Yesterday it was announced that the powers that be have thrown in another £40 Million to subsidise the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2012 Olympics. No more than a public spectacle.
Is it just me that considers that throwing this ammount of cash at an already bottomless pit is abhorrent considering that public services are being slashed. businesses are going bust at an alarming rate and unemployment is rising. The list is endless. Infact its an insult to the taxpaying population.
Of course 'We are all in this together'.
Last edited by: Fullchat on Tue 6 Dec 11 at 19:08
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Ditch the opening ceremony.
The event is supposed to be about sport so all we need is a five minute speech from HRH and then let the athletes do their stuff. No need for all the crap that nobody except the politicians and the luvvies taking part give a fig about.
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all we need is a five>> minute speech from HRH and then let the athletes do their stuff.
Pedant's corner.
Oh! Isn't The Queen opening The Olympic games then?
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Just get on with it without all the razamataz or else something a bit less costly. Was a time when they just paraded all the atheletes through.
Like everyone else someone should be saying,
"WE CAN'T AFFORD IT!"
Last edited by: Fullchat on Tue 6 Dec 11 at 19:23
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>>
Is it just me that considers that throwing this ammount of cash at an already bottomless pit
is abhorrent considering that public services are being slashed. businesses are going bust at an alarming rate and unemployment is rising.
>>
Yes it just you and a few others like me remaining on the "right" side of the argument. :-0
As you know, the "left" side of the argument as proposed by Balls, Cable, et. al. is that spending is good for the economy.
Just be grateful that it is "only" £40m (~£2 per working UK human) and not £40b that is proposed to be spent.
Last edited by: John H on Tue 6 Dec 11 at 19:40
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>>
>> Just be grateful that it is "only" £40m (~£2 per working UK human) and not
>> £40b that is proposed to be spent.
>>
>>
>>
That's the extra cost of the opening ceremony, not the cost of the whole thing.
If it's such a good thing for the economy I think the games should be permanently repatriated to Greece - they need the boost much more than we do.
It's not right for rich ex-imperial powers to hang on to artefacts stolen from ancient centres of culture.
(heavy irony)
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Lost yer marbles, have you?
(Joke)
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Hopefully the money the UK will make from this event over the long term will be great. The Common Wealth games cost a fortune and Mancunian residents didn't like the council tax rises etc to pay for it but it was well worth it.
To put this into perspective, the Stone Roses are playing in Manchester for three nights next year, they expect the city to make £15 million out of it.
So when you think of something of the scale of the Olympics, I would imagine it is worth at least 100x that, so £40m is nothing.
Of course that is my wishful thinking and it might turn out to be nothing more than a complete waste of tax payers money.
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>> Hopefully the money the UK will make from this event over the long term will be great. The Common Wealth games cost a fortune and Mancunian residents didn't like the council tax rises etc to pay for it but it was well worth it.
>>
The COMMON WEALTH games. I like it rattle, I like it.....................
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>>To put this into perspective, the Stone Roses are playing in Manchester for three nights next year, they expect the city to make £15 million out of it.
I would love to find out who came up with these figures and what they were based on. Probably the same people who claim that one day of strike action costs trillions, or one day of bad weather or 6 hours blocked in a motorway etc etc.
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>> I would love to find out who came up with these figures and what they
>> were based on. Probably the same people who claim that one day of strike action
>> costs trillions, or one day of bad weather or 6 hours blocked in a motorway
>> etc etc.
£5million to the local economy for each concert seems a bit far fetched. Even if they played a 30,000 capacity stadium venue the GROSS take would need to be £160 per head attending.
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In fact its an >> insult to the taxpaying population.
>>
>> Of course 'We are all in this together'.
I'm blooming not!
I will do my utmost to avoid seeing sweaty bodies running, jumping, throwing and whatever else they get up to.
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>> I will do my utmost to avoid seeing sweaty bodies running, jumping, throwing and whatever
>> else they get up to.
>>
If anyone turns up for the games the airlines should be keen to fill empty planes leaving the UK at the start and returning at the end of the games. The Australians had fantastic deals to get out of Oz during the Sydney Olympics.
