Olympics

[marley2580]

I'm sure this has been spoken about before, but with the Olympics just around the corner I thought it might be nice to look at it again.

I came across this story from the BBC. The govt has upped the budget for the opening ceremony alone to £81 million, and the over all budget is £9.3 billion! Do you think it's right that so much of our money is spent on three weeks of sport?

I'm up in Scotland so I don't think I'll get any benefit from the Olympics at all. All I see is loads of money being spent on London (again), a place that I can't even afford to travel to thanks to obscene rail prices, let alone see a show or olympic event. The most we get to see up here is the torch coming through.

 

[xolily]

think they just say it'll put a fair amount back into our country through tourism etc.

 

[marley2580]

But will it? Normal tourist bookings are down. How will thousands travelling to London benefit the rest of the UK?

 

[Lightworker]

I think they do argue that what they'll benefit will be much more than what they put in. Its all speculative, and nobody will know for sure until after the games.

Saying that, I know that some organizations supporting vulnerable women and children had to stop, suspend or greatly reduce some crucial services because all the funding was being redirected to olympics. It seems unfair as we don't know if funding will resume after olympics, and secondly, the number of people left without support is substantial, and it seems unfair to withdraw the support just for the Olympics.

Anyway, I will wait and see how it all works out.

 

[Quackquack99]

I'm on the fence I'm born and bred from manchester and I clearly remember the commonwealth, young children from deprived areas were involve in the initial ceremony. I lived a 5 min drive from the area the games were held and I can honestly say it was the nicest I've ever seen manchester. It redevloped a very deprived area of manchester. I remember meeting various people from different countries visit.

Overall it was good to see manchester completely redevelop but I don't see how it has helped the country. This country is in financial turmoil, I just don't see how spending upto 9billion of tax payers money can benefit the nation as a whole.

 

[patch2006uk]

I think the Olympics should have a permanent home set up in Athens or somewhere with the facilities in place. Maybe each one could have a slant from a differen nation, but I think that covering cities across the globe in stadia to be used once and then left to rot or torn down is so wasteful and utterly pointless.

I don't like traveling, but I've got the strongest urge to get well away from the UK during the games!

 

[Nibblenic]

Athenens in Greece? They can afford to host it least of all of us atm :S

I dont think we'll see profit from the games either financially or as a communality

I think at best it will go well, and we;ll not be left with lots of debt from it. At worst, well I wouldnt like to think. Lets say I dont feel its safe to go.

 

[patch2006uk]

Haha, true. Although athens would benefit from the tourism, and who says they have to be a multi-million pound bonanza? They could just go back to being about the sport and not the opening ceremony. Athens is only my suggestion cos its where the Olympics started

Completely agree about the worst case scenario. I'm certainly not going to London while they're on!

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

Im only an hour away and I wouldnt go even if I could. I think its going to be a disaster and multiple terror threats (though hopefully none progress)

 

[Lina]

Obscene waste of money at a time where billions are being cut and charities have to shut.

 

[bubbles123]

Horrible. The olympics are costing more than the amount of money they are cutting from tax credits and other benefits. So, families with children will be poorer so we can have the olympics. It's a horrible, horrible waste of money. And we'll have the queen's jubilee soon too which will cost tax payers a fortune as well. Show's the governments' priorities really.

 

[Rhi_Rhi1]

its just daft, we (as a people !) need to seriously think about where our priorities lie .....