting it, will not do much more to improve it. If anything, it will increase the pressure on our athletes who have shown to crack.

The whole thing is just a PR exercise for New Labour but it has already back-fired badly. It will be a mill-stone round the necks of all of us for years to come. But Blair, Gordon, Jowell, etc., will have their nice fat pensions to cushion them. It's poor sods like you and me who will bear the brunt of the crunch and be crushed. To heat or to eat? - that is the burning question for us.

Answer 8

The Olympic Games is a massive con.

In the sporting sense it is meaningless, in the financial sense it is an unmittigated disaster and in the political sense it is a mechanism for supporting regimes that can only survive by brainwashing the population.

There is a name for the type of person who gets all excited about a medal in a sport they hadn't heard of three weeks ago...it is the same as the type of person who cheered trials by the ducking stool...a peasant.

Answer 9

I am not from the big USA but from the good & polite, not too rich, Canada. We hosted the Olympics in 1976 (Montreal). Unlike China and the US we have a very small population, we are, from cost to cost, around 30 million citizen only. It took 30 years for us to pay the Stadium we built for the games. Of course these Olympics put us on the map, it attracted many tourists, people discovered Montreal Europeen taste and it become a travelled destination BUT, it put Montreal in debts for many years.The Stadium is still here, we don't use it for anything cause it's too big. It's very expensive to maintain and repair. We all wish this ugly thing didn't exist.

Answer 10

I remember the 1948 Olympic held in London and this was only 3 years after the end of WW2 when Britain was battered, bruised and broke and yet we were still able host the games and what proved to be a great success. If we could do it then surely we can do it now 60 years on. Are any tax increases related to the games or just due to inflation ?

Answer 11

I believe they are telling us that the raise in taxes will be returned in public funds brought in by the tourism etc. Personally I think the decision to give London the games was ridiculous. It's stupidly overcrowded as it is, and we are the most disorganised country in the world.

I wait for the worldwide humiliation with bated breath!

EDIT: I think you've got it in one tiny little word their hun - Con!!

Answer 12

we have as someone said hosted them before and in 1948 would have been considered bust from fighting WW2. Therefore one assumes that we can still put on a good show. Plus the stadiums that are being built will be used after, though downsized according to the sources.

Then its not just London who will benefit, which seems to be everyone criticism, its to promote GB as a whole not just the capital.

Would people keep on about this if it was say based in Manchester, where they could have based it, i think not.

We live in the capital and look forward to it.  

Answer 13

tbh i wish the french had won on this occasion and i see no benefit to the UK in any way apart from the great city of London itself. This Country is already taxed to death and has enough problems without the addition of inevitable humiliation. But as usual we will be conned and robbed blind again and for what? Not many will be able to afford to go and those who can won't give a dam anyway. Sorry but i have no pride left for this Country, it has been knocked out of me and i like most have payed heavily for being a tax paying law abiding citizen, while everything we once knew has been trodden on but guess who they will expect to pay for it all? No the wonder the Brits are leaving in their droves...