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>> If anyone turns up for the games the airlines should be keen to fill empty
>> planes leaving the UK at the start and returning at the end of the games.
>> The Australians had fantastic deals to get out of Oz during the Sydney Olympics.
>>
That's certainly what we're counting on!!
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What a moaning miserable whining bunch of sour faced individuals you lot are. Nothing in or about this country or any of the inhabitants or their habits are good enough for you, you complain and whine about the place yet none of you have the balls to sod off and live elsewhere.
For once, get behind something we can give the world, and be proud of it.
Pride in the UK? oh yes sorry, none of you have it.
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Not strictly true for all of us - we love living in the UK, and have spend plenty of time living outside the UK too. We're just not in the slightest bit interested in the Olympics...or in paying for the apparent corruption that exists within the IOC...
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>> Pride in the UK? oh yes sorry, none of you have it.
>>
I will treat that comment with the contempt it deserves.
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I have pride in my country warts and all, its history its faults its strengths and most of all its people.
I have no pride in paying for some politicians and pole climbers ego trips.
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or for single mothers, men (sic) who won't work and all the other Ponces.
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From a cycling point of view the Olympics are a disaster. Britain's four top roadmen, Mark Cavendish, Bradley Wiggins, Geraint Thomas and Chris Froome are under pressure to either not ride in or quit the Tour de France early to prepare for the games. The first three will be wasting their time concentrating on the track - a discipline that is to cycling what Speedway is to motorcycle racing - rather than going for the podium or stage wins in the most important event in the sport.
The Olympic games are fairly unimportant in cycle road racing.
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Stage wins are the best that any of them can expect, for political and commercial reasons, so they might as well get medals in a once every 4 years event.
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Re RR point: there are quite a lot of unimportant events in the current curriculum!
Last edited by: NortonES2 on Tue 6 Dec 11 at 22:11
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'Pride in the UK? oh yes sorry, none of you have it.'
Bit strong that Z. I am proud of my country and I suppose you could say I've served it. What narks me is seeing it go to the dogs and can do nothing about it. Not even voting can make a difference.
Moving on. Having been engrossed in the Great British Property Scandal its plain to see that some common sense joined up thinking seems to have been lost somewhere. Thousands upon thousands of well built empty properties standing empty whilst equal numbers are homeless.
Some local authority type woman last night stated that that the houses were not what the homeless wanted and in any event they were not big enough. The presenter George Clarke suggested perhaps they might consider knocking 2 together. The vacant look on her face was classic.
Now £40 million pounds blown on the start and finish of the Olympics would kickstart the idea. Give people jobs, increase spending in the community and oh, provide decent homes instead of paying fortunes to robbing landlords.
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>> 'Pride in the UK? oh yes sorry, none of you have it.'
>>
>> Bit strong that Z. I am proud of my country and I suppose you could
>> Now £40 million pounds blown on the start and finish of the Olympics would kickstart
>> the idea. Give people jobs, increase spending in the community and oh, provide decent homes
>> instead of paying fortunes to robbing landlords.
>>
You know, as well I as know, that money never facilitated joined up thinking, or even common sense, in this or any other country. In fact large sums of money tend to kill such thoughts.
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>> 'Pride in the UK? oh yes sorry, none of you have it.'
>>
>> Bit strong that Z. I am proud of my country and I suppose you could
>> say I've served it. What narks me is seeing it go to the dogs and
>> can do nothing about it. Not even voting can make a difference.
And there is the point. Is it going to the dogs? really? Sure you can always find stuff that's undesirable, sure the country is changing, but going to the dogs? Its not, really. Any complaint or moans about rioters, looters, scroungers, asylum seekers, rapists, murderers, child abusers, religious fanatics, homosexuals - I can point you to any number of them over the last 100 years, and further back.
All this negativity will achieve only one thing, - Apathy and downfall.
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As ever with these vanity projects, extravagant sums of money are spent and it's hard to see what on.
A billion pounds for security?
What are we defending a few runners against - an armed invasion with tactical air support?
We are already being softened up for cost over-runs, and the main Olympic stadium looks like it will be a white elephant.
