London 2012: Are green and pleasant Games a real reflection of the UK? - BBC News
Meadows, fields, rivers, farmers tilling the soil and people playing cricket on the village green. It's the British countryside the Olympics opening ceremony will beam around the world. But is this rural idyll a realistic representation of the UK?
On 27 July the Olympic Stadium is to be transformed into country scenes as part of artistic director Danny Boyle's vision of a "Green and Pleasant" land.
He says the show was inspired by Shakespeare's play The Tempest and is about a land recovering from its industrial legacy. It will be a "reflection of part of our heritage" as well as a look to the future.
It is also meant to evoke William Blake's poem Jerusalem, which is seen as an emblem of Englishness.
But at a time when large-scale infrastructure projects such as HS2 and Heathrow's third runway are high on the political landscape, along with nuclear power stations and wind farms, and a rising population, is this rural idyll really recognisable?
For the Times' leader, the image of British life that instantly springs to mind is a somewhat different one.
"No! Not queues at Heathrow passport control and opportunistic entrepreneurs hawking 50p umbrellas for a fiver outside rainy Underground stations.
"It will be a portrait that brushes aside the workaday dust of daily life to reveal a country as recognisable to Caliban [from The Tempest] as his isle 'full of noises, sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not' as it is to John Major as his 'country of long shadows on cricket grounds, warm beer, invincible green suburbs, dog lovers and pools-fillers'," it says.
But it goes on to say Boyle has "rightly, interpreted his task as a celebration of what gives this country tang, a celebration that he aims to be idyllic, but not naive" - noting clouds, that can produce real rain, will hang over the stadium to bring the UK's signature summer weather to the proceedings.
The Daily Mail's Paul Harris is not so generous. He thinks people "could be forgiven for thinking it looked more like the land time forgot".
"Or for wondering, perhaps, if someone had unwittingly recreated Tinky Winky's Teletubbyland instead of Blake's Jerusalem," he goes on.
The Teletubby theme continues in the Daily Express, which thinks "the opening extravaganza is all a bit Laa-laa". "All it seems to need are Tinky Winky, Dipsy and Laa-Laa from the TV series," it says.
The Independent's Grace Dent is even less impressed. "Ducks force-fed shortbread, teens drunk on cider, petrol vigilantes... that's the real countryside, Danny Boyle," she says.
Dent also has a cautionary word about the nation's glee levels potentially dropping to "mild elation".
"You know that bit when the lights go out at the O2 and Kanye West emerges on a 50ft pink neon sugarcube? We want that. You know when Coldplay give out 40,000 LED Xylobands that pulsate right through Hurts Like Heaven when you're two drinks in? That, give us THAT," she says.
So is this vision of a green and pleasant land really the best way to show off the UK?
Rupert Uloth, the deputy editor of Country Life magazine, says it is "wonderful" that the UK is being celebrated through its countryside as it is "one of the most precious and valuable assets we have as a country".
"Lots of visitors come here to see it. For people who live in cities in Britain, it might be a bit of a dream or ideal, but people love getting out to the countryside, which is why we have national parks and a wonderful network of walkways and bridle paths.
"It is great that Danny Boyle is using it as a totem because everyone is aware of it," he says.
For Uloth, using the British countryside as a national emblem is "clever" because it is so unique.
"Because of its hedges, green grass, dairy cows and native trees, it couldn't be any other country in the world. And although cricket is played in other places, the context of a village green is very English," he says.
Uloth agrees projects such as HS2 and Heathrow's potential third runway are topical issues, but he says the fact they are so controversial only accentuates how special the countryside is, and "how worried people are about losing it".
Ellis Cashmore, professor of culture, media and sport at Staffordshire University, thinks Boyle is "a bit of a romantic" and takes an aspirational stance.
"I suppose we have to understand that this is not meant to be a graphic representation, but a satisfying vision of a perfect Britain - the place we'd all like to inhabit, not the actual place where we live out our daily lives," he says.
But he also makes the point that a more urban, or troubled, theme, might not be very picturesque.
"In fairness to Boyle, he wouldn't be expected to design a landscape where there are feral youths rioting in inner cities, or football fans spitting out racist abuse.
"His concession to youth is the moshpits. Are these still current? I thought they were very nineties," he says.
But what of Blake's "dark Satanic mills"?
"Well, it isn't quite William Blake, but it embodies many of the Chariots of Fire ideals," says Cashmore.
London 2012 legacy: the battle begins on a Newham estate - The Guardian
Competing views about East End life after London 2012 are sharply crystalised amid the public housing architecture of the Carpenters estate in Stratford, which stands on the fringe of the Olympic Park, overlooked by the red spirals of the Orbit tower.
