The London Olympics are already achieving the number one aim of the politicians who brought them here, which is making our politicians feel very important indeed.
The media is quite frenetic in its efforts to make us all believe we should be terrifically proud of the fact we are hosting the Olympics, as though there were something unique in this achievement. If we can’t competently do something that Greece, Spain and China have done in recent years, that would be remarkable. Of course the Games will be on the whole well delivered, sufficient for the media and politicians to declare it an ecstatic success. Some of the sporting moments will be sublime, as ever.
But did it have to be in London? We won’t know the total cost of the Games for months, but it will cost the taxpayer at least £9 billion and I suspect a lot more. I also suspect the GDP figures will, in the event, show that the massive net fall in visitor numbers has hurt the already shrinking economy further.
But to take the most optimistic figure, holding the Olympics in London has cost every person in the country an average of £150 per head in extra taxes. That is £600 for a family of four. Actually it is in the end going to be well over £2,000, as of course the money has been borrowed on the never never, and taxpayers are going to be paying it off their whole lives, along with the sum ten times higher they are already paying direct into the pockets of the bankers through their taxes.
The very rich, of course, don’t pay much tax, so they are not worried.
But to take just the figure of £600 extra taxes for a family of four, the lowest possible amount, and not including the interest. Is having the Olympics here really worth paying out £600 for? If Tony Blair had approached the head of the family and said “We are going to have the Olympics in London, but it’s going to cost you £600, would the answer have been from most ordinary people: “Yes, great idea, this is that important to us”?
People are not disconcerted because they don’t see that they have to pay. There is no special Olympics tax, and they pay their taxes in a variety of ways, and individuals are not the sole source of taxation. But this is nonetheless real money taken from the people in pursuit of the hubris of politicians.
I love sport. I hate the corruption of the International Olympic Committee, Fifa and the rest; I hate the vicious corporatism and militarisation of our capital and absurd elitism of the transport lanes; the sport itself I love. But with the economy contracting, and the NHS being farmed out for profit, is it really worth £600 for a family – and many families are really struggling in a heartbreaking way – is it worth the money to have the Olympics here rather than in Paris?
Of course it isn’t. I think many of us will feel an extra pleasure watching the Opening ceremony because it is British. Patriotic pride will surge. It is not wrong to enjoy the spectacle tonight on TV. The corporate well connected and ruling classes will enjoy it in the stadium.
But after you have watched it on TV, ask yourself this question. How much more did you enjoy it than enjoy watching the Beijing ceremony, and was that margin of extra enjoyment something that everybody in the room would have paid out £150 for?
Because they just did.
fedup: thanks.
‘Of course the communities are not identical, but after one or two generations they all become integrated into the mainstream society.’
CheebaCow- your mention of the Australian experience is interesting and illuminating. I’d like to add a few qualifiers to it.
1. In present day London (to which most immigrants to the UK gravitate), there is no ‘mainstream society’ in which they can integrate into, even if they wished.
2. Twenty first century communications enable new immigrants to stay in touch with their countries of origin far more effectively than was the case 30 or 40 years ago.(My wife follows the soap operas from her homeland via You Tube, for instance). This development can only inhibit the process of ‘integration’ into mainstream society to which you refer.
3. The ‘mainstream society’ of mid twentieth century Australia into which the ‘new Australians’ subsequently adjusted themselves, didn’t arise spontaneously, and was arguably built on two things. Firstly, during the nineteenth century, the fact that the Royal Navy ruled the waves,and thereby sealed the country off from non British outsiders, and secondly, in the self governing era of the twentieth century (hard as it may be to accept), the continuance, until as late as 1973, of a deliberately discriminatory immigration policy (‘White Australia’).
(On the ‘White Australia’ point,to their credit, the Aussies were at least less dogmatic than the South Africans; Arab Christians- but not muslims- were accepted for settlement as ‘whites’, as were Eurasians).
Screaming Lord Sutch/Nuid- I’d be sleeping soundly tonight if I knew for certain that corrupt old Bastard Prince Bandar had breathed his last. However his wikipedia entry currently states-
‘Unconfirmed reports[49] [50] [51] of Prince Bandar’s assassination surfaced on 26 July 2012 but so far there has been no official denial or confirmation. These unconfirmed reports claimed that Prince Bandar’s deputy was also killed in the attack. The assassination was credited to Syrian intelligence operating in Saudi Arabia.
Prince Bandar hasn’t been seen or heard of since the rumours began.’
OldMark: I’ve just done a search on Twitter (all news breaks first on Twitter these days) and apart from stuff in languages I don’t know, I only found one researcher asking “Any (credible) updates on Prince #Bandar?”