The cost/benefit equation for the Olympics is terrible - only people spending public money would consider taking it on.
Nor is any of this using the benefit of hindsight.
It was clear when we signed up to host the Olympics the event would be an over-priced trinket which the country couldn't afford.
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From www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/dec/06/security-london-2012-olympic-games?newsfeed=true
the current budget is £9.28 BILLION !!
I have watched opening ceremonies on TV and have thought wow, very spectacular. But it has not made me rush out and book tickets to visit the city, buy any of its products etc.
Total and utter waste of money in my opinion, similar with the Commonwealth games in Glasgow. Building a velodrome just now in one of the most deprived areas of Glasgow. Mmm , that will really be used well. Not.
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>> What are we defending a few runners against - an armed invasion with tactical air support?
I have distant memories of this:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_massacre
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>> going to the dogs? Its not, really.
I agree Zero. No more than anywhere else anyway.
But that doesn't mean we haven't got quite serious and dangerous faults (including the endless vulgar masochistic whining and sentimentalizing you refer to).
Globalized trashy media and the systematic sabotage of education are quite worrying in combination. We have always been anti-intellectual but in the post-modern era without the 'grand emancipatory metanarratives' - Christianity, socialism or even (the way things are going) science or politics - the malevolent vacuity of people who speak for others on all levels is definitely threatening.
Vox pop too tends increasingly to be despicable and loathsome. People imagine that's the cool way to be having seen it on TV. They couldn't be more wrong.
Oh yes, and the Olympics always have the potential to embarrass, being by nature an ever-thriving can of worms. Hope for the best.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Wed 7 Dec 11 at 00:51
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The Olympics remind me of the Millenium Dome.
Based in London... so to anyone more than 150 miles away, a day visit is a waste of time.
Therefore expensive travel and an overnight stay.. or two.
So at least £150-£200 per head before you have bought any tickets.
And to watch athletics? It's so boring I don't even watch it on TV..
So say my wife and I go, that's two days, at least £500 to watch something I am NOT interested in.
And as for reusing the stadia afterwards..
The Romans called it "panem and circenses" - keeping the mob happy by giving them bread and circuses.. And we are expected to pay?
Waste of time. Waste of Government Money.
A monument to pride and greed.
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>> Based in London... so to anyone more than 150 miles away, a day visit is
>> a waste of time.
>> Therefore expensive travel and an overnight stay.. or two.
>>
>> So at least £150-£200 per head before you have bought any tickets.
>>
>> And to watch athletics? It's so boring I don't even watch it on TV..
>>
>> So say my wife and I go, that's two days, at least £500 to watch
>> something I am NOT interested in.
Its ok being in London then isnt it,. you were never going to show up anyway. Good job they didnt build the stadia next your house, that would have been a waste of money.,
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 7 Dec 11 at 09:31
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I'm not a fan, and also thought it seemed like a lot of money for something I won't appreciate.
But in general terms, if you look at the UK public spending budget for 2012, it turns out that per head of the tax paying population, we pay about £13500 each for everything. Of that, £3200 goes towards pensions, £3100 to health care, £1180 to defence, and so on. The Olympics comes in at £250.
So it's not too horrendous, even if you aren't interested in it.
You can see the breakdown of public spending, incidentally, here:
www.ukpublicspending.co.uk/year_spending_2012UKbn_11bc1n#ukgs302
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Zero must be involved in climate change somehow, as he dismisses anyones comments that don't match his own as wrong! ;-)
I am patriotic- but I feel the olympics are a waste of money and theres never been any proof that it benefits the host country in the long term.
Even a small part of the massive amount of money frittered away on the olympics could have been put to better use across the country. Anyone else facing a leisure centre closing near them?
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>> Its ok being in London then isnt it,. you were never going to show up
>> anyway. Good job they didnt build the stadia next your house, that would have been
>> a waste of money.,
Since I live as far from London as I am comfortable with - well away from the nuclear fallout and the plague that's going to engulf it - I really don't care :-)
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>> Waste of time. Waste of Government Money.
>>
>> A monument to pride and greed.
>>
>>
Just another subsidy to the London / South East area.
