BAE (Vickers)

[Happy Face 29]

3 days of football at SJP would be a better example than uncle Jeff doing a guvvy in the big smoke.

[BalarnyStone 0]

3 days of football at SJP would be a better example than uncle Jeff doing a guvvy in the big smoke.

 

 

I did mention it....Not good enough though apparently.

[LoveTheBobby 1]

Nah BullStone , you missed the (comparative) point I was making in your eagerness to lay words down .

 

 

[Happy Face 29]

I did mention it....Not good enough though apparently.

 

It doesn't do any harm tbf.

 

If a mackem was claiming RHCP, Bruce Springsteen and Take That playing the SOL was an example of prospering economy though I'd laugh in their cheesy chip encrusted face.

[Monkeys Fist 39096]

 

 

It doesn't do any harm tbf.

 

If a mackem was claiming RHCP, Bruce Springsteen and Take That playing the SOL was an example of prospering economy though I'd laugh in their cheesy chip encrusted face.

Speaking of which, what was the most satisfying thing about the season just gone Balarney?

[BalarnyStone 0]

Nah BullStone , you missed the (comparative) point I was making in your eagerness to lay words down .

 

The comparative point was what exactly? You contrasted ephemeral individualism with long lasting infrastructure. You seemed to be expecitng something much much more, something that I am at a loss to see where or why it would occur in a London based event, that if they were being honest, couldn't in their right mind seriously class as a white elephant, even if the patently false claim that the NE gets nothing from it was true.

[BalarnyStone 0]

Speaking of which, what was the most satisfying thing about the season just gone Balarney?

 

Going into games geninunely expecitng to win of course, or at least have a decent chance of doing so. That's something I thought was just going to be a fleeting pleasure, confined to that one season in the Championship.

[Monkeys Fist 39096]

 

[JawD 31]

I suppose in light of the NE the question may be; compared to the cost to the overall country and as a % I that in the NE, how much will be made back by any local event or knock on effect. In other words, does it leave the area better off or not?

 

I wonder with hindsight if the government would have bid for the games at all.

[BalarnyStone 0]

I suppose in light of the NE the question may be; compared to the cost to the overall country and as a % I that in the NE, how much will be made back by any local event or knock on effect. In other words, does it leave the area better off or not?

 

I wonder with hindsight if the government would have bid for the games at all.

 

Even in these times, the games will make a profit for the treasury, which the NE of course benefits from, hopefully in proportion to whatever it contributed to the cost (which, given half of it was paid for by London, and given the relative position of the NE to the rest of the UK, isn't that big). The idea that the NE will have financially lost out because of the Olympics is just fantasy. The only toss up is whether the benefit is big or small. Given the alternative if there was no games is nothing, then even small is good.

[LoveTheBobby 1]

 

 

The comparative point was what exactly? You contrasted ephemeral individualism with long lasting infrastructure. You seemed to be expecitng something much much more, something that I am at a loss to see where or why it would occur in a London based event, that if they were being honest, couldn't in their right mind seriously class as a white elephant, even if the patently false claim that the NE gets nothing from it was true.

 

 

The comparative point was what exactly? You contrasted ephemeral individualism with long lasting infrastructure. You seemed to be expecitng something much much more, something that I am at a loss to see where or why it would occur in a London based event, that if they were being honest, couldn't in their right mind seriously class as a white elephant, even if the patently false claim that the NE gets nothing from it was true.

 

My general point was there has been a hell of a lot of investment into a very specific area of a city in the UK and therefore to the ultimate benefit of very few and of little or no benefit to the masses in either short or long-term . Hence white elephant . In fact in the case of the latter, surely it's the converse in terms of picking up the tab ? You say it will no doubt 'make a profit' , are you sure ? Aren't many of the more recent host venues still bogged-down with related debts ? (I stand to be corrected as it's what I perceive is the case)

 

Of course there will be spin-offs nationally (again Id say ephemeral, opportunistic and relatively limited) for flag makers and portaloo manufacturers but at the end of the hopping and skipping there's still a specific part of a city of the uk that is going to be left with improved infrastructure, physical and cultural amenities etc. I'd be interested to see usage figures for the swimming pool a couple of years down the line, the stadium - similarly how much useage in a few years ? Hence white elephant.

 

For starters, take the £19-22 million spent on the 'sculpture' - are you perfectly relaxed that's money well spent and that it couldn't have been better utilised 'accross the board' geographically . Did they have to have it ? Of what use is that going to be in 2 months never mind 2 years ? Could the money not have gone to keeping youth clubs open in Southampton, Salford , St. Anne's or Shiremoor for a couple of years say instead ? Would that have benefitted the country more 'legacy-wise' ? Could that have paid for (long overdue and a few times postponed, and much-cited as essential to recovery) improvements to the A19 for example ?

 

If that makes me a 'victimised miserable bastard' then so be it , I can deal with that side of things .

 

[PaddockLad 14845]

Why not spend less on the olympics and more on tax breaks for companies to set up in the north east a la Nissan?....id have rather seen the olympics go to fuckin Ulaan Bator and see the governments share properly invested. Its a corporate wankfest at the end of the day and in truth the vast majority of people in the UK won't see any benefit from it.

