Olympics 100 days to go

[Vagabond]

Is 9.2 billion the cost of this debacle then? Jesus wept

 

[grumpyoldb]

So................ if it wasn't for these stoopid games, we wouldn't have needed any forces redundancies, or cut backs in local services. Fookin marvelous.

 

[Vagabond]

What annoys me is the continuous media, especially the bbc, Olympic cock sucking without a feckin question about where this money could be spent. And did you know the fcukpig tosser organizers have copyrighted the word Olympic?

 

[firestorm]

The money is gone, spent. No amount of complaining will get it back. Could the money have been better spent elsewhere? Most definitely. With the massive cuts faced across the range, this money would have helped state off some of the pain after the global meltdown.
But, it's here now and we can either make the most of a bad job while the world looks on or we can rip the head of teddy in front of the watching billions.
Afterward will be the time for recriminations.

 

[vim_fuego]

Fecking waste of money from start to finish...I have more interest in my bins being emptied once a week instead of every fortnight....I want to drive to work or the shops of roads not full of pot holes...I want to know the emergency services have enough people and are well looked after...I'd like to see pensioners not having to choose when to heat their gaffs or if to eat or pay a bil...you get my drift.

 

[briggfairy]

as we are now a country that seems to be getting fatter and unfitter with less national pride surely the opportunity to inspire the next generation to get of the sofa and running / jumping / swimming / cycling / horse riding is a good thing?

If we do this well in a competing sense we could have a new set of role models for the youth of today, who actually work hard and show some dedication simply for the love of a sport rather than a vastly inflated salary

and if we pull off the hosting we can show off in front of the whole world that we can still put on a show, yes it's a bit pricey but we can just about afford it and should we put a price on national pride?

so many threads on this forum end up slating the country saying that its going to the dogs, how about we actually stand tall puff out our chests and support something that shows it's not!

 

[Vagabond]

as we are now a country that seems to be getting fatter and unfitter with less national pride surely the opportunity to inspire the next generation to get of the sofa and running / jumping / swimming / cycling / horse riding is a good thing?

If we do this well in a competing sense we could have a new set of role models for the youth of today, who actually work hard and show some dedication simply for the love of a sport rather than a vastly inflated salary

and if we pull off the hosting we can show off in front of the whole world that we can still put on a show, yes it's a bit pricey but we can just about afford it and should we put a price on national pride?

so many threads on this forum end up slating the country saying that its going to the dogs, how about we actually stand tall puff out our chests and support something that shows it's not!

Probably the the most ridiculous statement i have heard in years. What planet does thou live on good sir?

 

[propersplitbrainme]

Fecking waste of money from start to finish...I have more interest in my bins being emptied once a week instead of every fortnight....I want to drive to work or the shops of roads not full of pot holes...I want to know the emergency services have enough people and are well looked after...I'd like to see pensioners not having to choose when to heat their gaffs or if to eat or pay a bil...you get my drift.]

Yes I get your drift. But Im pretty sure that had we not commited to spending money on getting the Olympics to London we'd stll be facing fortnightly bin collections, hospitals needing more money etc. Once money is spent its spent and theres always something else it could be better spent on. Build a hospital in place A and someone will say it would have been better spent in place B. There are those who argue we dont need an RAF and all those expensive planes and stuff, and the money would be better spent on policing the streets and stuff like that.
Nobody in their right mind would think of bidding to host the Olympics today, but as FS says, the money has been spent so thats that.

 

[firestorm]

If hadn't have spunked the money on sports day we'd have probably thrown it down the throats of bloated defence contractors, who'd fail to deliver anyway, eh vim?
As I've said, it would have been better spent on a whole host of worthy causes.
....but it hasn't been so we best crack on with it or run the risk of looking even more incompetent than usual.
Vagabond, if you think that sports day won't inspire some people to take up or excel in sport I'd have to disagree.