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>>Just another subsidy to the London / South East area<<
Envy is a waste of time.
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>> Envy is a waste of time.
>>
I worked in London for two years.
Hideously expensive, noisy, dirty place with the worst polluted air in the UK.
Ideal for Londoners then..
As for envy, do I want to pay £2 for something that costs £1.20 in the rest of the UK? And commute packed shoulder to shoulder with the great unwashed?
Am I that stooopid? :-)
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Why d'ya fink I moved out of London then in 1987, duh.
;)
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>> Why d'ya fink I moved out of London then in 1987, duh.
>>
>> ;)
>>
You were deported?
:-)
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>>You were deported?<<
You're not wrong!
:D
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"do I want to pay £2 for something that costs £1.20 in the rest of the UK?"
Possibly if you get paid twice as much.
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The minimum wage is National not Regional. Don't know how people live and work within the M25 on what their take home pay for a 40 hour week might be. Actually, I think I do - multi-occupancy of houses and flats if Reading is anything to go by and that's well outside the M25
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>>
>> >> Envy is a waste of time.
>> >>
>>
>> I worked in London for two years.
>>
>> Hideously expensive, noisy, dirty place with the worst polluted air in the UK.
>>
>>
>> Ideal for Londoners then..
>>
>> As for envy, do I want to pay £2 for something that costs £1.20 in
>> the rest of the UK? And commute packed shoulder to shoulder with the great unwashed?
>>
>> Am I that stooopid? :-)
Plenty of jobs down here for the games....
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...Plenty of jobs down here for the games...
The best one will be sorting out the tenant for the white elephant stadium.
That could be a job for life.
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>> The best one will be sorting out the tenant for the white elephant stadium.
>>
>> That could be a job for life.
Have a sneaking suspicion the main tenant will be us, the taxpayer, subsidising a never ending list of suitable companies and causes with friends in the right places, when they fail to pay we will, again and again...kerching.
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>>
>> Plenty of jobs down here for the games....
>>
For prostitutes, drug dealers, muggers...
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Gosh, the London jealousy is immense.
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High crime, too much traffic, too many people, dirty, ridiculous cost of living.
And if that little lot isn't enough to put you off, there's the hard water. :)
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>> High crime, too much traffic, too many people, dirty, ridiculous cost of living.
>>
>> And if that little lot isn't enough to put you off, there's the hard water.
>> :)
>>
It's not just "too many people", It's who they are.. :-))
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All of that but if I had the money central London is where I'd live.. The super rich don't choose to live in Yorkshire do they?
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...All of that but if I had the money central London is where I'd live...
So would I, but only if I was 30 years younger.
Much fun to be had in London for a well-minted young man about town.
But I wouldn't get much out of it now, even if I was loaded.
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The opera, the ballet, the museums, the art galleries, the exhibitions, the civilisation.
I dont recall Shakespeare building a theater in Glasgow.,
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To be honest I found London a little on the quiet side when I visited in October, not enough people about.
I used to commute-in on a (rarely) overcrowded train from Surrey and count myself lucky as I walked along the the Southbank, it's a great city with so much culture and vibrancy plus the mother of parliaments.
I wasn't born or brought up in London and I've lived in many Northern UK cities so I think I can draw a comparison, perhaps only Edinburgh comes close IMHO.
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>> the London jealousy is immense.
They aren't all jealous Zeddo. Quite a lot of them are just philistine wimps: scared of exaggerated, largely imagined abrasiveness, indifferent to the huge cultural advantages, historic urban grandeur and rich social mix of our incomparable metropolis.
Not only do they see every young black man as a mugger or drug dealer and every flash babe as a predatory tart, but they are scared of driving in dense jostling six-lane traffic consisting at least in large part of people who know where they are going and want to go there briskly.
Straw-chewing sheepshaggers, half of them. They're not bally worth it.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Wed 7 Dec 11 at 18:14
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>> >> the London jealousy is immense.
>>
Don't kid yourself, many of us have lived there but have moved to more pleasant surroundings.
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Can't cope huh, no stamina? Yes I can understand the need to leave and stew for those types.