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I suppose it’s possible that he was badly wounded and that’s the reason for his disappearance. (Maybe he’s hanging between life and death, as they say.)
PressTV is now reporting him assassinated, virtually word for word the same as Tehran Times.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/07/31/253594/new-saudi-spymaster-killed-report/
Oldmark:
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1 – That sounds like a fault with London, not immigrants. Doesn’t this speak to a lack of confidence in UK culture?
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2 – I think you over estimate the effect it will have. The family member I mentioned before couldn’t speak English and only really socialised with the Italian community, but yet all his kids spoke perfect English with an Australian accent. Kids want to fit in and share common points of reference with one another, I don’t think there is much threat of them forgoing watching the next blockbuster to watch a soap on youtube from a country they have never been to.
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3 – I don’t quite get your point, the further Australia has moved away from the white Australia policy the richer our culture has become. Most Australians are ashamed of the white Australia policy. In 2011, 24.6% of Australians were born elsewhere and 43.1% of people had at least one overseas-born parent and yet our culture is stronger and more independent than ever before.
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If you are meaning that integration was successful because the white Australia policy had created expectations in society that immigrants should adapt and become Australian, well I wouldn’t exactly disagree with that. However earlier ‘white’ Australian expectations were overly harsh and filled with racism, I like to think we are somewhat more civilised now. I would also argue that the above point is not a case against immigration, but rather it only makes the case against policies which lead to immigrants not integrating (and expectations should be realistic, it takes a few generations).
Hmmm my last post seems to have gone missing. Apologies if this is a dupe.
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[Mod/Clark: yes, duplicate of 06:52 comment.]
What should be very troubling to us all is the totality of the news-blackout in the West regarding Bandar’s assassination. There appears to be absolutely no independent outlets for news in any Western country. This is really shocking and a true testament to the totalitarian fascist state that has been secretly imposed on us since the end of WW2.
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Even people on this site are doubting he is dead because no MSM has picked it up or his Wikipedia page hasn’t been updated. A sad sign of the times that people cant use their own rational minds and accrued knowledge to understand what’s going on without being spoon-fed by big brother.
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Prince Bandar was involved in the HSBC money laundering crime, just to add another angle to the dynamic. Whatever the reason for the silence of our overlords, you can bet that when it’s over you will not hear ONE SINGLE WORD OF TRUTH from any of them.
http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2012/07/unofficial-reports-al-qaedas-chief-financier-bandar-bush-is-dead-2445544.html
Fed up
You seem to forget the degenerate bastards who own and run Hollywood
and the liberal leftists that dont want censors
hip that influence murderous individuals.
You forget who is pulling the strings
Money is the influencing factor.
Not Love
Lots of people connected with HSBC seem to be dying of late. I’m sure it has nothing to do with money laundering for terrorists and drug dealers and that our politicians and their ‘advisers’ have absolutely nothing to fear from the US criminal investigation.
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http://cryptogon.com/?p=30605
FedUp – powerful, deeply articulate and accurate post, a beam of sanity – thanks so much. I’d become wholly fed up with the whole circular thing. WMD (Weapons of Mass Distraction) appear to have been successful here, sadly, with too many – not all – of the regular commentators. Technicolour, good on you for your precision, indefatigability and decency. CheebaCow, Clark, Mark Golding, Mary, thanks also.
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30-40 years ago, there was no satellite TV/internet/Skype/tech phones – and back then, we were being blamed for all the ills of Britain, of working too hard, of scrounging (not working hard enough), of taking jobs from white workers, of lowering wages, of being dirty and unhygienic, of being primitive, of destroying British culture, of not integrating, of trying too hard to integrate, of being too violent (African-Caribbeans), of being not assertive enough (South Asians), of talking English in a funny accent, of not talking English at all, of wearing the wrong clothes, or having expensive cars, of running all the shops, of running the NHS, of never coming out, of being seen everywhere, of being narrowly focused on educational success, of being illiterate…
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All identical accusations to those being flung around consistently now. Yeah, sure, Bollywood is to blame. And ‘The Jews’, who, in this twisted conception of reality, are ‘all working for Israel’. And the Gypsies, who look like ‘Pakis’ but aren’t and who ‘sell their daughters to the lowest bidder’. And the Poles, who… eat Polish food and then talk in Polish on British streets! Ooooo!!
Mission accomplished. Some of us thought about the issue. Others think there isn’t one. Most have flung some crap at the others.
