Mind the Gap: London's Olympic Games are Falling Down | The Nation - Nation
Upon returning to the United States after two weeks amidst London's pre-Olympic terrain, I have some final thoughts that I hope the International Olympic Committee and the UK's Tory Prime Minister David Cameron take to heart. I also hope that the Olympics lead corporate sponsors, British Petroleum, Dow Chemical, and McDonalds take a timeout from devising the latest cutting edge trends in evil and listen as well. Your games are in trouble. Your games are in trouble because the people who actually have to live in London alongside the Olympiad are mad as hell. And it's only May.
After two weeks of listening to everyone with an opinion about the Olympics – in other words, “everyone”- it's clear the entire affair suffers from Annie Hall Syndrome. At the start of Woody Allen's 1977 classic, Woody talks about the two elderly women at the Catskill resort who complain that the food is terrible while also adding, "And such small portions!" Londoners are annoyed at the inconvenience brought by the Olympics, incensed by the security crackdown... and outraged that there are no tickets available. This is hardly a petty complaint. Corporate partners have gobbled up the seats, leaving the overwhelming majority of the city with their nose pressed up against the glass. In London, where the pubs dot every block and open onto the streets after work in a daily party open to all comers, this comprises a cardinal sin. As Neill, one of many bartenders I encountered said to me, "It's like a big to-do that no one invited us to attend!"
The security crackdown and constant paranoia are discomfiting enough (fears are being disseminated about the Irish. Seriously.) But what singes the locals is the idea that the Olympics are a party that will stick them with the bill: a hangover from hell without the drunken rapture that by all rights should precede it.
All Olympics produce debt like a cow produces methane. But this one happens in the context of a double-dip recession. It happens with round-the-clock U.K. media coverage of the “Euro-panic”, as voters in Greece are threatening to tell Angela Merkel, David Cameron, and the European Union to take their austerity agenda and cram it sideways. The fears of crisis and debt surround even the cheeriest propaganda about the looming Games. The BBC led every broadcast while I was there with these two separate stories. First, "Crisis in Greece" and then with a different anchor, reporters, and even music, "Getting Ready for the Olympics." Nowhere was any discussion that the 2004 Athens Olympics, came in at over 10 times the proposed budget. Those games aggravated the crisis Greece is currently slogging through, with the country's homeless now even squatting in dilapidated, unused Olympic structures. There is scant discussion that these London games could come in at 10 times their proposed 2005 budget as well, causing another "debt crisis" that will be taken from the hides - not to mention the pensions - of the UK's workers. At several events involving trade union workers and bureaucrats, the message was repeated to me over and over: "When the Olympics are over, the gloves will come off.
In other words, faced with the pressures of austerity and recession, Cameron and company are cooling their jets until the Olympics are over and then they will try to do their level best to disembowel the unions and further cut taxes for the wealthy. Why wait until after the Olympics? Because Cameron needs the unions cooperation to make sure that the games come off on time and on schedule. They need to make sure the unions don't take strike action or join the demonstrations planned for July 28th, the first Saturday of the Games. This is why they agreed to sizable bonuses for London’s subway workers. Anything to make sure that the Olympics show London, and more critically David Cameron, in the best possible light.
I have no doubt that all the top sports reporters will write uxoriously about London and all it’s quaint customs, and the cameras will point at only those cheering the events on, waving the Union Jack. But make no mistake: the Olympic Torch is not the most noteworthy thing passed from Greece to London. It's the looming struggle against austerity. David Cameron might want to wait until after the Olympics to "take the gloves off” but he's not the only one willing to go bare knuckles over the future of the UK.
Alexander Wolff, the great journalist from Sports Illustrated is stationed in London and wrote this week, "Every time I come to England I'm struck by how the lowbrow mingles with the high." But in London the "lowbrow" are angry and the "highbrow" are scared. They mingle only in the shared sense that a storm is coming to the British Isles. The summer will be filled with games. But an epic fall awaits.
London 2012 could be first ever Paralympic Games to sell all its tickets - The Guardian
Despite renewed complaints over their unwieldy ticketing system, London 2012 organisers have sold tens of thousands more tickets to the Games and claimed vindication over their decision to charge for sections of the road cycling races.
