As everyone of you who reads this blog will realise, I use it primarily to have a moan. My writing is a moan of frustration. I complain all the time about things that I can do nothing to change. It is the place of the eunuch in the history of civilisation. This is something that must happen to everyone at some time or other, but my primary frustration is that there is so, so much that is wrong that I can do nothing about. A local bureaucrat once asked me if I believed that I could run the local authority better than they did and was quite taken aback when I told her that I was damned sure that I could. Is this the arrogance of those permanently castrated by the realities of everyday politics? Everyone believes that they could do a better job of running the country but except at elections, we are ignored. But old age does give us some advantages.. We can remember the last time this or that daft idea was tried out - and it didn't work then either. Winston Churchill and Harold Macmillan warned politicians about ignoring the lessons of history but now it seems to be considered very fuddy-duddy to look back at history; doesn't fit the new dynamic image at all.
I have given my views on the Olympic Games several times but I am going to have another go after reading the latest news about the on-going fiasco. Even if the Olympic Games in London next year turn out to be a glorious success - in sporting terms and TV presentation - I will remain utterly opposed to the whole business on the simple grounds that it is such an insane waste of money. It will produce unnecessary extra congestion and crowds and will take-over our TV channels like nothing ever before, for weeks before and after the event. The question of cost is being obscured - as I always thought that it would - but the newspapers are now regularly referring to a cost to the taxpayers of £12,000,000,000 and private sponsors will contribute another £1,500,000,000. We are getting ever closer to my original estimate of £15,000,000,000+. I have written the numbers out in full to help illustrate just how absurd is the whole enterprise. How can anyone accept any decision to proceed with glorified school sports days at a cost approaching £1 billion per day????? This week has revealed ever increasing levels of absurdity - justified by the the chief organiser, Sebastian Coe, on all kinds of spurious grounds - but he lost the plot years ago. On the other hand, at the end of it all, when taxpayers have paid all the bills and everybody has packed up and gone home, he will be an exceedingly rich man. And, that, of course, is what it's all about. The Olympic Games provides another opportunity for the rich and the very rich to soak money out of ordinary unsuspecting punters.
The allocation of tickets for the games has been something of such extraordinary complexity that we can suspect management by either Franz Kafka or Lewis Carroll. It is a process that has boggled the mind with its labyrinthian complexities. Why is it so difficult to sell tickets? Apparently, British citizens can buy tickets from those allocated to other countries by just buying them like theatre tickets. But this week has produced some startling reports of how the London Olympic Organiser's system all works. First of all, in order to apply for tickets you had to register on an Olympic site and be in possession of a Visa card. No otter card or means of paying would be acceptable. There was no point in rushing down to the east end and offering them a cheque or a bag full of cash - neither would be accepted. There are many other credit cards, charge cards and debit cards available but, no, it had to be a Visa card. Why is this? Very simple. Visa is one of the corporate sponsors and they would only provide their sponsorship on the basis that all payments went through them. Then, anyone who registered an interest in buying tickets for any even had to wait for some weeks while the organisers selected the winners. As expected, more people applied for tickets for the popular events and fewer applied for the less popular events. Now, the organisers have deliberated and have allocated tickets - but not all the tickets. Many applicants in the UK - 250,000 - have been told that they will not get any tickets for any of the events. Those who have got tickets don't yet know what events they have got tickets for but the money has been taken from their bank accounts. Since the games only take place in 14 months time, these punters have given the organisers a vast free loan of some millions of pounds. A consideration of the names of some of the people who have failed to get tickets and some who have been presented with tickets free, gratis, for nothing, makes interesting reading. The Mayor of London applied for tickets for his family and friends but got none. The former Mayor, Ken Livingstone, got none either - and you may remember that he put in considerable efforts into getting the games to London in the first place. The Mayor will be allocated a fairly hefty batch of tickets anyway, but these have to be distributed around the political leaders of the various London Boroughs so that they can attend the various events. Some Borough leaders, I have to say, have been magnanimous in offering them to local people or charities. Some competitors have failed to get tickets for events in which they will be competing - including some, like Bradley Wiggins, who already have a collection of gold medals. There will be another round of ticket allocations and the people who failed first time around are urged to apply again. But note, only the expensive tickets will be available to popular events. Lord Coe urges people to apply for tickets to things like synchronised swimming and tiddly-winks - which he opines, are less popular. Of course for the main events - opening and closing ceremonies, men's 100m finals, etc. - more than half the tickets have already been allocated to sponsors, carpet-baggers and hangers on. Sepp Blatter and his gravy train mates at FIFA have been handed bunches of tickets and been promised chauffeur driven cars, 5 star hotels and 7 star entertaining at the events. Why? I have no idea but it is certainly in-line with FIFA behaviour. We'll do the same for you when it comes to the next World Cup. Many tickets have gone to the City of London - to the corporate sponsors and they will hand out tickets to the richest executives and investment bankers. They have a right to them - says the splendid Lord Coe - because it's the sponsors who are paying. No they are not; it's the taxpayers, rate payers and council tax payers who are paying for these games. No they are not, says the ludicrous life-peer. "Tax payers are providing for the reconstruction of the east end of London and providing stadiums and venues that will benefit us all for years to come." There is not a sausage of evidence to support this proposal. Every Olympic Games in modern times has provided the organisers with nothing but vast debts and empty stadiums that ultimately have to be abandoned or demolished. Even now, the use of the main Olympics 2012 stadium depends on it being turned into a smaller football stadium and used by West Ham FC - a football team who have already been relegated to the Championship division. This club is not over-endowed with money and is already telling the new manager, Sam Allardyce, that he will have only limited funds for new players. No doubt along the way they will hi-light the difficulties of moving from Upton Park and using the new stadium and will want some financial help - and it will have to be found. Other venues will be bailed out for ever.
You know it makes sense!
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