London 2012: Cheap ‘n’ quiet

BJ the Mayor Bear has told MPs that he expects London 2012 to be “cosier” than this summer’s Olympics in Beijing. Considering the current economic woes, and the enormous scale of the Beijing games, surely this is something of a no-brainer?

From the BBC ::

Updating MPs on progress, the London mayor pledged to deliver a games “every bit as good as Beijing” without spending “colossal” sums of money.

He repeated his vow that the event would not go over its £9.3bn budget.

In light of the financial problems experienced building London’s other major “event” developments - Wembley Stadium and the Millennium Dome, you’ll forgive me if I remain sceptical that budgets can be honoured.

Has Britain really been ‘buying’ medals?

Now the last glittering firework has sputtered and died and Beijing has regained its industrial atmospheric fog - our Olympic athletes will amble through airport security with less chance of a cavity search than… well, a state-educated person has of winning a medal. Or an inhabitant of a “low-income nation” apparently.

That is according to Matthew Syed who does a good job in stating the bleeding obvious really. Private sector schools have more money to throw at sports, never abandoned the competitive ethos, haven’t sold off quite so many playing fields to make ends meet, etc - and when were the Olympics ever ‘egalitarian’, anyway?
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Roll on 2012

Of course I know all the arguments about the cost, the human rights issues, the corporatism, the exploitation of athletic achievement for chauvinistic purposes. But there’s still something about the Olympics that shines through it all and when that gorgeous torch went out in the Beijing sky an hour or so ago, I felt more than a tinge of emotion about the whole affair.

I think, on balance, it was right that the Olympics went to China. I think it was right, too, that there were widespread protests, most notably as the Olympic flame made its way around the world from Greece to Beijing. I think that both the presence of the Games in China and the protests against them can only help the cause of liberalisation and democracy there.

Am I trying to have my sporting and political cake and eat it too? I don’t believe so.
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How the left should resolve their problems

After much serious thought on the subject I have come up with the answer to all the squabbles on the left.

I considered serious political theoretical and strategic discussion but decided to cut to the chase, yep all the old bitter battles as to who did what in 1981 or more recent spats with the SWP could be settled by a cage fight.

Apparently :
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Forza, Viola

The notion that sport and politics should never mix is a curious, and also deeply political, one. Sport, after all, is just the waging of international politics by other means. Ask the East Germans.

Rarely has the mix been quite as fruity as this weekend’s end to the Italian football season continue reading… »

A Resignation Matter?

Cue the analogies.