Meanwhile, Paralympics officials expressed confidence the London Games could become the first to completely sell out in the event's 52-year history, following another round of strong ticket sales.
Among the tickets that went on sale for the first time on Tuesday were 25,000 for the climbing section of the cycling road race at Box Hill and the cycling time trial at Hampton Court.
Cycling fans are used to watching their heroes for nothing, but Locog said the men's events had sold out in a single day.
Initial demand meant the much-criticised Ticketmaster system again slowed to a crawl, amid a deluge of interest.
"The sheer volume of demand meant that we managed transactions slowly in the first 20 minutes. However transactions are now flowing through in their thousands," said a spokeswoman.
Timed tickets to ascend the Orbit sculpture in the Olympic Park also went on sale for the first time. In all, around 450,000 tickets to the Games remain – plus 1.3m football tickets that are expected to prove difficult to shift.
More than 1.2m of the 2.2m tickets on offer for the 2012 Paralympics, which run from 29 August to 9 September, have already been sold, the bulk of them in a much-promoted initial sales window in September. Another 125,000 were sold last week, the highest total in a single seven-day period to date.
"We're probably in the strongest position we've ever been in for ticket sales ahead of a Paralympics," said Craig Spence, head of communications for the Bonn-based International Paralympic Committee. "It would be great if we could sell out the Games. It's definitely possible; there's a real potential for us to do it.
"It would be amazing. Bear in mind that in Sydney 12 years ago they were still giving away a lot of tickets. Tickets being sold for a Paralympic Games is still a fairly new thing, so to sell all of them for full price would be pretty remarkable."
Adrian Bassett from Locog, which is responsible for the ticket sales, said the scale of early sales had been unprecedented: "A sellout is certainly possible. When you look at previous Paralympics it's quite often during the Olympics or just before that people wake up to the Paralympic Games, and there's a surge of ticket sales then. We're expecting to still be selling tickets quite close to the Games themselves."
Even if the Games opened with just a few seats unsold, it would be a big achievement, both for the London Games and the wider acceptance of Paralympic sport.
At most of the 15 summer Paralympics since the first, in Rome in 1960, seats have been given away. The 2000 Sydney Games sold 1.2m; Athens, four years later, 850,000. More than 3.6 million people watched Paralympic events in Beijing in 2008, but almost half the tickets were given away to schools and community groups. Even the 1.82m full-price tickets were relatively cheap, ranging from 30 to 80 yuan (about £3 to £8).
The London Paralympic prices remain competitive – aside from the opening and closing ceremony, the highest figure is £45, while 75% cost £20 or less
The interest in tickets has been prompted by a number of factors, Spence said, ranging from pre-Games coverage by Channel 4, which will broadcast the Paralympics, to the wider awareness of Paralympic sports inthe UK. He said: "People are buying into the concept. British Paralympic athletes are far more well known, say compared to China. We're in a far stronger starting position here than we were going into the Beijing Games. Paralympic sport is probably more accepted in this country than in any other country in the world."Interest has also been spurred by the likelihood of some home success: the British team won 42 golds in Beijing, and has come second in the medal table in the last three s
London Underground and RMT agree deal over Olympic bonus payments - Metro.co.uk
The RMT union said drivers could receive up to £1,000, with other members of staff in line for up to £850 for the 'massive additional pressures' they will face during the period around the Games, when the transport system is likely to be busier than ever before.
The union says it is still balloting control staff and maintenance members over the possibility of strike action on over other pay and condition issues.
Some of the workers being balloted over possible strike action work for a contractor, which the union said had turned down a claim for an Olympic bonus payment - no date has yet been set for any possible action.
Transport for London said members of the RMT members had now joined colleagues in Aslef and Unite, who had already agreed to the deal, and TSSA, which has agreed in principle.
The RMT says it still wants a large-scale mock emergency evacuation to test safety measures on the tube system, and admitted it still had worries about staffing levels and the use of untrained volunteers at a time when security would be such an issue.