 

[briggfairy]

Probably the the most ridiculous statement i have heard in years. What planet does thou live on good sir?

the same one where kids are continually told they have no chance of getting a job, that the country is broken with a growing sense of depression.

now rather than moaning about the money thats been spent i thought i'd give it a go and try and get behind something that might inspire some people on this country.

obviously i was wrong and we should all go a sit in the bath with a family pack of painkillers and a bottle of scotch, that'll make things much better DT_Xtremez_14:

 

[Vagabond]

Its not the first time and it won't be the last dude. It will inspire a few no doubt but not as many as a few quid well spent in schools. It's a pretty elitist event and I can' t see the average kid from the council estate dropping the Xbox to compete in the pairs rowing can you?

 

[Stevienics]

It would be so much easier to "get behind" if it wasn't £9 Billion spent principally on entertaining people I have never met, watching a contest to see who can run in circles the fastest.

You see, like most people, I really don't care.

 

[Tin basher]

You see, like most people, I really don't care.

I did care when it was announced it was London, I quite liked the idea but with each passing day I get more and more NFI about the whole thing. It's rapidly descended from open to the public into just an over blown prawn sandwich noshing, champers swillathon for the sponsors, corporate hostility groups and their political cronies. I doubt if my interest level could drop much lower, though if the BBC continue to fawn over it like a lovestruck puppy then maybe I could even start to hate it but for now I'm just massively not interested. Next time it has to be somewhere starting with L can it be Lisbon, Liepzig, Leningrad or Lhasa please.

 

[vim_fuego]

If hadn't have spunked the money on sports day we'd have probably thrown it down the throats of bloated defence contractors, who'd fail to deliver anyway, eh vim?

I walk down the docks in the yard a couple of times a week and catch a glimpse of the next sleek, acclaimed and proven platform that is soon to depart from us...nothing 'spunked' about that. Even if it wasn't spent on anything it could have chipped away at our national debt...with the continued progress lately of the Euro's collapse we may just wish we had that cash in the bank.

Yes I get your drift. But Im pretty sure that had we not commited to spending money on getting the Olympics to London we'd stll be facing fortnightly bin collections, hospitals needing more money etc. Once money is spent its spent and theres always something else it could be better spent on. Build a hospital in place A and someone will say it would have been better spent in place B. There are those who argue we dont need an RAF and all those expensive planes and stuff, and the money would be better spent on policing the streets and stuff like that.
Nobody in their right mind would think of bidding to host the Olympics today, but as FS says, the money has been spent so thats that.

At least we would have had hospital 'A' though...and it could have been staffed and serving the public by now along with a few others. Lets not forget the ownership of the Olympics was facilitated and backed by the same regime that brought us such classics as 'extreme debt' and 'borrow today to repent tomorrow' and their crowning glory for financial decisions 'sell all our gold at rock bottom prices'...The ConDems inherited this sh1t sandwich along with the rest of the nasties left by Labour.

Its not the first time and it won't be the last dude. It will inspire a few no doubt but not as many as a few quid well spent in schools. It's a pretty elitist event and I can' t see the average kid from the council estate dropping the Xbox to compete in the pairs rowing can you?

Yep...I am taking my two boys riding on Sunday by invite of a friend...It's going to cost me about £40 for both if them for an hour...not something many can afford on a long term basis...Many of the sports aren't taught or backed in school either.

Anyway must dash...I'm late dropping of Tarquin and Farquar at fencing followed by Lacrosse.

 

[propersplitbrainme]

I walk down the docks in the yard a couple of times a week and catch a glimpse of the next sleek, acclaimed and proven platform that is soon to depart from us...nothing 'spunked' about that. Even if it wasn't spent on anything it could have chipped away at our national debt...with the continued progress lately of the Euro's collapse we may just wish we had that cash in the bank.

There's plenty of projects that have gone the spunked way though <cough> Nimrod <cough>.

At least we would have had hospital 'A' though...and it could have been staffed and serving the public by now along with a few others.

My point being someone would have moaned about it believing the money could have been better spent elsewhere.

