Will you be watching the Olympics with pride?

[Bonzo77 13]

Other than the unavoidable I won't be watching it this time, just because it is in London. I've never been that interested in athletics.

 

I don't think it's going to have any long term benefit as far as tourism is concerned. People may find London an attractive place but I think they will find it too expensive.

[MrMoran 10]

Its hard to feel part of it all the way up here so no, i doubt ill be watching it.

[alchresearch 214]

Other than the opening and closing ceremonies, does anyone watch it to any great extent?

[stevie1957 10]

I’ll give it passing interest, but I can’t really work any enthusiasm up about it (yet).

[Alcoblog 10]

Absolute total scandal. Initial costs of 2.5bn risen to 9.0bn ... just to watch people chuck pointy sticks, run round in circles and have a swim!

Still, 'Lord' Coe seems pretty happy to bring London to a standstill for a fortnight, closing down roads just so the dignitaries and drug testers (his words) can get to the event in the fleet of 3,000 chauffeur driven BMW's from their free 4 star hotels. Sod anyone wanting to do an honest days work! Nice to see that Seb's made millions out of this charade though. Corruption is rife!

No wonder the rest of Europe's laughing at us.

[MrMoran 10]

Absolute total scandal. Initial costs of 2.5bn risen to 9.0bn ... just to watch people chuck pointy sticks, run round in circles and have a swim!

Still, 'Lord' Coe seems pretty happy to bring London to a standstill for a fortnight, closing down roads just so the dignitaries and drug testers (his words) can get to the event in the fleet of 3,000 chauffeur driven BMW's from their free 4 star hotels. Sod anyone wanting to do an honest days work! Nice to see that Seb's made millions out of this charade though. Corruption is rife!

No wonder the rest of Europe's laughing at us.

 

They can laugh all they like.

WE have the olympics:P:D

[Jim Graham 10]

I've never been that interested in the Olympics and I prefer the Winter Olympics...........................much more exciting.

 

I have booked my holiday to be away for most of it. I'll be watching through the eyes of another country. Mostly because I can't be doing with the saturation media coverage and the cost of it all.

[Aaron01 10]

Yes,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[smithy266 21]

probably take the fuse out of the tv.

[Sultana 10]

Never normally watch the olympics, so won't be doing so again. For myself, it is a complete waste of time & money whichever country hosts it.

[ALQL 10]

In't it just bragging rights :/

[Number Six 10]

Not in the slightest.

 

I expect I'll avoid the news altogether for a month to avoid all the 'plucky Brit' and 'marvellous achievement, riding a bike dead fast when you're an amateur paid by the state to be able to ride a bike dead fast' stories.

 

Of course it will be billed as a success and the best Olympics ever, and brilliant for the country. But it won't be; it'll be an enormous white elephant in the original meaning of the phrase:

 

A white elephant is an idiom for a valuable but burdensome possession of which its owner cannot dispose and whose cost (particularly cost of upkeep) is out of proportion to its usefulness or worth. The term derives from the story that the kings of Siam (now Thailand) were accustomed to make a present of one of these animals to courtiers who had rendered themselves obnoxious, in order to ruin the recipient by the cost of its maintenance. In modern usage, it is an object, scheme, business venture, facility, etc., considered to be without use or value

 

I'd rather see a smaller national debt, or an investment the size of the cost of the Olympics in supporting the development of new technology and manufacturing jobs. But what do I know? Maybe it's really important to know which country can produce the person who can jump furthest, and it's only the fact that there is an Olympics every four years that keeps us all alive?