General Secretary Bob Crow said he was happy to have agreed a deal to reward his members for their work 'in recognition of what we all know will be the biggest transport challenge ever faced by this city'.
London, France's sixth biggest city - BBC News
More French people live in London than in Bordeaux, Nantes or Strasbourg and it is now thought to be France's sixth biggest city in terms of population. What is attracting a new generation of young French professionals to the city?
On a wet Friday night in Hackney, a group of young professional women walk into a pub. Laughing about the British weather, they shake their umbrellas, peel off their raincoats and make their way to the bar.
Like many Londoners at the end of a busy working week, they have come to unwind over a few drinks.
But if you move a bit closer, you realise they are all speaking French. They are not tourists, exchange students or off-duty au pairs. They all work in creative industries, have lived in east London quite some time and consider it home.
London has a long-standing French community - but it is no longer confined to the streets around the embassy in South Kensington, where you will find French bookshops, patisseries and pavement cafes patronised by impeccably dressed mothers dropping off their children at the posh Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle.
“Start Quote
End Quote Malika FavreI came to London from Paris straight after graduating from art school, just to have a look - that was seven years ago ”
Today there are French people in every corner of London and their numbers have been growing, with the result that in next week's parliamentary election in France they - along with expats in Scandinavia - will be voting for a candidate to represent them in the National Assembly.
The French consulate in London estimates between 300,000 and 400,000 French citizens live in the British capital - many in London's cutting-edge creative hub, in the East End.
"I came to London from Paris straight after graduating from art school, just to have a look," says Malika Favre. "That was seven years ago and I've no intention of going back."
Malika is much in-demand as an illustrator. Her commissions include a bold, playful design for a new edition of the Kama Sutra, an album cover for a French rock band and artwork for a Californian beachwear company.
Being in London and speaking English gives her access to a wider client base - Malika sees the city as a gateway to globalisation and also relishes freedom from French bureaucracy.
"With a new venture in Paris you always think first of what is going to go wrong. I find the system much easier here - you don't have so many rules and so much paperwork," she tells me.
Marine Schepens, who works for a fashionable advertising agency, says UK companies are more prepared to give young people a chance because it is easier to terminate their contracts than in France.
This fluidity makes employees less risk-averse too.
"I changed careers a year ago but I would have never done that if I was still in France. I'd have thought, 'I'm so lucky to have a job - I must hang on to it.'"
Nadege Alezine, a journalist from Bordeaux, says life in London is not for the faint hearted. She runs a website aimed at the French community called bealondoner.com
"If you want security and nice holidays you stay in France. If you crave adventure and want to get new skills, you come here," she says.
That is not to say she does not miss France. Sipping her drink, she sighs.
"Life in France was easy. You know, good food and wine. I lived near the sea and not far from the ski slopes. And sometimes when London's grey and rainy I think, 'What on earth am I doing here?'"
All the young women I met complained about London's over-priced property. London rents are twice those in Paris.
"In Brick Lane, we had bedbugs and rats," says Malika, "and for the same money I paid for one room, friends back home had their own flats."
Of course, many people living in London have it far worse, but by choosing the East End Malika and her friends are following in the footsteps of her compatriots centuries ago.
The French first came en masse to the East End in the 17th Century. These Huguenots, who had endured years of persecution in France because of their Protestant faith, were offered sanctuary here by King Charles II.
They called their flight Le Refuge - coining the word refugee.
Many settled east of the City of London, where food and housing were cheaper. There are many French street names around nearby Spitalfields Market such as Fournier Street, Fleur de Lys Street and Nantes Passage.
The Huguenots were skilled craftsmen but some feared that they were depriving Londoners of work. A protectionist priest, a certain Dr Welton, called them "the offal of the earth".
Today competition for jobs is intense, especially among the young, and cross-channel migrants are not always welcomed with open arms.
Recently the French consulate commissioned a report called The Forgotten People of St Pancras. It focuses on the young French who arrive in London on a one-way ticket and sometimes find themselves in desperate straits.
The Centre Charles Peguy, a French charity in Shoreditch, helps new arrivals to find work and a place to live.