I once read a synopsis of the argument that the money spent on the space program would have been better spent helping world poverty and peace. The long and short of it was that this is a fallacious argument as the money simply wouldn't have been there in the first place had the sapce program not been emarked upon because governments raise and spend money as the need arises. There's also the matter of collateral wealth generated by the building of structures and, for the Olympics, the attraction of visitors to the country; how that works to balance the books I don't know but it must go some way.
I don't in any way confess to knowing much at all about national economics so I'm exposed to having that analysis taken apart should someone with a greater comprehension than me care to offer something different.

Yes of course the Olympics have become the 'got to be seen at' event of the year by people who look at such things simply for their status value and who would never contemplate visiting their local athletics club or cycling meet at any other time. But thats simply a function of the kind of people we (royal we) are rather than a failing of the event; the organisers did try to some extent to prevent the usual crowd with ready internet access and plenty of time to bombard the ticketing websites, from elbowing out those who would have had to have been at work on the days the tickets went on sale with their ballot, but even that got fcuked up!

But, its here and I'll probably watch some of it although I won't go out of my way.

 

[Vagabond]

I just wish the media would not join in to the w@nkfest and challenge the spanking of billions on a non spectator niche event. The corporate marketing makes me gag as does watching four police bikes, seven high performance cars and a helicopter hovering over Loughborough just to practice a feckin torch bypass. I want Coe and co who are milking this for every penny they can to die of aids and I fail to see how my local council spanking more cash on this b@llocks will help my local economy.

 

[firestorm]

For one moment I thought you were going to give an impassioned argument in defence of defense contractors then vim.

On time, under budget my arse.DT_Xtremez_06:

 

[vim_fuego]

For one moment I thought you were going to give an impassioned argument in defence of defense contractors then vim.

On time, under budget my arse.DT_Xtremez_06:

I will say that defence contractors in the UK's case have the most difficult customer possible...it's the same customer that 99% on here slag off to a man or women until blue in the face...Do any of you honestly think they are any better at sticking to spec or price than they are at anything else?

In defence of 'us' as we had nowt to do with MRa4 the tale untwines like this...years ago we were Vickers...then we were Marconi...Astute tender came out and parties bidded...BAE won the bid as they came in under all else...BAE didn't own a ship yard or experienced staff to build it and as Marconi had been outbidded it now had a bleak future so BAE picked it up for a quid (I believe)...They then turned around to the workforce and said 'build us a bunch of subs to this spec for this much money' to which the staff retorted 'if we could have built them to that spec for that price we would have put that in the bid you w%&*!$s!'...and so the programme was born already late and over price at no fault whatsoever to the workers...and that is how it rolls in this business!

SWorry for being off topic but as end users you honestly, and why should you, have no idea what really goes on to get the kit to you...

 

[firestorm]

You're right Vim, Vickers can't take any blame for Ninrod MRa4....
....Nimrod AEW however? The taxpayer was royally rinsed then.

 

[vim_fuego]

You're right Vim, Vickers can't take any blame for Ninrod MRa4....
....Nimrod AEW however? The taxpayer was royally rinsed then.

We...make...submarines...!

That aside if the will of a governemnt to finance such things isn't there, and with it the ethical responsibility to look after our tax revenue, then no duff projects will ever go ahead...

Dragging this momentarily back onto topic the Olympics at first look were fragged at the around 2bn range!!! Who the feck bought into that one at minister level??

When putting in bids for defence contracts we spend an inordinate amount of money on the commercial aspect and all the legally binding small print that spells out what sort of appetite you as the customer must have before signing on the dotted line...I would suggest that as programmes progess and stuff delays, material prices increase (how much has copper and gold et al increased over the past 10 years...the lead time from signing stage 0 to putting a successor sub in the water is 17 years so tender for that without a magic ball) and this appetite suddenly decreases as fluctuating economies demand savings...I would say it is 100% impossible to put together a tender that will survive in it's original state for the duration of a programme that lets say is planned over 15-20 years...The first thing you must realise is that it's not meant to...