Quote:Quote:What about all the unemployed that would have had their benefits removed if they did not 'volunteer'?

I have no issue with the concept,but in reality such people would probably be exploited.

Here in Oz we have 'work for the dole'. Restricted to able bodied people between 18-25 years. An utter waste of time,as they are severely limited in what hey can actually do. This is because of (1) employers dying to exploit them and (2) unions worried they will take paid work from members.

Here during the 2000 Sydney games,there were many times more volunteers than were needed. My nephew was a driver,and had the time of his life. I suspect claims about the Brit unemployed may be exaggerated. Perhaps they were ALLOWED to volunteer?

(August 13, 2012 at 8:38 pm)padraic Wrote:

Here during the 2000 Sydney games,there were many times more volunteers than were needed. My nephew was a driver,and had the time of his life. I suspect claims about the Brit unemployed may be exaggerated. Perhaps they were ALLOWED to volunteer?

Actually so many found ways of getting out of it, they had to call the army in to cover for them.
The trouble with Britain is the underhand way things are run, nobody admits there is a sort of workfare, but it goes on under the table. The system is supposed to be one thing, but it works in an entirely different way. We are supposed to have a national health system, but 70% of people with mental heath issues never get treatment. On the other hand you get parts of it which are truly world class. Nobody wants to confront the cost it would be to take all the service up to a high standard, but nobody wants to admit there are areas that are severely lacking, so the politicians argue a bit over a minor point, shift a bit and then the real issue is swept under the table.
'Perfidious Albion' as Napoleon said, oh you know which one, the other one, not our one, the short one, no I'm not saying our one is a short one, I'm talking about the other one, who actually by the standards of his day was not a short one either, but thinking about it I have never met our one, so he might be a short one, who can say? (Whoops wrong thread.)

PS Pad your things show when I copy them, is it just that they don't like you?

Quote:Actually so many found ways of getting out of it, they had to call the army in to cover for them.

Ah, I keep forgetting the UK is not Oz. We have one of the highest levels of volunteerism in the world.


Besides, the Olympics is a multi $billion,elitist , commercial enterprise which few of the hoi poloi actually get to see. (even if they can afford the tickets)

I think they have a cheek asking for volunteers. Fuck 'em. I also think they have a fucking cheek using the army. They want a commercial games,with professional athletes? Fine,then the games should bloody well be self supporting.

Quote:PS Pad your things show when I copy them, is it just that they don't like you?

Pardon?

It is not that many Brits do not volunteer, its just that so many get kicked in the face for doing so.
I do not even mind paying something towards the the thing, but when the money actually goes the the old boys network that runs it, and the corporations that earn from it, and the money is taken out of amateur sports which I used to give my time for to pay for it, it leaves a bad taste in the mouth. You are lucky in oz that the british criminal code hardly ever convicted an aristocrat, so you are relatively free of the bastards.

(August 13, 2012 at 10:10 pm)padraic Wrote: Pardon?

Scrub that I got an erroneous smiley in the quote from you, and I thought you were still having trouble with them not apearing, but having checked back it was not in your text so I have no idea where it came from now.

(August 13, 2012 at 3:48 pm)Chuck Wrote: I heard the olympics is where a dumb ass with a really bad mop of hair making an idiot of himself on a zip line for all to see.

I don't know where you got this from, he's certainly not a dumbass.

I've never been a sports fan but absolutely loved the Olympics. I was watching them on TV all the time when I was home and watching the live feed on the BBC website all the time at work!
To me, and many other people here, the games weren't all about the sport. It was about getting together as a country and doing something great. We don't often get something to celebrate as a nation, we usually mess things up and complain about the rest of Europe hating us. This was our chance to prove we can be awesome we certainly delivered that.

The atmosphere in London has been fantastic, it's been like a big 2 week long party with lots of pink and purple and seeing the athletes from all over the world and their friends, families and supporters every day really gave a sense that the whole city was involved.

I'm pretty sad it's over now. I spent my whole adult life so far thinking of London only as far as this year's Olympics. Now they're over there's an air of "Now what?" about the place. Sure, we have the biggest and best Paralympic Games starting soon, but what next for London? This is going to be quite a come-down.

jonb I've never seen you talk so much absolute tripe.