[BalarnyStone 0]

My general point was there has been a hell of a lot of investment into a very specific area of a city in the UK and therefore to the ultimate benefit of very few and of little or no benefit to the masses in either short or long-term . Hence white elephant . In fact in the case of the latter, surely it's the converse in terms of picking up the tab ? You say it will no doubt 'make a profit' , are you sure ? Aren't many of the more recent host venues still bogged-down with related debts ? (I stand to be corrected as it's what I perceive is the case)

 

Of course there will be spin-offs nationally (again Id say ephemeral, opportunistic and relatively limited) for flag makers and portaloo manufacturers but at the end of the hopping and skipping there's still a specific part of a city of the uk that is going to be left with improved infrastructure, physical and cultural amenities etc. I'd be interested to see usage figures for the swimming pool a couple of years down the line, the stadium - similarly how much useage in a few years ? Hence white elephant.

 

For starters, take the £19-22 million spent on the 'sculpture' - are you perfectly relaxed that's money well spent and that it couldn't have been better utilised 'accross the board' geographically . Did they have to have it ? Of what use is that going to be in 2 months never mind 2 years ? Could the money not have gone to keeping youth clubs open in Southampton, Salford , St. Anne's or Shiremoor for a couple of years say instead ? Would that have benefitted the country more 'legacy-wise' ? Could that have paid for (long overdue and a few times postponed, and much-cited as essential to recovery) improvements to the A19 for example ?

 

If that makes me a 'victimised miserable bastard' then so be it , I can deal with that side of things .

 

The sculpture was privately funded, so that's irrelevant. It's long term use is the same as something like the Angel. Infact, it's more useful, as it has a viewing platform and restaurant, which will serve the game park area into the legacy period (because despite what some might think, the park does not simply get locked up to rust, it gets redeveloped with new housing and business units).

 

Olympics or no Olympics, the A19 will continue to be shit while governments of any persuasion fail to employ any kind of strategic planning in transport. And if there was no Olympics, then the list of transport infrastructue in this country that has gone neglected would have been even longer.

 

Considering its location, transport links, and what was there before, to describe the long term changes brought to Stratford due to the Olympics as being of benefit to a very few is frankly daft and wholly short sighted. It's like pretending the Quayside developments only benefitted the few people living in the east end of toon. Ludicrous.

 

London will make a profit, that's obvious. It is basket cases like Athens and over-ambitious bidders like Sydney that have ended up with white elephant venues that they really don;t have a use for, as well as ending up with a bill for hosting the event. The pool will be a world class facility in the middle of our capital - if it doesn't get any use long term, then no pool in the UK ever would (and iirc the only olympic size pool in the UK before it was the one built recently in..... the north east). The stadium will obviously be used, either for football or whatever the other bidders have in mind.

[Monkeys Fist 39096]

Is the Greater London Authority privately funded then?

They put money into it ( The Orbit).

[BalarnyStone 0]

Is the Greater London Authority privately funded then?

They put money into it ( The Orbit).

 

Their 'London Development Agency' was funded to the tune of over £400m. They used £3.1 million of that to contribute to just 16% of the total cost of the Orbit. And according to Boris, they get a cut of the profits from the restaurant at the top, and considering tourists will be paying £15 a pop to climb it, unless the steel is of the shittest quality ever, I don't imagine anyone is seriously worried about recouping that £3.1m in pretty quick time, and probably much more as well. And by the by, according to my calculations, £3.1m could increase the numbers of nurses in the UK by 0.04%, for just one year.

[Monkeys Fist 39096]

So, not privately funded then.

[BalarnyStone 0]

So, not privately funded then.

 

No, but not to an amount that makes it anything like the white elephant you claimed it was either. Only complete simpletons deal in these sort of absolutisms to win their arguments. If you have an actual case to make in terms either wasted money or unused facilities, then make it, otherwise these last few posts only serve to show how lightweight but pathetically whingy this sort of opposition to the Olympics really is.

[Monkeys Fist 39096]

I didnt claim anything there Spunky.

 

Just pointing out a fact.

 

For a massively intelligent bloke Such as yourself, you'd do well to get yours right before you go calling people simpletons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You massive cunt.

[BalarnyStone 0]

I didnt claim anything there Spunky.

 

Just pointing out a fact.

 

For a massively intelligent bloke Such as yourself, you'd do well to get yours right before you go calling people simpletons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You massive cunt.

 

 

You're still a simpleton, any idiot can lay out 'facts' without context. I confused you with the other bloke talking about the sculpture because you carried on where he left off about the funding. If that makes me a cunt, well, I'd rather be a cunt than a simpleton.

[Monkeys Fist 39096]

Welcome to the board.

[Monkeys Fist 39096]

Seems odd though, you make argument that The Orbit is privately funded. Mostly it is, but when I point out that it has received public money, you're not wrong but I'm a simpleton.

 

Odd.

 

 

 

[BalarnyStone 0]

Cheers. I brought cake. I ate it. Here's an empty tin.....

[Monkeys Fist 39096]

Happy to give you another crumb of the attention you crave.

 

No thanks needed.

[The Fish 9140]

This one's feisty.

[Monkeys Fist 39096]

Almost like he's been here before