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Quite a lot of them are just philistine wimps: scared
of exaggerated, largely imagined abrasiveness, indifferent to the huge cultural advantages, historic urban grandeur and rich social mix of our incomparable metropolis.
.
You mean the riots I assume...
Last edited by: madf on Wed 7 Dec 11 at 18:39
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The Manchester ones you mean?
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>> The Manchester ones you mean?
>>
At least the Manchester police didn't stand around and watch.
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>>Straw-chewing sheepshaggers, half of them. They're not bally worth it<<
Baaa.
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Our son used to live in Fulham rented flat quite nice.We used to go every six weeks to visit him.Went to the theatres regulary.He is in New Zealand now amongst the sheepsshaggers..:)
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>> Straw-chewing sheepshaggers, half of them. They're not bally worth it.
>>
I say AC. Daddy used to call them Swede Gnawers!!!
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>> Daddy used to call them Swede Gnawers!!!
In my youth got a lift from a youngish trucker, a Londoner, who was very down on what he called 'bleedin swede-bashers and carrot-eaters' (the latter term new to me).
'Can't understand a bleedin word they're saying' he told me earnestly several times.
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I think the Olympics, taken as an "investment" will be a turkey.
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How much of a recommendation is that from the man who "failed utterly" on all the investment questions?
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My old London mate used to call us turkey treaders.
The only good things about the metrolops are that totty still enjoys dressing to please, and the fact i don't have to live in the dump.
No point enjoying the trip through the middle for bird watching any more, Red Ken spoiled that with his totty spotting charge.
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@Zero:
It wasn't me who put a red face on your post - I can take it as well as dish it out!
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Roger, NP I assumed as much.
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>>
but they are scared of driving in
>> dense jostling six-lane traffic consisting at least in large part of people who know where
>> they are going and want to go there briskly.
Pah, there speaks a man who's never driven through Kuwait city :-) now that is jostling.
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>> there speaks a man who's never driven through Kuwait city :-) now that is jostling.
Quite right sooty, I haven't driven there. But I have driven in places where the traffic jostles more busily than it does in London, both inside and outside Europe. Never once have I wished I was somewhere else.
In any case I don't want to give the impression that I actually prefer driving in dense jostling traffic. In fact I dislike it, especially when the whole thing grinds to a near-standstill owing, I often suspect, to the presence of too high a proportion of out-of-town wimps and mimsers searching vainly for a place to park so that they can visit some dreary popular entertainment or sports venue that only a yokel would bother with. It's just that from previous threads I have the strong impression that many here are just too chicken and too stingy to cope comfortably with the capital or take it in their stride.
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It's just that from previous threads I have the strong impression that many here
>> are just too chicken and too stingy to cope comfortably with the capital or take
>> it in their stride.
>>
>>
>>
Nothing like justifying where you live eh AC? hehe :) Seriously whenever this comes around everyone seems so intent on justifiying where they live, no idea why.
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>> Nothing like justifying where you live eh AC? hehe :) Seriously whenever this comes around
>> everyone seems so intent on justifiying where they live, no idea why.
>>
Just like everyone trying to justify their choice of car, be it a luxobarge, 4X4, or Cee'd. :)
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I don't need to justify where I live or have ever lived. I don't care what other people think about my choices.
But I'd like my £250 back so that I can spend it on something of my choice.
Or when the games are over am I going to get a dividend paid out of all the fantastic financial benefits they have brought?
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I'm sure we could organise whip round for that £250.......
Pat
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All those Londoners who think the city is so wonderful would be queuing to leave the dump in a flash if we had an outbreak of contagious disease.
At least us sheepshaggers live in or near the country where the air is fresh and not recycled through 1,000 lungs before you breath it. And as for the London water, I believe it's recycled several times through the human intestines before it is drunk.
Sheepshagging would be preferable to drinking recycled wee.
Last edited by: madf on Thu 8 Dec 11 at 09:25
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This will help the recession deepen, after the Olympics. What joy for all tax payers, income and council.
tinyurl.com/cxslvyj
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>> And as for the London
>> water, I believe it's recycled several times through the human intestines before it is drunk.