Cedric Pretat, one of the advisers, says the numbers have shot up this summer.
"Many French people imagine that because of the Olympics, lots of new jobs have been created in London which is not true. But people arrive with this dream."
He adds: "Others are escaping from things in France such as family problems, educational problems and areas like Department 93, because people who live in that part of Paris sometimes have trouble finding a job."
Department 93 is shorthand for Seine Saint Denis, just north of Paris - the French suburb which is home to many French nationals of African origin and a large immigrant population.
To the average French person, it conjures up images of riots, bleak high rises, youth unemployment and racism. It is the most-discriminated-against postcode in France, although ethnic minorities from other suburbs have also had a tough time.
Hamid Senni, a business consultant based in London, was one of eight children born to Moroccan immigrants in the south of France. A well-meaning teacher at his school suggested he change his name to Lionel.
“Start Quote
End Quote Cleo SoazandryIt's like my eyes opened up when I came here - I think the American dream is also present here in the UK”
"Because of your name you will be discriminated against, because of your skin colour, and even the address on your CV can stop you from getting a job," he says.
"As for your skills and competencies - none of that counts in France if you don't fit in the box - so I left," he adds.
Hamid now advises many French companies on how to diversify their workforce and he lectures at Sciences Po, one of the country's most prestigious universities.
But he says that in the early days it was much easier to get someone to pick up the phone, if he called from London than from Paris.
I first met him five years ago when he had just written a book. It was called De la Cite a la City and focused on his journey from a rundown suburban estate (Cité) in Valence to London's booming financial district.
Hamid suspects the success of the far right in the first round of the recent presidential elections, the highest share of the vote ever achieved by the Front National in a nationwide poll, might have pushed more young French people across the channel.
"France is really struggling to create jobs and things have got worse because some people are saying the whites should come first," he says.
Cleo Soazandry, another young French national with African roots, has a mother from Madagascar and a father from Guinea. Her parents met in France where Cleo was born. In her early teens, the family moved from Paris to London.
"I was really pushed by my teachers here," she says. "Suddenly I realised I could actually become somebody here, be ambitious."
Cleo adds that seeing black presenters on television made a deep impression on her as there were virtually none in France at the time.
"It's like my eyes opened up when I came here - I think the American dream is also present here in the UK."
Listen to The French East End on BBC Radio 4 on Wednesday, 30 May at 11:00 BST and listen again via the Radio 4 website.
London on top of disease threat - Independent Online
REUTERS
This undated colorised scanning electron micrograph shows a large grouping of Gram-negative Salmonella bacteria.
London – If someone's stomach is churning and cramping after eating a burger or club sandwich from a pop-up vendor at the London Olympics, Brian McCloskey plans to be among the first to hear about it.
As the man in charge of disease surveillance during the Games, he says the greatest risk will be food poisoning from people eating street snacks in warm weather, failing to wash their hands and using the same toilets as millions of others.
But he has a strategy to get ahead of the threat.
McCloskey's Health Protection Agency Olympic co-ordination centre (OCC) will gather data on a daily basis – not only on confirmed cases of diseases such as measles, meningitis, salmonella and flu, but also on the stomach cramps, coughs, headaches and fever symptoms people complain of when they go to walk-in clinics or emergency rooms.
“It's called syndromic surveillance, and it's kind of a speciality of the UK,” McCloskey told Reuters in an interview.
The idea is that as well as waiting for doctors to officially diagnose and report a specific illness up the data chain, a process that may take days, McCloskey's team will get prior warning by assessing symptoms early.
“Most people don't go to a doctor or hospital emergency rooms saying they've got pneumococcal meningitis or measles, they walk in and say they've got diarrhoea and vomiting, or a temperature, a sore throat and a headache,” he explains.
“We record those symptoms, or syndromes, and we analyse the data on a regular basis to look for changes to normal patterns.”
The Olympic and Paralympic Games are set to be one of the largest mass gatherings Britain has handled, with 8 million Olympic and 2 million Paralympic tickets being sold to spectators from all parts of the country and across the world.