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My position is unchanged. And it is more about the demonisation of nationalism than immigration, at base. It is absolutely nothing to do with racism, much as some would like it to be, Racism (like antisemitism, eh?) provides an easy target. It goes like this: “The Nazis were racists. Therefore nationalists are racists. Therefore you are a Nazi. Therefore you are automatically wrong”. That’s simply and solely the other side of the McCarthyist antisocialist coin.
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The nation is the only visible defence against corporate globalisation. An effective nation needs common, shared, values, language and yes, history. It doesn’t respond well to diversity.
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The American experience shows that immigration can create a nation. But (as well as extensive natural resources) this required allegiance to the host under all circumstances to be clearly understood by all. The national flag appears in all public places, and on a large number of private flagpoles. The oath of allegiance is sworn on public occasions, in schools, by office holders Immigrants, of whatever date or origin, are Americans first.
But what are we?
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I cited a figure of 40,000 temporary workers settling annually in the UK, above. Here are the figures for three months social housing new build:
http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/development/new-social-homes-down-41-per-cent-on-last-year/6521198.article.
Anyone queuing for a council house* (the process can be indefinite for single people) will recognise that before we are allowing for unexpected arrivals, there is an enormous shortfall of social housing. This single aspect of immigration, among all the others worries people on a practical everyday level. Are the right-on lefties here saying it shouldn’t?
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*I have, o demanders of experience. Have you?
The Americans are periodically shocked when their soldiers are targetted by Afghan ‘trainees’ in uniform. They whine about their deceitfulness and lack of loyalty etc. They should know better, in a country they’ve been occupying and droning and destroying for years. Now this:
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Horror Hospital: The Most Shocking Photos And Testimony From The Dawood Military Hospital Scandal
(Warning: Graphic images)
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32025.htm
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“If you look at only one story about the Afghan War this year, make it this one. An explosive Congressional investigation revealed horrific new details this week about a U.S. funded military hospital in Afghanistan that kept patients in “Auschwitz-like” conditions.”
Tried posting this a couple of hours ago, I’ll see if it works this time.
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[Mod/Clark: yes, another duplicate of 06:52. Sorry CheebaCow, I don’t know why these got queued.]
Sorry Fedup that was a facebook link from a friend.
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It is
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/jul/31/iraq-invasion-government-documents-secret?fb=optOut
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Tony Blair’s Iraq meetings to remain secret after government veto
Attorney general overrides calls from freedom of information watchdog to release cabinet minutes from before 2003 invasion
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Richard Norton-Taylor
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 31 July 2012 18.32 BST
Biting excoriating stuff from Tom Burghardt on the crimes of HSBC, overseen by the ex head, now CoE priest!, Lord Stephen Green of Hurstpierpoint, and now one of Cameron’s business ministers.
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Black Dossier: HSBC and Terrorist Finance
by Tom Burghardt / July 30th, 2012
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http://dissidentvoice.org/2012/07/black-dossier-hsbc-and-terrorist-finance/#
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One of the things on my ‘to do’ list is to change banks. I put my first wages into an account at Midland Bank in the 60s. That bank was taken over by HSBC in 1991. Strange that the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank was set up to deal with the opium trade and is now found out in its Cayman Islands dealings with the drug lords and mafiosi. Full circle.
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‘The government has “every confidence” in trade minister Lord Green in the wake of accusations that HSBC was guilty of money laundering at the time he was chairman of the bank, the House of Lords has been told. Speaking in the Lords on Monday afternoon on behalf of the government, Lord Strathclyde told peers that there was “no evidence” that Lord Green had done anything wrong. “Her Majesty’s Government has every confidence in Lord Green’s ability to fulfil his ministerial duties,” he said. “His experience, expertise and enthusiasm provide great benefit to he UK’s international profile.”‘ (Huffington Post)
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LOL as Cameron would say.
Lost one. Queued?
Summary:
Nationalism: our only defence against global corporatism?
Allegiance to nation, not encouragement of diversity, essential criterion for beneficial immigration?
(Strongly linked issues.)
Also some (cited) social housing newbuild figures relevant to the 40,000 temporary workers settling here annually.
And an aside on how very strongly accusations of racism resemble those of antisemitism in another context entirely.
All yours, enjoy.
The only defense against global corporatism is understanding the super elite are the ones stealing from us, not the poorest of the globe.
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25% of Australia’s population wasn’t born in Australia. We don’t have the same flag waving culture of the US, don’t always swear allegiance. There are expectations that people who move to Australia integrate over time, but I think that would be pretty true anywhere and happens anyway, unless there are some incredibly dysfunctional policies in place.