>>
>>
>> Sheepshagging would be preferable to drinking recycled wee.
We all drink recycled wee. It's a closed system. The same old water recycled and reused.
Sewage water is treated and pumped into the rivers and oceans where it is evaporated by the sun, to fall somewhere else (i.e. reservoirs) as rain.
I find it's best not to think about it.
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>>We all drink recycled wee<<
I don't, I have my own private water supply of natural spring water.
:)
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...I don't, I have my own private water supply of natural spring water...
And where do you think the sheep, cows, horses, rats etc go for a wee?
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You're right of course Iffy, but I had it tested for coliforms/mineral content/bacteria - everything in fact,
and it was passed by SW water - it certainly tastes better than eau de tap!
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The taste of eau de tap is very much improved if a water filter is used.
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>> The taste of eau de tap is very much improved if a water filter is used.
>>
I will take your word for that.
I thought water was just used for washing pills down.
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If you don't want to think about recycled wee, then you might not want to think about your constituent atoms having already gone through other people long since dead, as well as all other sorts of organic matter over the last more or less forever.
And of course, we are star stuff. And now I shall change out of my mumu and purple crush loons and come back to reality.
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...And now I shall change out of my mumu and purple crush loons and come back to reality...
I can't read stuff like that without it reminding me of David Icke.
A quick Google reveals the arrogant fool is still at it.
www.davidicke.com/
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>>A quick Google reveals the arrogant fool is still at it<<
Eh, rich arrogant, fool?
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>>can't read stuff like that without it reminding me of David Icke.<<
It makes me think of flower power, heady aromas, kaftans, bells on zips and happy happy days!
Peace man:)
Pat
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>>It makes me think of flower power, heady aromas, kaftans, bells on zips and happy happy days! Peace man:)<<
That's way out, man :D
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>> I will take your word for that.
Actually, our filtered tap water tastes considerably better than the cheap merlot I bought recently.
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>> I thought water was just used for washing pills down.
I use diet coke, or An Other diet fizzy drinks.
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I long ago came to the conclusion that beer, red, wine,coffee and the occasional cup of green tea are all the human frame requires in the form of liquids.
And Noah he often said to his wife when he sat down to dine,
"I don't care where the water goes if it doesn't get into the wine."
from Wine and Water by G K Chesterton
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>> from Wine and Water by G K Chesterton
>>
Ah Gilbert, I love his writing, and his attitude to correct pronunciation.
Many's the time i've had a pint in his favourite pub, sometimes even his chair, and have been lucky enough to go inside his house.
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I've lived in a few capital cities over the years, as well as on the periphary and miles away fom them. I have to say that my preference is either to live very centrally or miles away. I always found living near a city altogether unsatisfactory. The trouble is, living very centrally does, on the whole, cost a prohibitive amount of money nowadays!
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My sister gets her water from a spring on her own land and the local jobsworths charged her an "Abstraction Fee" for doing so. They then realised that it was costing them a lot to administer it and, rather than raise the fee, they abolished it!
This news about the delightful properties of some tap water will bring joy to all male readers of a certain age!
tinyurl.com/d7zgm9b
Last edited by: Meldrew on Thu 8 Dec 11 at 10:57
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There's all-sorts of nasties in eau de tap, I wouldn't even wash me car in it ;)
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Your own spring water is great if it's OK.
My wife as a kid was fed spring water.. no mains. They were frequently ill. Water tested.. some bug in it.
Boiled it and problem vanished.
Collect water from your roof and filter and drink that. As long as you don't have lead piping or copper on roof you'll be fine.
(Do not sue me if you try it and fall ill..)
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My mate Laurie (the leather craftsman) owned 30 acres and had a disused granite quarry on his land,
He ran a blue pipe from the (flooded) quarry to his cottage and we all drank that water for decades,
He had it tested once - deemed unfit for human consumption,
We always boiled the guts out of it first though (and added a tea bag!)
T'was funny to see tadpoles coming out of the tap :(
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Good lord, in some parts of the world people are walking all day to find water, in others they are dying for lack of clean drinking water, and you lot are now moaning about what comes out of your tap.
Get a grip
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>>Get a grip
or a water filter...