More than 10,000 athletes from more than 200 countries will take part in events starting on July 27 with the opening ceremony and then spreading across 34 different venues.
Little surprise then that the Olympics pose significant public health risks and McCloskey is eager to get ahead.
“The main thing is to know what's happening,” he adds. “That's our key job, putting in place the surveillance systems which will tell us whether anything unusual is happening. Then our response will be to see what we can do to control it and reduce the spread.”
With something like flu, for example, McCloskey says syndromic surveillance could give an alert “about two weeks earlier than that normal case reporting systems do.”
“If a new strain of flu were to emerge, or something like SARS (Severe acute respiratory syndrome), that would be something we'd take very seriously.
“There isn't any evidence of it happening (in previous Olympics), but it's a possibility so it's one of the things we're on the look-out for.”
Mass gatherings, be they sporting events, religious pilgrimages or rock festivals, can be hotbeds of disease. They have even inspired the creation of a whole new academic scientific discipline called “mass gathering medicine”.
The subject was at the heart of a series of papers published recently in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal in which experts warned that conventional concepts of disease spread and crowd control were often inadequate.
“Mass gathering have been associated with death and destruction – catastrophic stampedes, collapse of venues, crowd violence and damage to political and commercial infrastructure,” Ziad Memish, deputy health minister of Saudi Arabia, which each year hosts the haj pilgrimage, wrote in one of the papers.
McCloskey said the haj is a useful gathering to look at and learn from, but he noted many differences between the pilgrimage and the Olympics that are crucial when it comes to disease risk.
“In the haj ... you have 2 million people travelling together, eating together, sleeping in the same tent for anything from six days to two weeks, so there is very close contact for prolonged periods,” he said.
At an Olympics, while the numbers are greater, they are also more spread out and contacts tend to be minimised to a few hours in the middle of the day. Prior Olympics experiences suggests major infections do not happen often.
“We're fairly confident we have the right systems in place to know if anything is happening, and we have the right resources to respond if it does happen,” McCloskey said.
“But the balance of the evidence available to us is that the most likely thing to happen is nothing at all.” – Reuters
London 2012 Olympics: Syrian athletes may compete under neutral, five-ring Olympics flag - Daily Telegraph
The Syrian International Olympic Committee member Samih Moudallal told Telegraph Sport from Damascus last week that Assad had never intended to travel to London, even before his EU travel ban and that he had not been formally invited.
The other international president who has not been invited is Zimbabwe leader Robert Mugabe.
London Olympic Games organisers said they have only invited heads of state who are able to legally travel to the UK, and that precludes any of the 128 persons currently on the EU travel ban list. But anyone able to travel, like Argentinian president Cristina Fernandez, have been formally invited.
"We are in a tough position because if they are allowed into the country it is difficult not to invite them to the Olympic Games," an Olympic insider said.
Moudallal said in an interview before the latest atrocity that Locog had invited Syrian officials, including General Joumaa to attend the Games because they were independent.
"No government officials from Syria have been invited to attend the Olympic Games,"Moudallal said. "The president has not been invited, only the Olympic officials have been invited because they are independent and they have been invited to participate in all activities".
Currently the six to eight Syrian athletes who may qualify for the London Olympics have received support funding direct from IOC headquarters in Lausanne, rather than have the money filtered through the Syrian Olympic Committee.
Weightlifter Soraya Sobh, boxer Wassim Salameh, equestrian Ahmed Saber Hamsho and high jumper Majd Eddin Ghazal have qualified for the Games. Three female athletes are expected to be named on the team, including shooter Raya Zeineddine.
The IOC has yet to suspend the Syrian Olympic Committee, which is may do if it feels there is political pressure on the organisation. If that occurs the Syrian athletes will march and compete under the Olympic flag.
The only other athletes who will compete under the neutral flag are Kuwaiti athletes because their national Olympic committee has been suspended because of political interference.
Meanwhile Joumaa said on Wednesday that nine athletes have qualified for the Games and vowed they will compete "despite all pressures, media war and threats to ban them".