The vision of the planners, led by Newham council's ebullient Labour executive mayor, Sir Robin Wales, is for the Carpenters to make way for a new campus for University College London (UCL), enhancing the life prospects of the neighbourhood and enriching hard-up Newham as a whole.
An estate resident, Mary Finch, takes a bleaker line: "I think that the Olympics has lost me my home." She has lived on the Carpenters for 40 years and is disinclined to depart quietly. "I think they're gonna have to come in here and drag me out. Why should somebody be able to force you out of your home? A home that's got nothing wrong with it, that's standing solid? I do not want to go."
Slow dispersal of the estate's residents, mostly to alternative dwellings nearby, has been in progress for some time. This has been justified for Wales by the need to embrace a host of development opportunities created not only by the draw of the Games and the park but also, just as importantly, by the economic arteries formed by the improved transport hub at Stratford station. Already, the giant Westfield Stratford City shopping centre has been a hit."It's always a balance if you want to do something for an area," Wales says. "What is the wider community getting at the expense of the inconvenience caused to local residents? People in Carpenters are concerned. I would be too. I completely understand that. But with UCL we would get an amazing, top university coming to the area. Our vision is for science and hi-tech providing jobs and skills. It would be such a good offer from the point of view of our kids."
Finch is not alone in being unenthusiastic. Two younger residents, Joe Alexander and Osita Madu, are driving forces in the campaign group Carp – Carpenters Against Regeneration Plan – which has been quarrelling with Wales's pledges to treat residents properly, bombarding him with questions at public meetings. They reason that the Carpenters works well as a community, so why dismantle it? "We're not some kind of social ill or blight on the landscape that needs help," says Maduu. "Somehow Newham council thinks we're a social problem that needs to be addressed."
"We voted for a mayor and got a dictator," adds Alexander.
It is, in many ways, an archetypal urban regeneration conflict between local authorities on a mission to improve, and those on their patch who fear they only stand to lose. Strife also marked the clearance of the Olympic Park site, when a twilit labyrinth of small industrial concerns was removed from the land on which the array of sports venues now awaits the world's athletic elite.
Among them was H Forman and Son, a family salmon-smoking business founded in east London by a Jewish migrant from Odessa in 1905. The proprietor, Harry Forman's great-grandson Lance, had his premises where the Olympic stadium now is. He fought a long compensation battle and celebrated victory with an email to the Games organiser Lord Coe, a former Olympic champion whom he'd been due to cross-examine at a public inquiry. The email said: "You can run, but you can't hide."
The upshot is a handsome, salmon-pink building on a bank of the river Lea, containing not only a smokery, but also a restaurant and an art gallery in a location long called, with glorious suitability, Fish Island. Olympic dignitaries and others now congregate there. The stadium looms across the water. Forman will soon erect a pop-up corporate hospitality venue on a piece of adjoining land he owns, complete with recreational beach volleyball court. Speedo was the first big name to take space in this Fish Island Riviera, and Forman is finalising discussions with others.
"We're going to have some luxury yachts along the riverfront," he enthuses. "Sixty palm trees are being shipped in. We're going to have this beach club that turns into a nightclub."
Forman hopes to emerge a winner from the Games, but says business is still recovering from the disruption caused by compulsory purchase. He hopes to be part of long-term rejuvenation by developing the land his Riviera will briefly occupy, perhaps with a mixture of homes and boutiques, and facilities for the arts community that has flourished in recent years in former warehouses along the towpath in Hackney Wick. Forging links, he invited a graffiti artist to enhance his restaurant's toilets. In the gents, fine silver fish leap skywards above the urinals.
"I think the area was regenerating anyway," Forman says, looking across at the stadium. "But the existence of the park ought to help. I think when people come here they're amazed at how impressive it already is and how easy to get to."
London's outgoing Olympic legacy chief, Margaret Ford, also gives an upbeat assessment of the post-Games future of the 200-hectare park and its immediate surroundings, although she warns that expecting it to be "the catalyst for the regeneration of the whole of east London", has "never been entirely realistic". Citing prior experience with renewing England's coalfield communities, she stressed the need for "continued investment and belief over a long period".
Ford steps down as chair of the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) this month, having led it and its predecessor, the Olympic Park Legacy Company, since May 2009. She says the park should be an example of how you "change the psychology" about an area. "You're hoping that the whole view of investing in east London changes by persuading people that it is a fabulous place to come to and do business and invest."
She accepts that a great fear with large regeneration projects is that the wealth they attract fails to benefit existing residents, many of whom are in pressing need. Canary Wharf, whose glass towers pierce the skyline a short distance away, is often condemned as the ultimate example. "The concern is that the park will become a sort of golden city on a hill surrounded by a sea of poverty," says John Biggs, a former City analyst and senior Labour member of the London Assembly, who represents three of the six Olympic boroughs – Tower Hamlets, Newham and Barking and Dagenham.