Komodo, I suspect that nationalism is inadequate for countering corporate globalisation. Many of these corporations are multinational, and their economic strength is comparable to the governments of developed countries. If a government acts to control such an entity, it can just move its assets or operations elsewhere, and/or punch back with similar weight.
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As a fully paid-up and duly hated Grand Master of the Illuminati, I propose the strengthening of international law and its extension into economic matters. Yes, I’m proposing more of the dreaded global governance.
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It’s a matter of where you think the greatest danger lies, in governments or in corporations. I think governments are insufficiently accountable and that democracy needs strengthening. But I also think that there’s much less accountability and democracy in the corporations.
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So obviously I want all you sheeple microchipped, so you’ll vote the way I want (evil laugh).
CheebaCow, yes, understanding is important because it’s part of the democratic feedback loop. The great subversion of understanding seems to emanate from the global media corporations.
Clark:
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“I propose the strengthening of international law and its extension into economic matters.”
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I used to have the same position. However now I believe the biggest problem facing people in the western world is the democratic deficit that is ever increasing. Since the 80’s, governments have made a conscious and concerted effort to undermine local and traditional social/political structures and impose top heavy replacements. As a result the political parties and government structures are now more removed from the people and no longer reflect their desires. Until national governments can be made more representative of the people, I fear that any international laws that are written will only serve to further impose top heavy replacements for existing local institutions. See ACTA or the Euro bailouts for examples.
Thanks, Clark, good point. But if we cannot assemble into something like a nation, but remain a discordant mess, is there any prospect of obtaining better global governance? Or, indeed national governance? Stepping delicately away from the immigration question, are Cameron’s Eton chums actually British nationals at all? They have little in common with most of us, and their primary allegiance is to global markets.
As if the homeless and jobless people (or victims of the neo-liberals’ globalisation as I see them) can afford to buy or rent a house. You need a job before you can do either ffs.
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A military helicopter (large and noisy) circed twice over the meadow where I walk the dog this morning and then landed at Mount Browne, Surrey Police HQ.??
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It did not wake the man who has been living in one of those portable metal dug outs on a nearby football pitch. He was asleep on a wooden bench which is about 15″ wide. I see him not as one with the label ‘homeless’ or ‘unwanted immigrant’ but as one of the victims. Danny Boyle’s best known film after Trainspotting (attempt to escape from the Edinburgh drug scene) was Slum Dog Millionaire (Bombay teenage contestant on Who Wants to be a Millionaire).
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Now we have the Olympic version. Slum Landord Millionaire(s).
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/may/09/london-landlords-desperate-tenants
Another bit of the bubble goes pop.
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House price growth falters across most UK regions
• 9 out of 13 UK regions saw annual price falls in Q2
• North/south divide persists for English house price performance
• Northern Ireland continues to see largest price falls
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http://www.nationwide.co.uk/hpi/historical/Q2_2012.pdf
Komodo “Stepping delicately away from the immigration question” – oh and straight onto the ‘suggesting the evil government are not just evil but FOREIGN’ step’
Good grief. And how will nationalism counter ‘global corporatism’ precisely? Will we drive them all – the banks, the fast food chains, the supermarkets, into the sea waving our little plastic flags? And then where will you buy your milk from?
There needs to be a legal restructuring of the corporate entity.
“and then where will you buy your milk from?” – the answer, in my case, is from the corner shop owned and run by Tamil people.
Quite right, Mary.
Abolish Corporate Personhood (American website/American law)
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If “corporate persons” no longer had First Amendment right of free speech, we could prohibit all corporate political activity, such as lobbying and contributions to political candidates and parties. If “corporate persons” were not protected against search without a warrant under the Fourth Amendment, then corporate managers couldn’t turn OSHA and the EPA inspectors away if they make surprise, unscheduled searches. If “corporate persons” weren’t protected against discrimination under the 14th Amendment, corporations like Wal-Mart couldn’t force themselves into communities that don’t want them …
http://reclaimdemocracy.org/personhood/edwards_morgan_corporate.html
“and then where will you buy your milk from?” – the answer, in my case, is from the corner shop owned and run by Tamil people.
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Where’s that? Don’t tell me I’m going blind on top of everything else.
Technicolour:
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“There needs to be a legal restructuring of the corporate entity.”
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I agree, but as nation states are the foundation for international law, I don’t think there is much hope in achieving improved international law regarding corporate entities unless we have some big nations friendly to the idea. I don’t think the big states will be friendly to the idea until they have improved political structures in place to make them more representative of the people. As it stands now, I can’t see how an even more remote and top heavy international government could be more responsive to the needs of a population than a national government.