The London 2012 Olympics - The Politics Discussion

[Islander]

Re: The London 2012 Olympics Discussion

Then pay no attention to it . The Euro 2012 football tournament bores me silly, but I can ignore it.

Seriously, I think it's fantastic that we're hosting the Olympics. Much like Dave said here (somewhere? Thought it was in this thread, clearly not...), I'm no sports fan, but I do think it's very exciting, and I'm really looking forward to it.

 

[Martin]

Re: The London 2012 Olympics Discussion

The BBC titles have been released.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/18165601

Elbow <3

If only they got Elbow to do the official song instead.

 

[Stelios]

Re: The London 2012 Olympics Discussion

Well it certainly seems British, hopefully the BBC might know a source to whack it in the opening ceremony over Muse eh?

I'm looking forward to laughing at the Opening Ceremony more than the events and hosting the event itself!

 

[Martin]

Re: The London 2012 Olympics Discussion

We can but hope they at least use the Prelude and not that actual song.

Do we really want to project to the world that the best we can do is some bloke with a Freddie Mercury complex singing "I' gonna WWWWWWWWIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!"

 

[Nathan]

The London 2012 Olympics Discussion

Then pay no attention to it

It's hard not to when it's been shoved in your face at every opportunity for the last year.

I'm a huge sports fan but the thing has turned into a total farce. I mean seriously, is there a product or service out there that isn't an official partner? All of which have absolutely no relevance to the games at all might I add.

 

[AstroDan]

Re: The London 2012 Olympics Discussion

There are so many MISERABLE, grumpy people around!

Maybe it's because I teach kids but the Olympics is such a fantastic opportunity. And I am on holiday for most of it, but it still breathes education for our young people .

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

 

[Scott]

The London 2012 Olympics Discussion

I'm a huge sports fan but the thing has turned into a total farce. I mean seriously, is there a product or service out there that isn't an official partner? All of which have absolutely no relevance to the games at all might I add.

The majority of the companies involve sponsor every Olympics (with the exception of some of the British ones). Although many may not be sports related, they are usually providing a product or service for the games or their sponsorship money is providing important income for the running of the event.

I don't see how they are any more of a farce than any sponsors of other games or why it is such a bad thing?

 

[Nathan]

Re: The London 2012 Olympics Discussion

I just find it difficult to sustain interest in an event that has had such a long build-up, which is partly down to said sponsors milking the Olympic cash cow in their advertising for the last year - even longer in some cases. If you hear something enough times, you will become bored with it.

I'll probably change my tune once they finally get underway!

 

[Moley]

Re: The London 2012 Olympics Discussion

My hometown's Olympic legacy is getting the torch as close as 9 miles away and it's athletics stadium knocked down.

How can I fail to be excited by sports I never watch with all that happening?

 

[Islander]

Re: The London 2012 Olympics Discussion

Though that sounds unfortunate, I think it's fair to say that's the exception rather than the rule...

 

[Meat Pie]

Re: The London 2012 Olympics Discussion

I think you would be surprised by how few places are actually going to benefit from the Olympics, even in London.

 

[Rose Of Dawn]

Re: The London 2012 Olympics Discussion

I'm surprised that nobody has released an 'official' London 2012 song yet...unless they already have and its as terrible as you'd expect.

 

[Martin]

Re: The London 2012 Olympics Discussion

I'm surprised that nobody has released an 'official' London 2012 song yet...unless they already have and its as terrible as you'd expect.

The second thing
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYMMnHW85mc[/youtube]

 

[Meat Pie]

Re: The London 2012 Olympics Discussion

This is simply disgraceful:

The Great Olympic tax swindle

Are you getting excited now that the London Olympics are just weeks away?

Sure, it's brilliant that we've the world's biggest sporting event being staged in the East End, but for those battling job losses and eye-watering cuts to public services, the sheer cost of the Games is proving hard to balance against any potential benefit.

What's not so brilliant is that according to a new report published by Ethical Consumer, the majority of the giant multi-nationals sponsoring the Games are set to avoid paying millions of pounds in tax.

Unbelievably, thanks to new HMRC rules which were quietly ushered in as part of Team GB's winning bid, the Olympic site in East London has now become the world's latest – albiet temporary - tax haven. (1)

What this means is that 'partner organisations' such as McDonald's and Visa have a temporary exemption from both UK Corporation Tax and UK Income Tax.

Both companies look set to make a tax-free fortune at the Games: McDonald's which will be operating its biggest ever store close to the Olympic park has a near monopoly on food outlets whilst as official payment services provider, Visa has a total monopoly on all ticketing payments.(2)

The HMRC ruling also exempts the thousands of foreign nationals working on the Games here in the UK from paying income tax and includes everyone from journalists and judges to the athletes themselves.

So how much tax revenue is likely to be lost this summer? The Ethical Consumer report claims that around £600m in tax will not be paid on a predicted £2.7bn in revenues due to these temporary exemptions for Olympics-related corporate partners and service providers, money that the country can't afford to lose. (3)

Tax campaigner Richard Murphy from the Tax Justice Network is unimpressed:

"It is bound to cost the UK tens of millions of pounds to give tax concessions to all the large companies who are operating at the Olympic site. We're giving money away that we need to solve our debt crisis and to preserve essential public services. It's a scandal that at the same time that David Cameron is criticising Jimmy Carr for using a tax haven, one has been created right in the heart of London.”

