didikai

Here we go again. Unions threatening strikes on the eve of the games.
No thought for the athletes an competitors who have trained for months

iaink

Dont think the athletes are the ones taking the bus or needing to get through immigration at this point are they?

The UK taxpaying public have already been inconvenienced and screwed over by the games anyway, so a bit more probably makes no difference.

didikai

Can't disagree with your second point. But where do you get the info that competitors won't be affected?

kimilseung

And all the athletes have done nothing but think about the pay and conditions of union workers for years.

Jingsamichty

London operates at 110% capacity of any given day. Does anyone recall who was actually consulted over whether it would be a good idea to stage the Olympics in London?

Whoever is responsible for London getting the Olympics deserves to be rogered mercilessly over a splintery barrel, and I have no problem with unions trying to cash in on it too. Why should it just be corporate London that benefits?

cheeky_monkey

The Olympic committee

Jingsamichty

And were any normal people on the Olympic committee, or was it just people whio thought it would be a great wheeze?

Oink

It happened here in Vancouver as well. The public service workers put the ****s up the provincial government so they got a new contract before the Olympics.

iaink

They have mostly already arrived (apart from those that left already because its too cold), and "the olympic family" get whisked about in official vehicles in the Zil lanes....

cheeky_monkey

i thought they were mostly French or Francophiles..which made London winning it even more surprising.

mikelincs

It's the speckled taters who will be inconvenienced, at least those arriving on strike day, however, St Boris the good says there will be no problems..

iaink

The average spectators day is going to be misery anyway. A friend decided to do the tennis, catching the train down from the Midlands. They now find out that they are expected to be in their seats 2 HOURS before the session is scheduled to start, OH, and that they should allow THREE HOURS to get INTO the stadium due to security and crowds. So much for a day trip, now they are scrambling for accomodation, like many others.

My brother figures it will take him at least 2.5 hrs to get from Surrey to the Athletics.

Frankly Im glad Im over here with no temptation to be part of it.

Alan2005

They were definitely paid off.

I saw a local news report on the olympics the other day. There was quite a lot of schadenfreude from the reporter who ostensibly was reporting on all the security and ticketing screw ups - but was really just an excuse to bring up some of the bad press the Vancouver games got in the UK and get some revenge.

Still, I expect the BBC's main olympic related story to be about how much the Canadian media is trashing the games for days to come. They'll probably still be going on about years later - you know how needy and desperate for approval brits are.

Novocastrian

Agreed. But remember 2004 in Athens. 2012 in London is going to end the same way. Meltdown.

But what the hey, may the most highly paid (sorry motivated) athletes win the day.

And if you're lucky enough to have a ticket to a venue... my pity goes out to you.

Jingsamichty

Vaguely sports-related, does anyone know why North American TV sports anchors get all nicely suited'n'booted in the studio, and then wear giant headsets?

News anchors manage just fine with discreet earpieces, so there must be a reason why sports anchors all wear ridiculous headphones in a studio. Or is it a visual statement of some sort? ("Hey, I'm a wanker, look at me!")