The Olympics

[La Poste]

I just thought I would start this thread about the Olympics.
I'm interested in peoples opinions about how the site was built and whether the money that has gone into the games, money that has ultimately come from our pockets, has been well spent.

People talk of the regeneration of the whole area around the Olympic site and benefiting future generations.
There are the flats used to house the athletes that will be sold off after the games and promises have been made that 30% will go as affordable housing. Will the games leave a lasting legacy for the area and help the average citizen living in those areas?

The actual construction of the games site I don't know much about but I wonder how much of it went to foreign companies and imported labour.

Now I don't want to start a racist rant etc but pound for pound do you think the Olympics will have benefited your average working man or just benefited a certain select few and where did all the money come from to build it?

Thanks.

 

[mogga]

defo a select few specialy watching the "Arrtist" describe a blue paint blob and getting all excited about it Better stuff was on view at my 3yrolds nursery

 

[telectrix]

might provide a bit more lasting benefit than that useless mushroom, the millenium dome. problem is that the benefits, if any, will go to line the pockets of developers, politicians, and other rich sods.

 

[Silly Sausage]

Can't answer your question, I don't know nor really care...but what does wind me up a bit is the fact they are spending over £80MILLION on the opening ceremony!
We're in the middle of one of the worst recessions ever and all that money is being spent on a 2 or 3 hour show which everyone will have forgotten about a few hours later...think there is more important things to spend it on.

Rant over.
HNY!

 

[La Poste]

Personally I agree with Archy but the wise minds in charge of our economy keep telling me we have to spend money first to get any return investments and the opening ceremony will in the long term be good for the economy.

I guess they know more than I do.

 

[Nolnoc]

As far as I'm aware every Olympic city has benefited from staging it over the last 60 years with the exception of Barcelona which was due to corruption. Think of the tourists that will travel to the city for years after. It's an oppourunity for London to showcase the city.I am from Ireland and know loads of people already planning a trip to the city. No city in Ireland will ever be big enough to host it and I think there should be a sense of pride in hosting such an event.

 

[Deleted member 26818]

My understanding, is that they have now admitted that there were very few jobs for local people as was initially promised.
The majority of the jobs went to foreign labour.
Studies show, that the tourist industry will take a knock and will take about three years to recuperate.
The local area is already suffering severe congestion, which will increase during the games, this is affecting the pockets of both local residents and commuters.
In Newham car parking charges have doubled, and disabled parking spaces have been removed from Local Authority run car parks.
Resident parking zones have had their hours of operation increased from just a few hours per day to all day.
The Westfield shopping center as had an effect on surounding shopping centers in Tottenham, Ilford and Walthamstow, reducing their custom, although congestion around those areas has diminished.

 

[La Poste]

As far as I'm aware every Olympic city has benefited from staging it over the last 60 years

What about Greece, it didn't do their economy much good in the long term.

 

[telectrix]

and the greeks bloody started it!. TBH, living miles away, the only effect it will have on me is it will be on the bloody TV for aeons.

 

[Nolnoc]

Don't think you can blame Greece's economy on the Olympics.

 

[Andy 7671]

Don't think you can blame Greece's economy on the Olympics.

No you cant but I believe the new shops are too expensive for local firms only global brands can afford to movein, thus exporting monies outside local economy

 

[La Poste]

What do you think will be the chances of a terrorist attack?

'Dirty bombs' may have been missed by private border staff as Games approach.

Security guards working for Serco, the private contractor drafted in to protect Britain's borders during the Olympics, have been at the centre of a series of security breaches that have allowed vehicles to enter the UK without screening for "dirty bombs".

'Dirty bombs' may have been missed by private border staff as Games approach | UK news | The Observer

We must be a big fat juicy target during these games.

 

[mickys86]

With a lot of you being from up north you won't know, but the main road from the city to heathrow airport is a bridge, hammersmith flyover. Well that was closed recently because of a structural fault and they had no idea how they was going to fix it.
In the end they decided that it can open with a weight limit, cars and vans only

This week they've closed a bigger section of the road. M4 j3-j1 due to a crack in the viaduct. It's not only the main road from the city to heathrow but also the main road connecting the western areas (like reading, slough etc) with London

"Don't worry they reckon they'll have it fixed before the games start"

Traffic is going to be a nightmare during the games, as if it wasn't bad enough as it is!

