And now the Olympics rears its ugly head. Why such a negative attitude
you may ask? Well quite simply I find I am paying (yes -me - and all
the citizens of the UK) a huge sum of money to enjoy closed roads, the
sight of my national flag flown upside down far too frequently (yes -
not only our own citizens but the Greeks managed it too) and TV which has become fixated on the event and
considers the world will stop in a few weeks time when the sport begins.
The Flagpole is on
this side!
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For those who haven't spotted it, the flag is not symmetrical! In the
example above the flagpole would be at the left with the wider white
stripe at the top (or 'hoist'). What you're less likely to have noticed
is that the diagonal red cross lines (representing the Irish part of the
UK - St. Patrick's cross) do not line up. This is apparently known as
counterchanging and was done to allow the Irish cross to predominant in
one quarter and the cross of St. Andrew - the Scottish part - to
predominant in another.
The question remains, of course, how it will look if the Scots decide on
independence. Since the Scottish white cross on blue was added prior to
the Irish component there is no historical flag to fall back on. Perhaps
we shall have...
...or maybe the Irish section can be lined up again.
Why doesn't Wales figure you may ask. It is apparently since it is
not a Kingdom but a Principality which seems a pretty poor reason to
me.
When we finally finish this Olympic extravaganza we'll be left with so many
white elephants in the room they'll be hard to ignore. I know there is a
'legacy project' but it is only necessary to look back on those
countries who have hosted the games in recent decades to see it has
never gone well and I'm not arrogant enough to believe my country will
do any better.
I heard a story recently which intrigued me no end. Is it true? It is
just far fetched enough to be. It is said that when the VIPs visited
London to consider whether it might be a suitable venue, the cars they
were provided with were fitted with transponders (is that the right
word?) which enabled their position to be accurately deduced at any
moment. It was then arranged that wherever they decided to drive,
traffic lights were immediately changed to ensure they had as smooth a
passage as possible. Now can this really be done and if so, where do I
get one?
It also seems that we have given up the right to ban from our country
people we consider could pose a threat because they are dignities from
participating countries. So much for the 'War on Terror'. To fight that
we have installed surface to air missiles on the roofs of building near
the main games site. Heaven help the citizens of London should they
decide to use them in anger. I would not wish to be under the falling
debris.
There have also been noises about which drinks you'll be allowed to
consume and which you won't, which credit/debit cards you can use and
which you can't, and it has just become one big advertising exhibition.
Sport needs sponsorship but when it transcends the usual advertising
e.g. in the banning of other manufacturer's products - well,
it's sad sport ends up like this.
As someone once sagely remarked "common sense isn't common!"
and I'll lay a bank note down that some company which doesn't pay a
penny will gain a huge amount of publicity over one of its products
being banned. Remember that football tournament where the Dutch
spectators left their trousers at the gate? That small brewery could not
have imagined such a wealth of good advertising and certainly would not
have been able to pay for it. I'm back to 'shooting yourself in
the foot' etc. as mentioned on the previous page. I am gleefully looking
forward to see which major sponsor has done it this time.
Will I watch any? Possibly one or two of the sports that one never sees
otherwise, but my collection of DVDs has grown significantly lately.
Good luck to those who will enjoy the show - just remember when you sit
comfortably on your sofa at home that you can drink what you like, eat
what you like and probably get the best view. It's also much, much
cheaper. You can toast my health as a thank you for my contribution to
the costs of your enjoyment. This is one occasion when you should be happy to forgo the
'atmosphere' if only because of the restrictions that won't apply at
home!
Oh, and if you're a UK taxpayer and thought that this might result in
some of your money being spent in the UK - well probably quite a tidy
sum has, but you might like to know that even simple things like the
Olympics tickets were printed overseas, and not even within the EU it is rumoured. As a director of a printing company I find this is
particularly shameful. I cannot believe a British company could not have
been found to do the job. Many will be waving their Union flags
(metaphorically if not necessarily literally) during the games. It's a
shame the organisers couldn't do the same.
Back to cricket
And now the BCCI
shows an ugly face.
I hate quotas, and the idea of 'positive' discrimination is total
anathema to me. I consider any discrimination (in the sense the word is
commonly used today) to be simply abhorrent and it can never, in any
sense be acceptable or positive. The idea for instance that all women
lists should be prepared for candidates for elections would simply
ensure I would not vote for the party that proposed such things, any
more than I would for an all male list. Now I hope you don't, after all
the effort that goes into preparing this site, consider I am against
women doing absolutely any job or holding any post whatever. I simply
feel that in such matters the world should be gender blind - and for
that matter colour blind. The best person should get the job, post or
whatever and if that means we get all female or all male committees,
cabinets, parliaments or any other body, then so be it.
Now the quota suggestion by the Indian government minister is therefore
totally unacceptable to my way of thinking. He may want a percentage
representation on sports bodies, but who's to say, if selected on merit,
that representation isn't too low? If gender blind it could be 5%, 50%
or 95% in any individual case. Better to campaign for fair selection
rather than the quota suggested by the government or the misogynistic
method the BCCI appears to prefer from the statements of its spokesman.
His comment "the BCCI says it’s not possible to have women sitting in
judgment of the men’s team" shows how little he understands both women
and the game of cricket. I played for many years, much of the time as
captain of the team, watched county cricket and everything on the TV I
could find. I thought, 30 years later, I knew a fair amount about the
sport, but one day spent in the stands with a former member of the
England women's team, taught me as much as the previous three decades.
Unlike the BCCI spokesman I am not embarrassed to admit learning so much
about this sport from a woman! I lost touch with her some years ago. I
am sure there is much more I could still learn from her.
The ramble continues here |