According to the report's author, Tim Hunt, turning the Olympic Village in Stratford into a temporary tax haven was the price of our winning Olympic bid:

"The sad fact is that passing tax avoidance legislation has now become part of the culture for hosting international competitions such as the Olympics and the World Cup. Without these tax sweeteners the International Olympic Committee would simply take their corporate circus elsewhere."

Hunt claims that tax avoidance is now endemic throughout the entire London Olympic operation with even LOCOG using the much-criticised tax haven registered employee benefit trusts to pay organisers' bonuses once the Games are over. (4)

Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion is critical of the tax arrangements for this year's Games:

"LOCOG and the Olympics team have a serious case to answer in allowing the Park to become a temporary tax haven and so does the Government which has managed to find around £11 billion to fund the Games while at the same time imposing severe economic austerity on normal working people."

Most of the Olympic sponsors are themselves no strangers to more conventional tax havens.

In Ethical Consumer's groundbreaking report, all 11 of the IOC's Olympic Partners and all seven of the London Olympic Partners were surveyed.

The results show that apart from British Airways, all these companies including Adidas, Coca Cola and Lloyds have subsidiaries in tax havens.

Ethical Consumer is now calling on the Government to act decisively against tax avoidance:

“The Government needs to recognise that the issue of tax havens and corporate tax avoidance is a serious issue," says Tim Hunt from Ethical Consumer. "It can begin by clamping down on legal but aggressive tax avoidance schemes."

HMRC now admits that corporate tax avoidance alone amounts to a whopping £5billion a year, (5) lost revenue that would have paid for at least 50 per cent of the entire cost of the Games.

The reality is that aggressive corporate tax avoidance is now deeply entrenched throughout the whole culture of UKplc. Just earlier this year Ethical Consumer broke the story of how public sector companies are implicated in tax avoidance.

In response, there is now a growing campaign againt tax avoidance, in particular its cost to economies in the developing world.

The truth is that the game is up for companies engaging in aggressive tax avoidance, as with the banks being caught with their fingers in the till, the public has had enough of being ripped off by big corporates.

According to Christian Aid, thanks to loopholes in the global financial system, developing countries lose $160bn every year, a figure equal to one-and-a-half-
times what they receive in international aid.

As part of their campaign to plug these loopholes, in August Christian Aid and Church Action On Poverty are touring the UK with a tax bus to highlight the issue of tax avoidance both in the UK and in the developing world.


Meanwhile Hunt believes that the practice of tax avoidance is now firmly embedded within all major global sporting events:

"Some of the tax laws have already been extended to cover the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014 and this process of relaxing tax rules looks set to continue with the costs borne, as ever by ordinary taxpayers."

http://falseeconomy.org.uk/blog/the-gre ... ax-swindle

 

[Moley]

Re: The London 2012 Olympics Discussion

Ethical Consumer is now calling on the Government to act decisively against tax avoidance

Did they then go on to ask Lord Lucan to ride Shergar back home?

 

[Stelios]

Re: The London 2012 Olympics Discussion

So simple, yet so true.

 

[Martin]

Re: The London 2012 Olympics Discussion

To be honest I think that thing looks bloody awesome.

 

[Scott]

The London 2012 Olympics Discussion

Went to see the torch celebrations in Norwich tonight... Was absolutely fantastic (though incredibly sponsored) entertainment and was a great event to be at. Over 15,000 people watched the stage and thousands more lined the streets - seeing it all really felt like everyone had come together for this big event and the torch itself seemed to let everyone be touched by the 'Olympic spirit' for want of a better word.

It might all sound rose-tinted and romantic... But it truly was a great evening and I'm sure the other torch events up and down the country have entertained people just as much. It's one way to make thousands of people feel connected to the Games and give them a story to tell in the future.

If you're a skeptic, go to the torch celebration in your area, get involved and enjoy yourself and just allow the Olympics to entertain and spread a bit of happiness

 

[Stelios]

Re: The London 2012 Olympics Discussion

Is it just me. Or does anyone else up North really not feeling the vibe of looking forward to the Olmypics. I love the Olmypics but with nothing happening up here for the "British games" and with little advertising apart from that merchandise. There is no reason for me to get really excited and proud. I feel like it's happening in another country to be honest. With the Jubilee I felt British as it was publicized and celebrated across the nation together but with the Olympics all the focus and hype is on London and the media want to get us Olympic fever when nothing is happening here really makes me feel deflated and deexcited from when I once was.

Hopefully, I will be interested come late July.

 

[Scott]

The London 2012 Olympics Discussion

To be fair it is London 2012 and not England 2012 or Britain 2012... The Olympics is held in a city and thus the majority of events take place there.

I think a good job has been made of including the whole country though. The torch relay has been fantastic as an example and Olympic football will be taking place on stadiums all over the UK.