Will London Recover from The Olympics

Any Londoner knows that London became a ghost town in the last few weeks, and quel surprise given all the warnings we've received for a year, telling us to get out of town (by working from home or taking annual leave)...

We took the warnings seriously!

We thought travel to and from work would be chaos.

Any tourists interviewed (who ordinarily come to London every Summer) said they stayed away as they thought it would be murder, and they plan to come to the UK in Autumn instead.

So while Stratford was busy, areas like Oxford Street and Regent Street were empty. I heard about it non-stop on LBC 97.3 but I saw it for myself when I used London Underground on 4th August to travel right across London (for 2 hours) to go to a wedding with Aaron - it was the quietest I have ever seen tubes and trains and that was on what should have been a busy Saturday, afternoon.

A busy Central Line - Saturday 4th August 2012 !!!

Anyway I have been in Ireland again since the beginning of last week - here still - came over for a large Irish family wedding.

I thought I'd now do a bit of a Google on what the state of play is in London now.

It would seem that despite John Lewis struggling with a -8.7% dip, they have now seen a boost and a turnaround as the "feel good factor" starts to kick in - it would want to! This extract is taken from the link just given:

The retail sector in West London received a further Olympic boost on Tuesday (7 August) with a 13.5% year-on-year increase in footfall, according to Experian FootFall.
The market research company has attributed the rise partly to spectators of the free Triathlon event, which took place in Hyde Park, visiting shops afterwards.
However, the increase in footfall on Tuesday is against a backdrop of continued decline in footfall during the Olympic period.  Experian Footfall’s figures show that footfall in West London was down every day during 1-6 August, excluding a 4.5% increase on Sunday. 

Having spoken to shop owners and black taxis, I can certainly say that they are all down on last year and did not get the Olympic boost they'd expected.  I also heard B&Bs calling in to LBC 97.3 saying that the last time they were this quiet was just after 9-11.

This article says the following:

The official visitor figures won't be available until September.
Tourism officials say that international Olympics visitors to London, including athletes, officials and tourists, totaled about 300,000. Domestic spectators from Britain made up the majority of people visiting games venues.
Restaurants and shops have complained that these games visitors did not spend as much money on food and shopping as typical summer tourists.
"The people who came to the games really didn't do very much sightseeing, didn't do very much shopping, didn't do very much eating out," said Miles Quest, a spokesman for the British Hospitality Association.

So I hope that there's a big influx of tourists in Autumn, and I hope it coincides with an Indian Summer as we certainly need both.  Apparently we now have to focus on the "legacy of the games"...

But don't you think it was an absolute joke when David Cameron asked Londoners to "come back" when him and his Olympic motley crew had spent a year telling us to stay away.  I even received a hand delivered Olympic pack at my office MONTHS ago, making sure that I knew London would be disrupted etc...  They knew the London Transport system could not hope with Londoners and Olympic visitors, but as they couldn't just ask some of us to leave, it was kind of all or nothing...........!

Get Ahead of the Games is already telling people to avoid the busiest places and times for the Paralympic Games, so here we go again:

On 29 August the Paralympic Games commence. We'll need your help again to avoid the busiest times and places. Let's get ready to welcome the world once more.

"We''ll need your help again", to me says: please avoid London again.  All I can say is I feel sorry for the SMEs, and independent traders who can't simply absorb a month of their figures being down, especially when some of them staffed UP for what they thought would be the busiest time of the decade.  So yes, we got lots of Gold medals, but our high streets and traders suffered at a time when they expected a much needed boost.

The "average price of London hotels is set to drop by 35% now that the Olympics is over".  Maybe that amongst other things will bring the tourists back?

As for me, I won't be travelling into London until I get a new job - having been made redundant on 5th July.... Yes I got through the recession of 2008/9/10/11 but it got me in the end....!

So I will be watching London in the coming weeks and months, longing to see the beneficial ripple effect of the Games.  I was proud to see Team GB win so many medals, and Golds in particular.   I hope it inspires a generation as planned.  The same generation that is facing the worst youth unemployment since I don't know when.  Actually it is probably too late for them.  These Games need to inspire the under 10s.  And, I hope that they have!

Mixed Race Britain | Olympics Opening Ceremony - edited Rick Dewsbury Mail Online article

Aaron with 2 of his cousins who are also mixed race

You'd be forgiven for not realising Aaron is mixed race, but I am 1st generation British with both of my parents having moved to the UK from Ireland and my husband is 1st generation British with both of his parents having moved here from Nigeria.  In some photos, Aaron looks really pale (as he does in Winter and at birth) but then other times, he is clearly mixed race.

Not only is Aaron mixed race, but he is one of 6 grandchildren on my husband's side of the family and ALL SIX of them are mixed race. That's from 3 couples, all of whom are still together, living together, both working, etc... etc...

I was listening to the radio last night (LBC 97.3 as usual) and was shocked by what I heard regarding a Daily Mail online article.  Apparently it has been edited but I will try to find for you, what it said, to provoke outrage, versus what it says now...