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>> Get a grip
>>
Oddly enough we pay handsomely for this basic human need.
If it was free....
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>> >> Get a grip
>> >>
>>
>> Oddly enough we pay handsomely for this basic human need.
>>
>> If it was free....
Do you? Actually I don't think you do. You pay for it yes, but handsomely?
Some of you have lost all proportion.
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>> Some of you have lost all proportion.
>>
And you have forgotten that water used to be part of the rates bill, till Lady Thatcher sold the family silver including basic human rights like water off to the highest bidder.
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Dont see you walking 15 miles to get water from a muddy pond, nor do I see you dying of amoebic dysentery, nor do i see you dying of thirst because you cant afford water.
Basic human right? you dont know what they are - As I said, Get a grip.
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 8 Dec 11 at 12:35
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>> Basic human right? you dont know what they are - As I said, Get a
>> grip.
>>
Don't be so needlessly offensive Z, you are a clever man so it's not necessary and it doesn't become you.
We work hard and pay for our basic human rights, we are lucky enough to live somewhere that invested in its own future through the sweat and labours of generations gone by, and those of us who can be bothered continue to work and pay to upkeep that civilised way of life.
Seems i might have been wrong about the rates covering the water from Bromptons post, my mistake then put it down to my poor memory...i'm sure i used to pay it as part of the rates bill, seems i was mistaken, my apologies.
Last edited by: gordonbennet on Thu 8 Dec 11 at 12:52
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No need to apologise GB, I was just recording a different recollection.
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Don't be so needlessly offensive Z, you are a clever man so it's not necessary and it doesn't become you
Zero
Just ignore GB.. I just love it when you talk dirty..:-)
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>> >> Basic human right? you dont know what they are - As I said, Get
>> a
>> >> grip.
>> >>
>>
>> Don't be so needlessly offensive Z, you are a clever man so it's not necessary
>> and it doesn't become you.
You think it offensive to point out that people in other places in the world are dying for the lack of drinkable water? You think it offensive to wonder how, given this fact, other people are complaining about the fact that the water that comes out of the tap not 5 yards from where they sleep, is a "bit hard" or "tastes a little funny"? You also think its offensive for me to wonder about people bemoaning the fact they have to pay very little for this "basic human right"
I'm sorry mate, that's really not offensive. If I have made you think about how lucky you are, which by the way has more to do with #where# you live than how it got to your tap than who pays for it - (your forebears didn't by the way, people with a shed load of money and shred of public decency kicked off fresh water to the homes of those who needed it most), then I have done you a favour.
I am sure being a decent man, you dont begrudge paying a pittance for something as valuable as pure water, so stop pretending to be an ogre.
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 8 Dec 11 at 13:49
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so stop pretending to be an ogre.
>>
I wash my hands of you, but i didn't make a red face at you.
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>> so stop pretending to be an ogre.
>> >>
>>
>> I wash my hands of you, but i didn't make a red face at you.
Be thankful to the benefactors of the clean water for your hands.
As per the red face, I would expect nothing less of you, if you disagree you will say so not hide behind a scowly mask.
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 8 Dec 11 at 14:09
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>> Seems i might have been wrong about the rates covering the water from Bromptons post,
>> my mistake then put it down to my poor memory...i'm sure i used to pay
>> it as part of the rates bill, seems i was mistaken, my apologies.
>>
Actually, thinking some more you were right. I was mislead by the Thatcher reference into thinking about the situation in the eighties.
The development of a water supply in the Victorian era was certainly a municipal enterprise. Birmingham built it's reservoirs in the Elan Valley, Liverpool at Vyrnwy and Manchester Thirlmere and Haweswater in the Lakes. London had the Metropolitan Water Board. In other areas though smaller partnerships/boards developed supplies. Situation changed in the mid/late twentieth century but perhaps part of the massive reform of Local Government in 1974/5.
So water was a precept in the Council rate up to that point then a rate paid directly to the water company?
EDIT The Water Act 1973 seems to have been the watershed.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Thu 8 Dec 11 at 21:31
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>> So water was a precept in the Council rate up to that point then a
>> rate paid directly to the water company?