Ford, a Labour peer held in high regard across the political spectrum, says she and her board have been "utterly preoccupied from day one" with ensuring that local people derive the maximum value from the post-Games plans, and with facilitating the Olympic boroughs' goal of economic convergence with the richer west and centre of London. She is proud of creating training and schemes and close links with local schools. "The big game-changers will be jobs and changes in educational attainment and aspiration for a lot of families in east London," she says.
Ford will depart with most of the arrangements made for putting the permanent sporting venues and other attractions to post-Games community use, and with decisions in the pipeline for the three big jigsaw pieces not yet in place:
• The commercial occupants, either a fashion hub or digital "innovation city", for the two buildings the media will use during the Games.
• The long-running search for tenants for the main stadium, very likely to include a football club.
• The determination of planning applications for the future development of the park as a residential area and visitor destination.
Five neighbourhoods will form within the boundaries of the park over the next 20 years, with the first, Chobham Manor, due to be completed at the end of 2014. Ford emphasised the importance of including sufficient genuinely affordable housing. "I think we need to remember there was quite a big promise made to the communities in east London about the houses being affordable – either affordable to rent or affordable to buy. I think it's one they are not going to forget."
While pointing out that the LLDC remains committed to 35% of the up to 8,000 homes it plans to see built on the park being affordable – in addition to 3,000 that the Athletes' Village will be converted into – she felt it was a matter for regret for London as a whole that the government's new funding approach means "affordable" rent can now be up to 80% of local market rates, which even in poorer parts of London are high compared with the rest of the country.
"I think Londoners are desperately short of affordable housing. It's definitely short of good-quality social housing [which has far lower rents]. If we mean what we say about needing to house all of our key workers, we need to house lots of people in lower-paid jobs who make this city work then, yes, I would say moving to 80% of market rents will cause some of those people not to be able to afford properties."
Another Olympic borough mayor, Tower Hamlets' independent Lutfur Rahman, who, like Wales, is a member of the LLDC board, has called for more homes for social rent among the 800 housing units proposed for the Olympic Park neighbourhood to be called Sweetwater, which will fall within his boundaries.
Ford, who has 33 years' experience of delivering regeneration programmes under both Labour and Conservative governments, is to be replaced by the Conservative politician Daniel Moylan, the appointee of London's mayor, Boris Johnson, to whom the LLDC is accountable. The selection of Moylan, an experienced councillor in Royal Kensington and Chelsea whom Johnson made his deputy as chair of Transport for London two years ago, has caused some disquiet among political opponents.
Biggs says that although he likes the urbane Moylan – "he's fun to talk to" – he worries that he is not equipped to follow someone with Ford's track record. "The truth is, he doesn't know anything about regeneration." There's an ideological issue too. "The point of bodies like the development corporation is to do the things the market can't or won't, and Daniel is the sort of politician who thinks red-in-tooth-and-claw market forces will take care of everything."
Ford, though, says she's confident Johnson has made a good choice and praises him for allowing her and her chief executive, Andrew Altman, to produce a new masterplan for the park. The one she'd inherited, she says, "pretty much had the place populated by high rise buildings. Why would you stuff it full of flats when it's an obvious family housing neighbourhood, given the green space and the venues? We didn't want to create some pastiche of the Old Curiosity Shop, but a place that had squares and crescents and little pocket parks – the kinds of things that make London quite higgledy piggledy but recognisably London. Boris was hugely encouraging."
She gathered intelligence for the masterplan on "mystery shopping" excursions – chatting to people in cafes and the old Stratford shopping centre. "They wanted front gardens, back gardens for their kids to play in, really good lighting, lots of storage space, nice green spaces, somewhere they can afford and a decent school – it's not bloody rocket science."
When the park begins to reopen for the public next July, its name will change to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Ford believes the royal touch will enhance local attachment: "It's about creating a different feel about the place. It's about people having a pride in it."
Even so, while Olympic borough schools gear up for the excitement of the summer, renaming their classes Helsinki, Tokyo and Beijing, parents express a mix of views about the value of the changes underway. Martin Sadler, a resident of Hackney who works in education and lives with his wife and two daughters not far from the park, foresees a good and a bad side.
"I think this part of Hackney will start feeling a bit more like central London and less like east London," he says. "I've lived here for over 20 years, and it's always been a traditional East End sort of place – a real mixture of people, plenty of cheap accommodation. It's already becoming more affluent, partly because the schools have improved. That brings good things with it, but there are worries too. I think London could be getting more like Paris – that doughnut effect, with the poorer people having to move out of the centre."
That is not the outcome legacy idealists say they have in mind. Time will tell if they manage to avoid it.
