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Do We Really Need Two Separate 'heroes' Victory Celebrations?

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anotheoldgit | 09:56 Sat 20th Aug 2016 | News
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3749624/A-parade-fit-Britain-s-Olympic-heroes-PM-orders-victory-celebration-despite-financial-concerns-turf-wars.html

Hasn't enough money been thrown at this two week event already?

£347m of lottery money has been spent on the event and they say that each medal that has been won cost £5.5m of public spending.

Most of these minority interest events create attention for only 2 weeks every 4 years how many of us rush out every week to watch little pole vaulting for example?



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Gromit

/// AOG,
Debate.org is an American site. The votes cast are from anybody in the world, not British voters. ///

How do you know that British voters have not contributed to the poll?

Beside with the USA coming tops, and this poll being conducted on an American site, don't you think that the outcome would have been more focused the other way round?
Gromit, I wouldn't call it a vanity project - if it is, it seems to appeal to the vanity of many happy Brits - but you're right, East End regeneraton was a big driver of the project (and had been by pursued by Heseltine under the Tories). Generally, it seems to be working; I was walking round Stratford High St and the games site this week, and it all seems to be booming. Whether the infrastructure is enough to cope with the swelling population, I don't know.
AOG -- one of the removed answers was mine. I don't think I can be accused of being a victim of "left-wing bias".

I think the moderators were wrong to remove your post (and mine), but you should drop the conspiracy theory aspect of your complaint at least.
And one was mine.
Question Author
mushroom25

/// oh dear, not that old "all rowers are toffs" chestnut........ ///

Mmmmm!!! Oxford and Cambridge boat race springs to mind, can't ever remember Bessie Street Secondary Modern v Mandela Seniors boat race being televised.
Question Author
Gromit

/// but incorrect is saying lottery money should be used to mask the damage of the cuts. ///

Why not if the country is short of money why not use monies gained from a National Lottery to fund these shortfalls?

Perhaps you would be more in agreement to it being taken from the millions we spend on overseas aid?

Come to think of it, I know that I would.
The rowers are toffs argument falls apart because, as in USA, good rowers can get into Oxbridge because they are good rowers, whatever their background. In fact the brightest pupils can also get in whatever their background. Such sour grapes.
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jackthehat
No.
Let's just have one....in Manchester. // Tch,Tch, JTC P/C Perleese, PERSONCHESTER
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jim360

Then I remove my insinuation, but can you understand why mikey's 'name calling' post was not removed?
“It is a good thing to fund, for the nations health and well being.”

What, like getting people to slob out on the sofa watching underwater mixed doubles showjumping for 18 hours a day, you mean? A similar “legacy” from the London Games (which did indeed cost the taxpayer – particularly the London variety – dearly) was forecast. Recent reports suggest it hasn’t happened.

I’m surprised Mrs May was able to reach such an important decision without a public enquiry, a Royal commission, a select committee report followed by a judicial review. After all she has not been able to conclude far less important matters, such as Hinckley Point power station, the third London runway and the date of Brexit thusfar.

There’s nothing wrong with using lottery money to fund local council projects. Anything important should be left to national government (and Parliament should insist on decisions being made, not shelved) and local government should stick to what it does best – arranging for the dustbins to be emptied (which in many areas it seems somewhat incapable of doing without a fuss). Anything in between which is unnecessary but nice to have can be funded by voluntary contributions – such as the Lottery – rather than cash being appropriated compulsorily.

Personally I don't care how many "victory parades" they have for our so-called "heroes" so long as none of them are near me or anywhere I might want to go.
It's hardly name calling.
That figure of £5.5million per medal is wrong.

We have won 60 medals, but the funding is actually £274million, not the £347million that is quoted in the article.

The figure of £347million includes the Paralympics, which have not taken place yet. So each medal 'costs' around £4.6million.

But that's moot, because the Olympics doesn't exist in a bubble. We need to take into account all the jobs and services which revolve around the games.

Then there's the unquantifiable value of national pride when our team does well.

AOG
You are a self proclaimed 'old git'.
So I don't see how you can take offence at curmudgeon?
Question Author
Prudie

/// The rowers are toffs argument falls apart because, as in USA, good rowers can get into Oxbridge because they are good rowers, whatever their background. ///

Really? It seems that no matter how old a person is, one can learn something each day.

But I wonder how many of these not so academically clever, but excellent rowers come from the Bronx?
I don't know ummmm, would you like to be called "a bad-tempered, difficult, cantankerous person."? ;o)
I would wish to take issue with the vastly overused, and increasingly redundant term 'hero' in this context.

These are athletes, professional now, or probably soon to be so who are going to see their acknowledged hard work and skill parlayed into eight-figure sponsorship deals.

They are not, by any standard understanding of the term - 'heroes'.
No problem with as many parades as is required for people to show their appreciation of the effort these athletes have put in to produce the results we have achieved. Good to see the age old twaddle that sport is for the privileged is alive and well. Come to East London, see the canoeing, kayaking, athletic facilities, (all in place before 2012) being used to the full. Plus the post 2012 facilities still in full use. As for another chestnut that the Olympics are a waste of money - look at the regeneration of London's Olympic site, fantastic area for everyone to enjoy.

This is exactly what lottery funding is for, sport, culture and the arts. Love to know what AOG's 'million other uses' for lottery funds are.

Stop the moaning and appreciate the (mostly) youth of today proving there's more to life than consoles, smart phones and junk food. Most of all appreciate the effort and sacrifices these athletes make in pursuing their chosen field of endeavour and setting an excellent example for others to follow.
Vulcan - I've been called worse :-)
// it's exactly the kind of thing lottery money should be spent on. // NO it isn't. Lottery money should help to lift our National Health Funding. I do believe it is called The NATIONAL Health Service.
Sorry, I’ve just spotted the “rowing for toffs” theme.

I always jump to the defence of rowing because it was a sport I (very much not a toff) participated in at school. There’s a lot more to rowing than the Varsity Boat Race. Youngsters can join a rowing club and will have to spend probably less than they spend on mobile phone bills and MacDonald’s hamburgers. You obviously have to be within striking distance of a river but other than that there are no restrictions. You don’t have to attend a top university or even any university at all

My school had a boathouse on the Thames. My father was a painter and decorator and my mother a wages clerk. There were no toffs in my family. Mind you, I did attend a direct grant grammar school which was unencumbered by local authority interference. But that, as they say, is another argument.

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