Millennium Dome

[scottishtv]

I think I'd prefer to have the parly in the dome rather than that ramshakle looks-unfinished hut that we've got now.

I agree with the outside, but on the inside it is very much finished and to exceedingly high standards. I don't think anyone could dispute it's worth (to Scotland as a country, rather than in pounds and pennies) after having a tour inside. It's a spectacular building.

I should know, after all I do spend three days every week sitting on a £500 office chair working inside the place. Oh, and the stir fried chicken with pineapple & ginger which only cost £2.73 went down a treat at lunchtime. I'd like to thank the taxpayers of this land for subsidising it for me.

[tvmercia]

I don't think anyone could dispute it's worth (to Scotland as a country, rather than in pounds and pennies) after having a tour inside. It's a spectacular building.

i should imagine rather a lot of english tax payer's money has gone into it too.

[scottishtv]

I don't think anyone could dispute it's worth (to Scotland as a country, rather than in pounds and pennies) after having a tour inside. It's a spectacular building.

i should imagine rather a lot of english tax payer's money has gone into it too.

I didn't mean to imply that only Scottish taxpayers paid for the building. Just think that it's something for Scotland (and the UK, if you want) to be proud of.

The way the budget allocations work, public spending per head in Scotland is also significantly higher than the UK average. I'm sorry, but I can't help it. I do think there's a strong case for greater fiscal autonomy in Scotland. If we've got a parliament we should work out for ourselves how to pay for the policies we put through it. We're also getting rid of 13 MPs as a gesture of kindness for the 129 MSPs we've now got.

An interesting aside though, I'm more curious about the election campaign up here. I mean the candidates don't have a lot of meaty issues to entice the voters with. All we're voting on is stuff like immigration, benefits, defence, foreign policy and the economy. I suspect a lot of voters probably get confused when they see reports on the news about health and education, when they actually aren't up for debate at the moment.

[tvmercia]

I didn't mean to imply that only Scottish taxpayers paid for the building. Just think that it's something for Scotland (and the UK, if you want) to be proud of.

nothing personal, but the people of the midlands (and i presume the rest of england outside of london) are about as proud of scottish parliament as they are the millennium dome. whilst the government is busy setting up extra layers of governement in some parts of the country (which are a financial burden for the entire nation, except maybe london - no doubt they;re carrying the rest of us - but thats not the point), the chosen regions - the provinces and london have an added layer of lobbying power.

mind you, atleast the scottish msp's use the bloody thing - the northern irish seem incapable of doing that.

[Pete]

I agree with the outside, but on the inside it is very much finished and to exceedingly high standards. I don't think anyone could dispute it's worth (to Scotland as a country, rather than in pounds and pennies) after having a tour inside. It's a spectacular building.

well that's debateable. Bits of the concrete celings in the main entrance are vile and disgustingly put together with what appears to be damp riddling them. The barrier in the main debating chamber behind part of the public gallery wobbles pathetically (I got wrong from the police for wobbling it - the policeman then chatted with me about how crap the place was).

Also it's a building that was built first and then they thought "what can we do with it". The corridors that run paralell to each other are a testiment to this along with the doors that are 7 foot wide on one corridor and three inches on another. The entrance to the public gallery should be used as a dictionary definition for bottleneck and as for the random pillars of air in the Lib Dem offices...

Despite parts of it being fab the majority of it is dire and as impressive as it is it really needs major reworking to rid it of the arrogance of that stupid Spanish woman. Preferably on her tab.

[Andrew]

I know I went... I'm sure of it, but I have no memory of any of it apart from sitting in a cafe thing near the big body thing.

I went but also have hardly any memory of most of the exhibits.

Is North Greenwich tube and bus station still open then? what does it serve now the dome is closed?

[James Hatts]

Is North Greenwich tube and bus station still open then? what does it serve now the dome is closed?

Yes, it's still open. There's the Millennium Village nearby, and there are bus links to places like Erith and Thamesmead IIRC.

[cwathen]

I don't think that's quite what you mean...

lol too early in the day yesterday. Post suitably amended.

[cwathen]

The one I liked was then different changes in temprature (if anybody knows the name of it at all). The Body was actually my least favourtie, mainly becaus eit was overhyped

I can't remember what it was called, but my favourite zone was the one run by BT which featured racks and racks of computers in a cagey thing connected to the internet on broadband to show the way that communication was going.

As much of an experience as it was to have access to a broadband connection in 2000 (I'd never used anything faster than 128K ISDN before, and that was only at college. At home I only had a 56K modem) it was quite amazing to find that it was free, and you could go anywhere, you weren't walled in. Today, they'd never provide such a service without charging for it.

On a sidenote, we went as part of a trip which included a visit into central London the next day, and happened to go on the weekend of the London marathon. Thus affording me my first (and to date, only) chance to see it 'live'.

[Cheese Head]

I went to the Dome. I thought it was a good enough day out. Not amazing or out of this world, but good.

I never had any quibble with the intention behind it, a kind of Festival of Britain for the Millennium.

It's a shame that it didn't work out properly, and undoubtedly the thing has been poorly handled from start to finish.

But people tend to forget that despite falling so far short of the wildly unrealistic visitor number projections, it was still the most popular paid-for attraction in the UK in the year 2000.

Meh, ditto.

I quite enjoyed it, but i was about ten.

[Johnny]

Is North Greenwich tube and bus station still open then? what does it serve now the dome is closed?

Yes, it's still open. There's the Millennium Village nearby, and there are bus links to places like Erith and Thamesmead IIRC.

Thamesmead was supposed to get the Jubille Line in the first extension back in the 1970's/1980's so it's a comprromise really.