London Olympics 'to come in £476m under budget' - BBC News
The London Olympics is set to come in under its £9.3bn budget with £476m of the contingency funding left, according to new government figures.
Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt said it was "fantastic news" that the games would be on time and under budget.
Ministers expect to be able to return the remaining money to the Treasury.
The £9.3bn budget, which included a £2bn contingency, was set in 2007 and was almost four times the estimated cost at the time London bid in 2005.
The budget was revised upwards after taking into account previously overlooked costs such as VAT, increased security costs, and an expanded brief for the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) to regenerate the lower Lea Valley area.
Addressing the original bid budget of £2.4bn, Sports Minister Hugh Robertson said there was a "recognition right from the word go that figure would have to change dramatically on the basis of delivering the Games".
Mr Hunt said: "Britain has proved that not only can we put on a great show for the world to watch like we did with the Jubilee but that we can also deliver big construction projects on time and on budget."
Mr Robertson said the latest figure for the Games, which begin next month, was "a great advert for the British construction industry, for sport and for UK Plc".
Following the success of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the ongoing Olympic torch relay, additional funding of £19m has been earmarked to bolster crowd control and public information for the games.
The money, which will be allocated from within the £9.3bn budget, will pay for additional stewards and crowd flow measures in central London as well as the "last mile" - what organisers describe as the distance between transport hubs and Games venues.
Mr Robertson said: "We know exactly how many tickets have been sold and roughly how many people should be in London. Absolutely nobody knows how many people are going to turn up.
"London this summer is going to be the place to have a party. It is a great national event. It is very difficult for us to know exactly how many people are going to come across on the train, in the car or on the ferry only for a party."
The government confirmed the work of the ODA, which is responsible for developing and building the venues and infrastructure for the games, is 98% complete.
It will not be fully completed until after the Games when the ODA will convert apartments in the Olympic village into thousands of new homes.
London 2012: Aaron Cook to reveal next move in British taekwondo row - The Guardian
Aaron Cook is set to reveal whether he will continue fighting his controversial non-selection for the Great Britain Olympic taekwondo team, a day after his rival Lutalo Muhammad asked everyone involved to move on.
Cook has called a press conference for Wednesday morning and is expected to reveal whether he plans further legal moves, having seen an appeal to the British Olympic Association fail.
Muhammad, 21, was nominated by GB Taekwondo, and ratified by the BOA, ahead of Cook to fight in the under-80kg category at London 2012, despite Cook's status as the world No1.
Muhammad has stepped down from the under-87kg class where he won a European title in Manchester earlier this year, and the decision to select the Londoner, ranked 59th in the world for that weight, has drawn criticism.
Cook earlier revealed his belief that there is an agenda against him after he resigned from the Great Britain world-class performance programme to pursue his own training schedule outside the guidance of GB Taekwondo last June.
"It is hard to put into words," Cook told the Daily Telegraph. "I just feel numb. The last five weeks have been a nightmare. My results are vastly superior to Lutalo's. The quality of players I have faced is far higher and I have won nine of my last 12 tournaments.
"I have recently defeated 10 of the top 15 qualified 2012 Olympians and world medallists including the five-times world champion and two-times Olympic champion Steven López and the current under-87kg world champion Yousef Karami and the under-80kg world champion Farzad Abdollahi.
"According to my coach, Patrice Remarck, GB Taekwondo also questioned my ability to perform under pressure and how I might perform in front of a home crowd.
"I find this a strange point as I have a proven track record of success under pressure at home as well as abroad, including seven British Open wins, an Olympic test event win and the European Championship.
"Why have I not been selected? Simple. Because I left the British Taekwondo system last year."
Muhammad, ranked 59th in the world in the under-80kg division, insists the controversy has been hard on him too and should now be put behind them as the focus turns towards the Games.
"It's been tough on both of us," he said. "It was always going to be a tough decision that would have created a tough ordeal for both of us. But I think the situation has really been blown way out of proportion more than any of us expected.
"It's been tough on both of us and I don't really think that's been fair. At the end of the day we're both European champions. We both just want to compete to the best of our ability so I think the fact that there's been all this going on is probably not fair on me or him."
Muhammad insists there is no personal animosity, though the pair have not spoken about the selection issue.
He said: "I have no problems with Aaron. Even after this ordeal, I still don't have any problems with him. But the nature of sport is that there will always be winners and losers.
"I wish him the best with his future and all through this ordeal, but my focus right now can't be Aaron Cook. It has to be being on the top of that podium in a few months' time."
Muhammad added: "I have to put all of this out of my mind and focus on my training. I'm just really excited about showing what I can do. It's gold or nothing for me in terms of targets."
The WTF has also launched its own investigation. The BOA Team GB chef de mission Andy Hunt, though, has no doubts proper procedure was followed in the selection process.