 

[Jonesy83]

to me the olympics is a complete waste of money it could of been spent elsewhere like the nhs, housing, policeing, equipment for the armed forces, care for the elderly, training for the unemployed who actually want to work

not to mention the ethnic cleansing they want to do around the area as they want to move thousands of familys on benifits up north to get them out of the area putting a strain on the northern services eg schools

the olympics wont benifit the country as it was promised only those who can afford to live in the south as they say the goverment think the country ends at newport pagnell services

 

[UNG]

Can't answer your question, I don't know nor really care...but what does wind me up a bit is the fact they are spending over £80MILLION on the opening ceremony!
We're in the middle of one of the worst recessions ever and all that money is being spent on a 2 or 3 hour show which everyone will have forgotten about a few hours later...think there is more important things to spend it on.

Rant over.
HNY!

And most of those taking part in the opening ceremony are volunteers, heard recently that the volunteer wayfinders staffing the olympics have to pay for their accommodation and food while at the games and travel expenses to get there

With a lot of you being from up north you won't know, but the main road from the city to heathrow airport is a bridge, hammersmith flyover. Well that was closed recently because of a structural fault and they had no idea how they was going to fix it.
In the end they decided that it can open with a weight limit, cars and vans only

This week they've closed a bigger section of the road. M4 j3-j1 due to a crack in the viaduct. It's not only the main road from the city to heathrow but also the main road connecting the western areas (like reading, slough etc) with London

"Don't worry they reckon they'll have it fixed before the games start"

Traffic is going to be a nightmare during the games, as if it wasn't bad enough as it is!

I assume the contractors are coming from Japan to sort this though not on a par with the repairs after the tsunami but I'm sure they could sort it in a week


The thing that annoys me with the London Olympic organisation is the numerous committees they appear to have not least the legacy committee all sounds to blairish to me when the biggest legacy will be the number of venues that will be flattened after the games the shooting venue being one of them millions spent when perfectly good shooting grounds could have been improved with an investment of a few million

And how much has Coe and his high profile underlings earned from the London Olympics

Amazes me the political waffle over the initial budget and the eventual budget the latest being that the 3.5 billion original quoted was not going to be the final budget as it didn't include the build costs

It seems nothing can be done for less than a few million £'s where the Olympics are concerned

Roll on September

 

[Des 56]

What olympics?

We here in Wales and I expect in most parts of Britain, have heard over the last couple of years about this event happening in London, but "so what"

We have no feeling of participation or involvement, it just as well be held in Beijing again
I love sport and will watch it on the telly,but with no more sense of it being a home event than the Dakar rally

That feeling of it not belonging, also sadly,when the irrelevant GB football team take to the field against Uraguay, will test my loyalty to the limit regards who to support
A team of "wanna bees" and "over the hills" making up a team that could destroy the existence of the individual British football sides for an event that means zilch
The Olympics is supposed to represent the best a sport has to offer,for football,its a third class tournament that will be forgotten within days,yet the repercussion's could go on for years,its a shame on them for endangering real future football tournaments for what is a non event

 

[Rockingit]

I've got very mixed views on this, especially the opening ceremony as that is 'my' industry, and I have personal friends/colleagues involved. Believe it or not, the actual 'show' itself is almost entirely British staffed and delivered.....as also was the one in Beijing which is a little known fact. There are still somethings at which Britain is a genuine world leader and theatrical production is one of them. It WILL be a showcase of that industry to the world and £80m is small fry to the international work that will be generated from it. As I've said in another thread on here about this, yes - the politics stinks, but not everyone involved has dubious morals. For some UK suppliers this is the first bit of decent work they've had in about 3 years, let's not pee on their fire too early?

 

[malcolmsanford]

Agree RT. I suppose being over here in the Middle East you tend to loose a little contact with home, but I can only put the perspective about the UK( Yes not just London) as seen over here.

It is a huge event here every Middle East country is picking up the rights to view the Olympics, one network here is even having a dedicated 24hour HD channel purely for it.

The London Olympics is talked about here, and going to be watched here more than any other one I can remember and I have done about 6 Olympic games over the years here in the Middle East., and it is purely because it is in the UK

It often takes someone like me who is so English, British that my family often get embarrassed when I shout the national anthem out, living overseas as how the UK is still respected and often revered.

The queens jubilee was screened again here live, not just by BBC entertainment but a host of Arabic Channels and we still are the envy of so many .................so yes it's a lot of money and yes perhaps we could have used it better, perhaps saving 17 of these battalions that are going to be scrapped, but we still are the Great, and in this little field of England out here at the end of the month i'll be shouting the national anthem out yet again, knowing we are the Greatest.

 

[i=p/u]

nanny state comming to mind where we just contribute to bills but not decisions.. i would like to hear more about foreign labour on these jobs,

did a british firm not get the overall contract???