Syria will take part in the Games to reflect the "will of its people and show its firm support for the leadership of the country and its army that is vehemently confronting the conspiracy" against it, according to the president of the Syrian National Olympic Committee.
Queen's Diamond Jubilee: London travel guide - Daily Telegraph
The Queen will also be attending the Epsom Derby on Saturday - tickets are still available through www.epsomdowns.co.uk. A Diamond Jubilee Concert is taking place on June 4, but the event is sold out.
On June 4, thousands of beacons will be lit around the world to mark the Queen's 60 years on the throne. To find out where your nearest beacon is, see www.diamondjubileebeacons.co.uk. And on June 5, a Diamond Jubilee Carriage Procession will take the Queen from Westminster Hall to Buckingham Palace, with thousands expected to line the streets.
There are also dozens of events taking place at the country's English Heritage properties, including Aspley House and Eltham Palace and Gardens in the capital. For a full list, see www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/events
Special exhibitions are also on at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, the Museum of London, the National Portrait Gallery, Kensington Palace and Buckingham Palace.
As many as 10,000 street parties are also planned for the weekend. For tips on what food and drinks to serve your guests, and what to wear, see www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/9284333/Queens-Diamond-Jubilee-Entertaining-guide.html
What else is there to do?
Telegraph Travel's London city break guide features the best things to see and do across the capital. There are also individual guides to London's districts.
Where to stay
Telegraph Travel has expert reviews of more than 75 hotels in London, the majority of which can be booked through the website at the lowest price guaranteed.
Many hotels have also launched a variety of Jubilee-themed offers, ranging from the tempting to the tenuous.
Restaurants
A number of restaurants and bars have unveiled themed menus in the run up to the Jubilee. Among the most bizarre dishes being coronation chicken ice cream, currently available at Gelupo in Soho.
Transport
Tube: Engineering works on the London Underground are few and far between this weekend, for a change, with just the Waterloo and City Line and parts of the London Overground facing closure. However, there will be no access to Buckingham Palace from Green Park station on Monday - visitors are advised to use Westminster or St James’s Park stations.
Roads: There will be a number of bus diversions and curtailments. Drivers are advised to avoid central London between June 3 and June 5. Sunday will be particularly busy due to a number of road and bridge closures. Seven London bridges will be closed to both road users and pedestrians for most of the day.
River: There will be no river services on Sunday June 3 from 1430 until 1800 between Battersea Bridge and the Thames Barrier at Woolwich.
For more information, see www.tfl.gov.uk
Read more
Sixty years of royal tours
Few of us have seen as much of the world as the Queen, who has visited 116 countries. Sophie Campbell looks back on six decades of regal globetrotting.
Jubilee London, then and now
A new book, 'The Queens' London', makes a striking comparison of the city in the diamond Jubilee years of Queens Victoria and Elizabeth II, 115 years apart.
Cruises with a royal connection
Four options for those wanting to explore our royal heritage by cruise ship this year.
Al Jazeera eyes new London home in Shard skyscraper - Reuters UK
LONDON |
LONDON (Reuters) - Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera is in advanced talks to move into London's Shard skyscraper, the tallest tower in western Europe, a source close to the deal told Reuters.
The 95-storey Renzo Piano-designed glass tower, with views across London's financial district and the landmark St Paul's Cathedral, has so far failed to sign an office tenant as companies shelve moves due to the turmoil in the euro zone.
The Shard is being developed by London-based entrepreneur Irvine Sellar and funded by the state of Qatar.
"This is obviously related to the Qatar link. The views across London would be an amazing backdrop to its TV shows," the source said on condition of anonymity.
In 2010 Sky News, part of the British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY.L), began broadcasting a business programme from London's landmark Gherkin skyscraper.
Al Jazeera, which is currently based in the Knightsbridge district of London, was not available to comment.
A spokesman for the Shard declined to comment.
In addition to offices and a hotel, the 1,017-feet tall skyscraper will have ten apartments at the top that property experts said could sell for 30-50 million pounds.
(Reporting by Tom Bill; Editing by Mark Potter)
I'm sure the RMT will find another reason to go on strike !