"The WTF have not come back yet with a clear plan as to how they are going to undertake their review process of what went on in the selection process with taekwondo," he said.
"There is no timescale and I do not know the composition of that review. We will absolutely comply and provide whatever information they need."
London Olympics 2012: Millar Gets Road Race Nod - ibtimes.co.uk
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On the track, four-time Olympic gold medallist Sir Chris Hoy leads the sprint contingent in London, with Jason Kenny and Philip Hindes making up the remainder of the male squad.
Hoy, who in London will compete at his fourth games, is proud to be representing Team GB on home turf.
"It's a huge honour to be selected to represent your country at an Olympic Games," he said. "It's even more special to know I'm definitely part of the team for London 2012. This will be my fourth Olympics but my first home Games, and it's going to be an amazing experience and a once in a lifetime opportunity for all of us.
"The standard in the British cycling team is so high and the selection process is always going to be tough, but there's a great atmosphere in the team and we just need to keep putting in the hours in training and make sure we're in the best shape possible for race day.
British Cycling are however yet to decide whether Hoy or Kenny, who edged the Scot in the World Championships in Melbourne earlier in the year, will take the one individual sprint spot for London, an event which the 36 year-old Hoy is currently Olympic champion.
Victoria Pendleton and Jessica Varnish will look to match their gold medal winning performance at February's World Championships, with both making up the female sprint team.
In the endurance events, all attention will be on the male and female sprint quartets hoping to replicate their Melbourne heroics come London, while Laura Trott will hope to build on her omnium world title. Ed Clancy will compete in the men's omnium event.
Shanaze Reade and Liam Phillips will hope to build on their Olympic debuts with medals in the BMX competition, while Liam Killeen and Annie Last make up the Mountain Biking team.
Reade is hoping support from her British support can help to glory come this summer.
"I'm really excited to have been selected for the London 2012 Olympic Games," she said. "If the test event and the recent World Championships in Birmingham are anything to go by, the home support will be a massive boost to me. I feel that I am in good form at the moment and I'm really motivated for this. I just can't wait to race."
Team GB Cycling squad:
Track (Sprint):
Philip Hindes, Chris Hoy, Jason Kenny, Victoria Pendleton, Jessica Varnish
Track (Endurance):
Steven Burke, Edward Clancy, Wendy Houvenaghel, Peter Kennaugh, Danielle King, Joanna Rowsell , Andrew Tennant, Geraint Thomas, Laura Trott
BMX:
Liam Phillips, Shanaze Reade
Cross Country Mountain Biking:
Liam Killeen, Annie Last
Men's Road (five to be selected)
Mark Cavendish, Steve Cummings, Chris Froome, Jeremy Hunt, David Millar, Ian Stannard, Ben Swift, Bradley Wiggins
Women's Road (four to be selected)
Lizzie Armitstead, Nicole Cooke, Katie Colclough, Sharon Laws, Lucy Martin, Emma Pooley
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VAUXHALL PROVIDES ANGLIAN WATER WITH FLEET SOLUTION - 3d-car-shows.com
Luton – Anglian Water, the largest water and wastewater service in England and Wales by geographic area, has relied on the versatility, reliability and cost-effectiveness of Vauxhall vehicles for over a decade. Vauxhall models form around 90 per cent of its 2,000-strong fleet.
Anglian Water serves a region stretching from the Humber north of Grimsby to the Thames estuary in the south, and from Buckinghamshire in the west to Lowestoft in the east. Its operators have to service 80,000km of water and wastewater pipes over an area of 27,500 square kilometres, so the demands on its fleet vehicles are significant.
“Put simply, our current fleet is the best, most cost-effective solution we’ve ever had,” said Nigel Allen, Anglian Water’s Fleet Manager. “Vauxhall has worked closely with us to help us get to where we are today and there’s always someone on the end of the phone. We’ve been constantly impressed with the vehicles’ prices, maintenance costs and residual values.
“The two major drivers for our fleet decisions are whole life costs and CO2 emissions, both from an environmental and financial point-of-view. The whole life costs of all our Vauxhall vehicles – both cars and vans – are incredibly impressive and we also see the benefit of the ecoFLEX models in our fleet, including the New Combo and Vivaro ecoFLEX.”
Anglian Water’s fleet of 2,000 vehicles includes 1,200 light commercial vehicles, 600 cars and 200 trucks and heavy vans. Around 90 per cent of the car fleet is comprised of Vauxhalls including Corsa, Astra and Insignia, and Vauxhall commercial vehicles make up more than 95 per cent of the van fleet, including New Combo, Vivaro and Movano models. Having taken delivery of 500 Vauxhalls in 2011, Anglian Water will take on a similar number of new vehicles in 2012.