Possibly Brompton, i can only go by memory and thats about as reliable as a politicians promise these days.
As a shining example of how hopeless i am, we enlisted the services of an excellent independent financial advisor about 11 years ago to sort us a low interest mortgage we could pay off as quickly as possible without penalty, it worked we cleared it in about 7 years with not a penny in penalties.
He was a brilliant and humourous older fellow, liitle bit eccentric too, our kind of chap, anyway he said 'have you brought the bank statement i requested Gordon?', yes David here it is....short time went by and he said 'that's great Gordon i now know what your filing system is, it's the straight in the bin system'...pardon?
Well this bank statement is from 1990 and belonged to your late mother...oh boy did he give me some stick for that or what, aided and abetted by my adoring SWM...:-)
So make allowances i've been like this for some time.
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...So water was a precept in the Council rate up to that point then a rate paid directly to the water company?...
I wasn't of utility bill paying age until the 1980s, but my recollection is the water charge was included in the rates bill, shown as a separate precept.
We were on the farm at the time and had a septic tank and a fresh water spring.
The farm also had mains water, but the charges were lower than for mains-only properties.
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>> And you have forgotten that water used to be part of the rates bill, till
>> Lady Thatcher sold the family silver including basic human rights like water off to the
>> highest bidder.
Don't know how far back this recollection goes but it's a long time, if ever, since water was part of the Local Authority Rate in england. Different in Scotland I think.
Paid variously in my lifetime, depending on where we lived, to Rombald's Water Board, Three Valleys Water and latterly Anglian Water. As we're now in a house constructed in 1998 we have a meter. The older houses in the main village development, c1970, still pay SFAIK based on the 1973 (!!!) rating list valuation, unless the occupier has opted for a meter.
Being sued for non-payment and even cut off pre-dated privatisation by some years. The companies serving Outer West London/SW Middlesex had a particularly aggressive policy in this respect.
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>> everyone seems so intent on justifiying where they live, no idea why.
I haven't lived in the Smoke for two years now, although fortunately I only live 50 miles away and go there fairly often. Where I live now is fairly close to a paradise and is I believe an ONB. It's beautiful, comfortable and generally pleasant.
But I still miss aspects of London and always will. I loved living there and I love living here. Some people are privileged without necessarily deserving it.
Oh, and there's nothing hippyish about saying that, er, 'We are stardust...' It's quite simply a scientific fact. The universe is a single thing. The problem is working out what sort of thing.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Thu 8 Dec 11 at 12:28
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'We are stardust...' It's quite simply a scientific fact. The universe is a single thing. The problem is working out what sort of thing.
I'm made entirely of solid gold... with a thin layer of epidermis to confuse the unwary. In reality, beneath my stony exterior beats a heart of negative matter bound together with the grainy sub atomic particles that the Hadron Collider has so far failed to find..
If anyone gives me the odd $1 billion or so.... chicken feed to the $9bn costs of the HC ... I will reveal all and shine like the star I once was.
hic.
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www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16195861
Looks like a shortage in the security budget and a shortage of private security guards.
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"Last week, ministers revised the Games security budget from £282m to £553m."
That must be a record insurance premium??
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I know of people training to be stewards for the olympics. Pays okay for that sort of work for say a student over a few weeks in the summer.
My take on this is the use of troops for a few weeks is effectively free. They are paid anyway. Take them off frontline duties etc. mind. And if something did happen, we'd have them nearby if needed.
In that figure will be those based on the ships, bomb disposal and similar teams, the jet pilots etc.
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'the use of troops for a few weeks is effectively free.'
If only it worked that way ;-)
Don't worry the MoD will be billing someone.
Last edited by: sooty123 on Thu 15 Dec 11 at 22:13
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Yes there will be charges but it's keeping the money inside the government so to speak. Instead of paying for security guards.
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Zeddo's on the case in his shiny new polyester uniform.
I think we can all rest easy.
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Technicl Team mate, Technical team,
Not on the door wive me 'ard dog.
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Well there will an extra cost to the tax payer either way, if it goes to the MoD or private security guards.
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What Recession? - Zero
