Posted by tigertom on Jul 29, 2006 in
General Ah, dear reader, you have found my little blog posting about the 2012 Olympics in the town of Stratford, in the London Borough of Newham, United Kingdom.
Here are some interesting allegations which I have heard:
1. Of the 60 councillors in Newham, about 56 are New Labour, the party of Tony Blair, Prime Minister of England.
2. Stratford has a history of heavy industry going back over 200 years. It wasn’t always high rise developments and social housing.
3. The water table is reportedly quite high; the river Lea runs underneath it, and it is quite low lying.
4. It is geologically unstable.
5. It was heavily bombed during the war, and it also has old wells, thus leaving big, undiscovered holes in the ground.
6. One street, Lavender Street, featured in the news because the back gardens of some residents disappeared into a big hole. This was due to tunnelling work, for a railway, underground.
7. Heavy industry has left toxic heavy metals like arsenic in the soil.
8. Another allegation is that the last few stops in the Jubilee tube line to Stratford were completed overground, due to workers tunnelling underground contracting anthrax poisoning.
9. The Channel Tunnel rail link will not stop at Stratford, but at Lewisham instead. Sports fans will have to get off and take a different train to Stratford.
10. The train service from Stratford to The Millenium Dome in Dec. 1999 broke down, leaving VIPs stranded at Stratford.
11. Straford Station was shut down during the 7/7 bombings. A resident alleges that this is because if a large bomb went off there, clouds of toxic dust could be thrown up in the air, with unpleasant consequences for the locals.
13. The same resident alleges that aforesaid industries needed special licences to operate.
14. Most Olympics cost more money than they generate. Indeed, they can leave the parties responsible heavily in debt, with the exception of construction companies, and local politicians. The latter tend to do quite well.
15. Council Tax in Britain routinely increases well beyond the rate of inflation.
16. A local Council in the UK can compulsorily purchase homes, for much less than their market value, under the Blight Act, if it can claim that they are a hazard, or in a hazardous area.
All of the above was heard in a casual conversation in the street in Stratford, Newham, on a lovely sunny day, in early Summer 2006. It is reported from memory, so may be inaccurate. Is it true? Perhaps the Parisians, who lost their bid to host the 2012 Olympics after intense lobbying by Tony Blair, may have the last laugh after all.
Posted by tigertom on Jul 3, 2006 in
General When England played Portugal in the recent World Cup, I confess I bet against them. Their performance in their previous matches convinced me they would lose, or at least draw, to any half-decent team in good form.
And yet I was sad when their star player, Wayne Rooney, got sent off for hoofing an opponent in the b*lls. Sadder still when they lost on penalties. They, and their countrymen, really wanted to win _so_ much; the tabloids here are even covering what their wives and girlfriends are up to, in detail.
When a South American coach passed on working for England because of press intrusion, you know there’s an unhealthy level of interest in the game. And when, after all the blather, they can’t win games, it’s time for someone very strong-minded to take control of their efforts, and tell the media, the past-it ’star’ players and the Football Association to go h*mp themselves.
A few days previously I had gone to see some London sights with my girlfriend’s sister.
One now has to queue to get into the Houses of Parliament, because of security checks. Previously, we waited an hour in the rain and couldn’t get in because MP’s friends and guests had preference. My girlfriend, who was with us on the first attempt, was in a rage, and let the staff have it.
Inside, we saw a very eloquent Conservative MP deplore the proposed twenty-eight days of internment for suspected terrorists. He said the legislation was going to be defeated in the House of Lords because it contravened EU or Human Rights legislation, so they were just going through the motions.
Made the point that detaining someone for twenty-eight days (without charge) would cause them to lose their job regardless, never mind the psychological strain.
One gets the sense that the tabloids stir up pseudo-outrage over the latest bete noir (at the monent, paedophiles), Tony Blair has a half-baked idea about dealing with it, they pass a Bill about it, it doesn’t work, so now you have masses of bad laws on the statute books which annoy the public and civil servants can’t implement.
We then went to Westminster Abbey. I protested to the ‘Sis’ that I wasn’t going to pay £10 (£10!) to get into a Protestant church, so I waited outside for her. The entrance is so small and restrained I wasn’t aware of it until I saw people queueing up there, and I’d been passing it for fifteen years while I worked nearby! St. Margarets Church confuses you because it encroaches on the approach. The Abbey looks like a bad extension job as a result.
On we went to Tower Hill, and the Crown Jewels. There were more gold objects than I anticipated, and crowns, and ceremonial swords. The ‘Salts’ were interesting. I suppose salt symbolises the Earth, and dominion over it, with salt also being very valuable in itself in ancient times.
Most moving was a film clip of Elizabeth II’s coronation; the choral singing was utterly lovely, and the scene very moving; whoever choreographed it was a master of theatre.
Went to the White Tower, and viewed its Instruments Of Death. They had a kind of thuggish dullness about them. Funny how we like this sort of thing. There’s a small industry around a butcher of prostitutes locally i.e. Jack The Ripper. Not so nice if it happens to someone you know. Or to you.
Saw the famous ravens. Interesting birds. Bigger than you’d expect. Don’t move or say much. I asked a yeoman if they’d had their wings clipped and he said they’d clipped their flight feathers so they can’t fly so high. So unless they hop on a bus, they’re not leaving the tower, and England is safe!