 

[Deleted member 26818]

There have been a lot of rumours about foreign labour on the Olympics.
One is that Agencies set up offices in eastern Europe to recruit labour, and that these offices ran courses for CSCS cards.
The Agencies apparently also arranged accomodation.
T.Clarke was the main electrical contractor for both the Arena, and Westfields.
On the Arena, apparently they were only allowed to use carded labour, at Westfields they were allowed to use Subbies.
The Local Authorities set up Agencies, the idea being that if you were not registered (to be registered you had to be a local resident) you would not be allowed to work on the site.
Of course any eastern European that signed on through an Agency, had their accomodation arranged within the areas covered by the Local Authorities, making them eligible to work on the site.
Yes the main contractors and as far as I'm aware the subcontractors were all British, however many were not local.
I was employed for two weeks, to test 8 circuits installed by a subcontractor from Durham.
The job was offered to me not through the Local Authority Agency, but by one of the normal run of the mill Agencies.

 

[needasparks]

Agree with you spin, I took on a two month contract on a shopfit in westfield and whilst working there was speechless at the amount of money being wasted on the site. It could have been done on less than half the money being thrown at it. Most of the labour in there did not have a clue what they were doing making jobs last twice as long as they should take and all this just to see the place become a ghetto in three months time.

 

[La Poste]

Well according to the Mail around 18,400 jobs out of 46,000 went to people abroad.

London 2012: Foreign workers take nearly half of Olympic Park jobs | Mail Online

I don't know how accurate the figures are but I do remember what the original estimate was:

"At the time of the bid, the budget projection was around £2 billion":
London bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

the actual 'show' itself is almost entirely British staffed and delivered...as also was the one in Beijing which is a little known fact.

I didn't know that.

 

[Dcf]

Hmmm ever wonder how ther is a complete lack of big public jobs on just now?
the Olympics has hoovered up all the cash for these.
another one of the governments south east policies coming to fruition no?
a mate of mine was working in Sydney around the time of the Olympics there ans. said they had a mini recession in Sydney right after they finished, I think we will have the same effect here.
i think more could have been done for more British workers rather than heaps of unskilled Europeans tho

 

[Mr.Si]

I'm looking forward to when there may be a grand prix around the Olympic Park, as has been rumoured...

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Knobhead]

Is it to late to cancel them?

 

[needasparks]

Well according to the Mail around 18,400 jobs out of 46,000 went to people abroad.

London 2012: Foreign workers take nearly half of Olympic Park jobs | Mail Online

I don't know how accurate the figures are but I do remember what the original estimate was:

"At the time of the bid, the budget projection was around £2 billion":
London bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



I didn't know that.

Well I for one don't know where they dreamed there figures up but i was one of the few people that could speak english where i was working. but perhaps for the two months i was there the brits may have been on holiday.

 

[Strima]

The only positive impact I have seen of the Olympics is the transport infrastructure around Weymouth. For years the road network was choking up however new link roads etc have been built and things seem to be looking up, this will also help for the future tourist trade.

I have to agree that the use of foreign labour should have been stamped out from the beginning but being on the receiving end of 'body armour by the lowest bidder' it was bound to happen, some companies would have bid so low they could not afford local labour.

On the up, I am looking forward to the womens beach volleyball...

 

[La Poste]

Well I keep hearing how the Olympics is going to bring in loads of new business and revenue, apart from selling the flats in the Olympic village and getting revenue from entrance tickets at the newly built sports facilities I can not see any financial benefits at all but then maybe I have lack of imagination.

I certainly cannot see any new business coming my way unless I can take my own hot dog stand to London and sell hot dogs.

Any ideas what form this massive amount of new business and revenue generated for this country and all of us will take?

 

[trev]

I'm sick of hearing about it, every ad seems to be hitting with some angle related to the games and it's really getting on my nerves. You can't even watch news channels without an item about it.
Plus I was knocked back for two jobs on the construction of it, one because I can't speak Italian the other because I can't speak Polish.

 

[SPARTYKUS]

What olympics?

We here in Wales and I expect in most parts of Britain, have heard over the last couple of years about this event happening in London, but "so what"

We have no feeling of participation or involvement, it just as well be held in Beijing again
I love sport and will watch it on the telly,but with no more sense of it being a home event than the Dakar rally

That feeling of it not belonging, also sadly,when the irrelevant GB football team take to the field against Uraguay, will test my loyalty to the limit regards who to support
A team of "wanna bees" and "over the hills" making up a team that could destroy the existence of the individual British football sides for an event that means zilch
The Olympics is supposed to represent the best a sport has to offer,for football,its a third class tournament that will be forgotten within days,yet the repercussion's could go on for years,its a shame on them for endangering real future football tournaments for what is a non event

Des56 - see you there! I plan to get scuttered and fill the train window with cans of red stripe on the way home , singing"oi Oi savaloy" and so on.


(not really)