Olympics. Meh.

[Cache]

Well, I'm quite excited about the Olympics. The investment is very welcome in one of the poorest areas of the country, as was previously pointed out. Plus, so much of this is being paid for by sponsors and the Olympics bring in a lot of tourists, external investment and cash from abroad. The idea that the Olympics is a fat waste of money is absurd to me, because overall it usually ends up being a positive financial benefit at the end. I mean, the Westfield mall will be the largest inercity mall in Europe, and that probably wouldn't have been built without the Olympics, the Stratford City development would never have gone ahead without the Olympics, there'll be a new Royal park in Stratford, the Mital Orbit is being financed completely by sponsors, as was the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and look at how popular that is.

People argue that it shouldn't have been held in London, but the bid would never have gone ahead if it had been hosted anywhere in England but London, with it's four large airports, vast internal transport infrastructure and facilities. Plus, the boost for British business will be vast. I'm not that interested in the sport, but the investment and such that comes with it is very welcome indeed. Keynes argued that to make money, a country has to spend money. I agree with that wholeheartedly.

Rant over (sorry).

[cdd]

I suppose that's all very well for those who don't have the misfortune of living in London.

It'll be like the royal bloody wedding, except extended for weeks on end.

[Cache]

Any investment, anywhere in the country, is good investment in my opinion. It's either lots of investment in London, or none at all,

[cdd]

I wasn't actually complaining about the investment, I was complaining about the period of hell that those who live in London are going to be in for!

Ooh, and

London, with it's [...] vast internal transport infrastructure

So vast and impressive that they have to designate a load of major roads "Olympics Only" and charge fines of a small fortune so as to prevent olympic types and celebrities from getting caught up in the predictable gridlock.

[Cache]

I'll be living in London again by then, and I'm not worried. Yes, a few of my friends have voiced concerns about the influx of extra visitors, but there will be double the amount of off peak tube trains, thousands of extra busses and things.

Oh, and with the roads, you're mad to drive in London anyway, plus every city has had Olympic Lanes, however good the road system is.

[Gavin Scott]

London can cope with the traffic and the visitors. Edinburgh effectively doubles its 470,000 population during the month of August, and we're tiny. The Olympics don't even last that long.

And there's little doubt that the money brought in by visitors is welcome to the businesses - and its the sort of money that comes into an area and stays there, being spent again locally.

But Edinburgh's cash injection comes every year, and London's Olympic bubble is a one off. Venues in my city for theatre are modified existing buildings or temporary structures - all paid for privately - where London (via taxes amongst other sources) has a lot of new build capital expenditure. And so much of it completely unusable afterwords.

I know I'm comparing apples with oranges, but I just mean to say that I understand all of the benefits that you imagine will come from it - but realistically they will come as a single windfall, and you're right back where you started.

As for the redevelopment of the areas - we're not going to see another "docklands" property boom, even in London. Its just the wrong financial climate. I hope it doesn't end up looking like one of those Chinese half-finished cities, where the work dried up and no one moved in.

[cdd]

Oh, and with the roads, you're mad to drive in London anyway, plus every city has had Olympic Lanes, however good the road system is.

Not that it matters, but I don't tend to drive that often in London, I tend to drive in to and out of London. Despite the slow traffic in London, this is still faster than taking public transport given that said public transport neither starts nor ends where you need it to (not to mention more relaxing).

Now, you'd be perfectly entitled to tell me to suck it up and take public transport for X weeks for the greater good of the world, and you'd be right too. It doesn't make me feel any less pissed off about the Olympics encroaching on my cosy little arrangement though, and it doesn't make me feel any less pissed off that local authorities see it fit to charge fines of £200 to people who can probably ill afford it for straying into a 'banned' road (and anyone who has ever received a bus lane/box junction/congestion charge fine knows how easy that is) when the fixed penalty for shoplifting is £80.

As for the benefits of the Olympics, well it's going to benefit some people and not others. Obviously. I'm not convinced London needs new stadia given that the perfectly serviceable one two miles from me is only used once every blue moon but there you go.

[Inspector Sands]

I mean, the Westfield mall will be the largest inercity mall in Europe, and that probably wouldn't have been built without the Olympics, the Stratford City development would never have gone ahead without the Olympics,

Apparently Stratford City was proposed before the Olympics came about and the Olympic Park took up some of the land it was intended to take so it ended up being smaller. Some of the land for the Olympic Village was sold by Westfield to London 2012

[dosxuk]

I wasn't actually complaining about the investment, I was complaining about the period of hell that those who live in London are going to be in for!

Ooh, and

London, with it's [...] vast internal transport infrastructure

So vast and impressive that they have to designate a load of major roads "Olympics Only" and charge fines of a small fortune so as to prevent olympic types and celebrities from getting caught up in the predictable gridlock.

And crew, don't forget the media people, we get to use the olympic lanes too.

T'was great fun in Athens when we practiced the Marathon, driving in convoy along open, mostly dual carriageway roads, with one lane restricted to Olympic accredited vehicles only, the other open to everyone. But whenever the blue race line crossed into the public lane, so did we. At around 15mph. Think we got a tailback of over a mile at one point

I expect a lot of people will end up doing what the Greeks who live in Athens and weren't interested in the Games did - go on holiday for the three weeks.

[Chie]

the Stratford City development would never have gone ahead without the Olympics, there'll be a new Royal park in Stratford, the Mital Orbit is being financed completely by sponsors, as was the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and look at how popular that is.

Look at where it is. Are tourists really willing to make the 40-minute round-trip from central London to Stratford and back again on a noisy, boiling hot, overcrowded terror target just to climb the Orbit. No.

Besides, the Eiffel Tower was a triumph of engineering and human ingenuity. It is beautiful by virtue of being symmetrical, proportional, elegant, confident and romantic.

The Orbit, on the other hand, was designed by a computer. It is the colour of rotting meat and its form is grotesque. The environment which it inhabits is empty and lifeless. It screams anguish, torture and decay.

[bilky asko]

the Stratford City development would never have gone ahead without the Olympics, there'll be a new Royal park in Stratford, the Mital Orbit is being financed completely by sponsors, as was the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and look at how popular that is.

The Orbit, on the other hand, was designed by a computer. It is the colour of rotting meat and its form is grotesque. The environment which it inhabits is empty and lifeless. It screams anguish, torture and decay.

That's my kind of art. I do have to mention, however, that computers did not design The Orbit by themselves, for anyone wondering.