Nigel continued: “Our fleet vehicles are owned by us for four or five years. We sell the cars on once they clock up 100,000 miles and the vans when they reach 120,000 miles. Given the mileage involved, it’s important our fleet is not only efficient and cost-effective to run, but absolutely dependable.”
When any new parts are required, Anglian Water benefits from next-day delivery through Vauxhall Trade Club, which not only provides the most affordable solution, but reduces downtime as all parts are supplied under warranty and are genuine, quality Vauxhall parts that will fit first time.
In addition to the low emissions afforded particularly by Vauxhall’s ecoFLEX models, Anglian Water’s commitment to reducing environmental impact extends to its vehicle fixtures and fittings.
“Several years ago, we asked our supplier, Bott, about refitting equipment into new vehicles and they came up with a solution,” said Nigel Allen. “Today, fitting out our new models with fittings and fixtures from de-fleeted vehicles provides us with a 25 per cent cost saving, as well as the environmental benefit of not having new equipment manufactured.”
James Taylor, Vauxhall Fleet Sales Director, said: “We are delighted to continue the long-established relationship between Vauxhall and Anglian Water. We have worked hard to provide solutions to the varying demands of the company’s fleet, from its operational support and service vans through to its business cars. Vauxhall’s relationship with Anglian Water perfectly demonstrates our capability to deliver a complete fleet solution, from a wide range of flexible and efficient vehicles through to responsive and cost-effective aftersales.”
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You wouldn't want to Occupy this! The squalid conditions of protesters' London camp are revealed - Daily Mail
By Ian Garland
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A mountain of discarded roadsigns and shopping trolleys protects a makeshift camps of tattered tents.
Eight months after they first occupied Finsbury Square, in the heart of the City of London, the anti-capitalist protesters who have set up home there show no sign of waning.
As another eviction threat looms this week, the 20 to 30 protesters - London's last remaining Occupy outpost - have barricaded themselves into their squalid camp ready to defend themselves against the police.
Occupy protesters have barricaded themselves into their camp on Finsbury Square in the City of London
Before protesters were evicted from the neighbouring camp at St. Paul's Cathedral in February, Finsbury Square was used as an overspill.
It later became an 'eco village' where sustainable technologies were showcased.
But there was no sign of that today. The once pleasant park is now a barren, litter-strewn dump.
20-30 'protestors' remain at the Finsbury Square camp - eight months after it was first 'occupied'
Islington Borough Council moved in March to start eviction proceedings against the 'residents' of Finsbury Square.
The most recent stay of execution expires on Friday after Justice Hickinbottom ruled at the High Court last week that Islington Council has the right to repossess the public space.
Islington councillor Paul Convery insists the time has come to move the camp on - claiming many legitimate protesters have been replaced by vulnerable homeless people.
He told the Guardian: 'The council has said from the outset that we support the right to peaceful protest, and we have tolerated Occupy's presence at Finsbury Square since October.
'However, it is now apparent that the character of the protest has changed and Occupy's presence is significantly diminished. In the protesters' place, we now see a group of vulnerable and homeless people who would be better cared for elsewhere.'
At one time protesters used the square to showcase sustainable technology, but it is now a litter strewn dump
But Tom McCarthy, a resident at Finsbury Square, insists the camp serves an important purpose.
He wrote on the Occupy Finsbury Square blog: 'This camp makes a political statement about our society.
'Since Occupy opened the camp on 21 October, it has become a home and community for many homeless people, for whom the system has failed.
'In evicting this community, Islington Council – who have helped to re-home some people that have ticked certain boxes – are potentially leaving some people in a much worse position than they are already in.
'We ask Islington Council to not go down the same route at the City of London Corporation – cleansing the City of homeless people is not the way forward. Helping to find real solutions is.'
Islington Council claims the camp is now just occupied by vulnerable and homeless people
Occupy London - my protest - Daily Mail
By Anna Maxted
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Occupy London are determined to protest against the City of London Corporation, so today they set up camp on that ugly symbol of elitism and privilege, Hampstead Heath.
Sadly, in another victory for the overarching forces of international capitalism, the park's police escorted them off the premises just after teatime.
I've lived near the Heath all my life and it's one of the most serene and beautiful areas of the capital; one of the few that you don't need money to enjoy. When Karl Marx lived in London, he loved to visit with his family. Kenwood House - part of the estate bestowed to the nation by that privileged toff Lord Iveagh in 1927 - may look tatty on the outside, but if you nip inside (donations are voluntary) you can show your five-year old a Gainsborough.
A privilege to be there: When you're on Hampstead Heath, your status, your bank balance ceases to matter
I was there this morning, beaming at the exquisite views of the City, breathing in the delicious air, marvelling at the gorgeous profusion of green, along with various other capitalist pigs (an old lady on a Zimmer frame, an artist, a young photographer, an elderly man walking his dog, a young couple with a newborn...).
Eventually I spotted the Occupy London set, trudging along the sun-dappled paths, squinting at their maps - though they were hardly obvious: none of the people wandering around the Heath this morning were head-to-toe in Dior.
They set up camp in the Vale of Health (convenient for Hampstead High Street; Starbucks, Tesco Metro and The Gap). One doesn't have to eschew all trappings of commercialism to make a huffy point against capitalism - I don't expect them to scrape for nuts and berries and live on rainwater - but this exercise was little more than a hypocritical student jolly.
Trespassers in tents: Will we soon see scenes like this, outside St Paul's last year, on the Heath?
I feel aggrieved at the wretched difference between wealthy and poor - but I feel as aggrieved that these protestors were so witless as to think that they were doing the less privileged a favour by camping out - with their litter, and worse, judging from the mess they made of St Paul's - in the one place that is an oasis of peace, and serenity - and free to those who have everything and nothing alike.
When you're on Hampstead Heath, your status, your bank balance ceases to matter. You feel privileged to be there. You feel rich. Until you chance upon a massive bunch of trespassers in tents, and then the Heath loses its magic, and your carefree ramble becomes yet another irritating, slightly depressing exercise in trying to enjoy London despite it being stuffed full of sociopaths and egotists.
Truly, harassing a bunch of dog walkers is not a valid form of protest against bankers. It was facetious, brattish; bullying. If they wish to get their point across in a democratic manner, they have civilised options - from blogging to, hm, politics - but they made the laziest, most slovenly choice: to make a nuisance of themselves and inconvenience, oh, just everyone. A minority, imposing their selfish will on the majority, is nothing less than tyranny.
Exquisite views of the City: Misty view over London from Hampstead Heath
They claimed that they wanted to 'reach out to the community about shared concerns'... I can tell you what the community's main concern was today - that a bunch of pseudo-crusties had illegally pitched their luxury tents in a public beauty spot. (Hampstead Heath's by-laws forbid 'the training of whippets,' 'the beating of carpets,' and 'Persons in an Offensive, Filthy Condition.' And no camping, either.)
One of OL's excuses was that fans of the Heath ponds were 'up in arms' about the recent outrageous decision by the City of London to charge a couple of quid for a swim. My husband has swum there for years, occasionally with our 10-year old son, and says that most who use the pond have no objection - if they want a lifeguard, and basic maintenance, they see it makes sense to contribute a little.
As far as I can tell, this protest was a feeble excuse for a spot of glamping. If they are genuinely serious about protesting against capitalism, I suggest they occupy Legoland: nearly 200 on the gate, for a family of five. However, if they prefer to occupy a green space owned by the City of London, why not try West Ham Park? It has all the traditional trappings of privilege (children's playground and so on.) Or are the views not spectacular enough?
London 2012 Olympics: Australian weightlifter Daniel Koum 'held federation to ransom' over pre-Games event - Daily Telegraph
"So I personally thought, well, the best way to negate any negatives out of all this would be to, by offering, sort of, some money, whereby he could actually compete and have some incentive to do the total that we asked of him.
"But then later on, it changed from an agreement to actual demand and he said that he would not lift unless he got $5,000, before he started the warm up for his own event.
"And then it was pretty frantic - we had to find that money. And say, within about 30 minutes we handed over the $5,000."
Koum moved to Australia to compete at the 2006 Commonwealth Games for Cameroon before becoming a citizen and competing for his adopted country at the 2010 Commonwealths in Delhi.
And Koum's team-mate Damon Kelly, who won the gold in the Commonwealth Games in the 105kg+ category told the Brisbane Times: “I actually felt physically sick in the gut. It was a complete shock that somebody [apparently] wanted to do that. I've never heard of it before in weightlifting, at all.
“Everyone that was there was completed stunned. It was a double take when we heard the news. We had to hear the news a couple of times before it sunk in. It's amazing to think someone could put their own personal interests before the team.”
The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) said it had spoken to the AWF and was launching an investigation into the incident.
"The AOC is working with the Australian Weightlifting Federation (AWF) to investigate the matter," read a statement.
"The AOC investigation will be ongoing."
Koum could conceivably yet represent Australia at the London Games when the AWF nominates its single male entry to the AOC this weekend.
Keelan said he had no regrets about offering the incentive but added: "(I felt) sick in the guts. I was under duress. We had to make a call very, very quickly. And, you know, the call was that we would submit to his demand."
London landlords squeeze cash from dead space - Reuters UK
LONDON |
LONDON (Reuters) - London landlords are renting out everything from vacant stores to empty sports fields, rooftops and even an abandoned quarry to cash in on the tight supply of space in the UK capital during the Olympic Games this summer.
Eleven million fans, sponsors and athletes are expected to arrive in Europe's second-most crowded city from July, stoking huge demand for storage, temporary shops and vantage points for TV cameras, in turn allowing landlords to cash in on otherwise dead space.
"You'll see usable space created that doesn't currently exist," said Mark Hughes-Webb, managing director of Space-2 Consultancy, a specialist real estate firm that finds buildings for events and film shoots.
"It's been a long time since the Games were in such a densely populated city," Hughes-Webb said. "People are having to be more imaginative."
London, the European Union's most densely populated city after Paris according to EU statistics, will host the games between July 27 and August 12. Homeowners have already hiked rents by up to six times in anticipation of the influx and commercial landlords are getting in on the act.
Unlike the last two Olympic cities of Beijing and Athens, where neighbourhoods were demolished to create venues, or they were located in more sparsely populated outlying areas, most of the 34 London sites are at the heart of built-up areas.
The Games' epicentre at Stratford in the east of the city has benefited from a 7 billion pound injection of infrastructure, sporting venues and homes, revitalizing an area better known for its polluted waterways and industrial estates.
Sites for hire include a former limestone quarry near the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent, southeast England, the owner of which is targeting contractors seeking temporary staff accommodation. Its proximity to a high-speed rail link means it is 30 minutes from the Olympic stadium in Stratford.
VACANT UNITS
Elsewhere the owners of a sports field in Chiswick, west London, are in talks with an overseas group of performers to rehearse for the handover ceremony to Rio de Janeiro, the Brazilian city that will host the Games in 2016.
Sites like these can cost between 10,000 to 20,000 pounds a week, Hughes-Webb said.
Also in demand are empty shops, particularly those close to busy retail areas like Oxford Street and Covent Garden, which are being snapped up by the likes of high-end U.S. clothing brand Opening Ceremony to house temporary, pop-up stores.
"Enquiries from landlords looking to lease out their vacant units during the Olympics have risen by 50 percent," said Rosie Cann, director at consultancy Pop-up Space.
Rents can be between a few hundred pounds to 20,000 pounds depending on the location and size. Stores generally remain open for between a day and two weeks, agents said.
Vacant shops around train and subway stations or Olympic venues are being rented by smaller sporting and drinks brands in need of makeshift space to store merchandise, Hughes-Webb said.
Not all attempts to find space are successful. Nike Inc's plan to build a temporary two-storey building to host exercise classes in Regents Park was blocked by Westminster council on the grounds it would ruin the park's appearance.
Equally those with empty space near venues may not see a big pay day. The London Olympic organising committee (LOCOG) bans non-sponsors from advertising within 300 metres of venues, keeping demand in check, property experts say.
Official sponsors Cadbury, BMW and British Airways are among those companies expected to seek temporary space near Olympic venues, which include a man-made beach on the Greenwich peninsula on the Thames built specially for the Games.
PANORAMIC VIEWS
Australian developer Lend Lease owns large chunks of land around the O2 arena, also on the Greenwich peninsula and the venue of the gymnastics and basketball competitions. It will lease out land earmarked for redevelopment to Olympic sponsors to make a short-term return and in an attempt to lure permanent office tenants to the area.
"We are most definitely making money from this," Simon Donaldson, Lend Lease's head of retail operations said, declining to say how much but adding it would be substantially more without the LOCOG rules.
Elsewhere demand from film crews keen to capture panoramic views of the London skyline has pushed up prices for rooftop space. Fees are likely to double from their norm outside of the Games to 300 pounds per hour over the period, Hughes-Webb said.
Developers of the 95-storey Shard skyscraper next to London Bridge train station, about six kilometres from the Olympic park, have been approached by a string of broadcasters about filming from western Europe's tallest tower, a spokesman told Reuters, declining to give further details.
Cash-strapped local councils are also getting in on the act. Newham, home to the Olympic stadium, has rented out the upper floors of two largely empty apartment blocks next to the Olympic Park to broadcasters BBC and Al Jazeera, while Redbridge council in northeast London is leasing out a forest to a temporary hotel company to house 4,200 Olympic security staff for an undisclosed sum.
Yet many landlords are missing out as they are unaware of the strength of demand for storage space, or the value of being close to the Olympic park, Hughes-Webb said.
"People are fixated on what the space is, not what it could be. They're looking at it and saying 'it's just an empty field'," Hughes-Webb added. "Well, it's not to us."
(Editing by Tom Bill and David Holmes)
- hazel, London, UK, 13/6/2012 21:24 - Go back to the Guardian website; we don't do childish, spoiled and uninformed pseudo-socialism here. The OL are a bunch of lazy, smelly spoiled brats who if it weren't for mummy and daddy would be stacking shelves!
- Horatio , London, 13/6/2012 21:49
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