Well, despite being reliably informed that the Mail Online was edited, the below is the quote as I find it in forums, AND still on the Mail Online itself:

“But it was the absurdly unrealistic scene – and indeed one that would spring from the kind of nonsensical targets and equality quotas we see in the NHS – showing a mixed-race middle-class family in a detached new-build suburban home, which was most symptomatic of the politically correct agenda in modern Britain."

Aha, thanks to John J. Williamson, I have now found the bit that got edited.

The Mail Online now says:

But it was the absurdly unrealistic scene – and indeed one that would spring from the kind of nonsensical targets and equality quotas we see in the NHS - showing a mixed-race middle-class family in a detached new-build suburban home, which was most symptomatic of the politically correct agenda in modern Britain.

This was supposed to be a representation of modern life in England but such set-ups are simply not the 'norm' in any part of the country. So why was it portrayed like this and given such prominence? If it was intended to be something that we can celebrate, that two people with different colour skin and different cultural heritages can live harmoniously together, then it deserves praise.  But what will be disturbing to many people is top-down political manipulation - whether consciously or unthinkingly - at a major sporting event.

And what it originally said was:

“But it was the absurdly unrealistic scene – and indeed one that would spring from the kind of nonsensical targets and equality quotas we see in the NHS – showing a mixed-race middle-class family in a detached new-build suburban home, which was most symptomatic of the politically correct agenda in modern Britain.

This was supposed to be a representation of modern life in England but it is likely to be a challenge for the organisers to find an educated white  middle-aged mother and black father living together with a happy family in such a set-up.”

What he clearly doesn't realise is that mixed couples are very common.  The organisers would not have to look far at all and could probably have picked a few from the audience.

SHAME HE DID NOT EDUCATE HIMSELF BY READING HIS OWN PAPER HERE, BEFORE WRITING WHAT HE WROTE - SHAME ON YOU RICK DEWSBURY!

I was at a Fun Day at Aaron's nursery all day yesterday and nearly every couple I spoke to were mixed.  In fact the UK has the highest incidence of this, by a long way:

It is discussed here on bbc.co.uk with regards to the 2001 census, from where I take this extract: "Whatever the reasons, the result of Britain’s high number of inter-ethnic relationships is a boom in the mixed race population - currently the fastest growing ethnic group in the UK". And it goes on: "Figures published by the Office for National Statistics in 2001 revealed the number of mixed race people grew by more than 75% during the 1990s to around 415,000, 10% of the total ethnic minority population in the UK".

The Guardian here says: You are more likely in Britain to fall in love with someone of another race than anywhere else in the world.

The trend is happening in the U.S. too.
 THIS is very interesting.
Over to BBC.co.uk again

What I would really like to discuss here is his actual choice of words: challenge for the organisers to find an educated white  middle-aged mother and black father living together with a happy family in such a set-up.” 

Okay, let's start with educated:

Both myself and my husband went to University and came out with two BA honours (and not ex-Polytechnics either). I find his inclusion of this word quite insulting!

Middle-aged

Does he mean middle-classed?  If he really does mean middle-aged, well I am 39, so didn't exactly have a baby young despite us having been together for 24 years!

Living together

Er, yes we are, as are all of the other similar mixed couples I know.

Happy

I can list many such families that are happy, and met many of them at nursery yesterday.

Such a set-up.

He means a detached house.  Well, if you saw some of the stunning homes that mixed race couples I know live in, you would see how out of touch he is.  Typical Daily Mail sweeping judgements with no substance.  Although we live in a flat, it is indeed detached!

So, like with Aidan Burley, we have another sensationalist comment that has got as all up in arms.  I'd rather just focus on how beautiful the Opening Ceremony was.  I really loved it!

Maybe Aidan and Rick Dewsbury should go for a drink together - they are clearly both built from the same mould - perhaps they studied at Oxford together.

Update at 23:12 29th July 2012
I just Googled to see what else is being said on this subject and very much enjoyed what James W Smith had to say!  Thanks to reading what he said, and the comments, I am now aware that the Mail Online post has been taken down.  

I hope that is a result of John J. Williamson's complaint to the PCC - maybe lots of people complained.  Shows the press do sometimes listen.  Hopefully they will know better than to let such an article get published next time! Unless they do it on purpose to increase their online traffic! 

Succumbing to pressure, they have disabled the post! Good!

YOU CAN STILL SEE HOW IT READ AND LOOKED HERE AT FREEZE PAGE, WHICH IS GOOD FOR ANYONE WHO MISSED THE WHOLE THING, CONSIDERING THAT IT'S NOW BEEN TAKEN DOWN! GOOD!

With Jessica Ennis being one of our FACES of the OLYMPICS - London 2012, it makes his statements even more outrageous, if that is at all possible!!!

Jess Ennis and Proud Parents - he wouldn't have had to look far at all!

 

Wenlock and Mandeville - Olympic Mascots - All Seeing Eyes? Or a Tribute to Iris? Either way I am not a Fan!

Isn't it IRONIC or ICONIC or maybe EYE-conic or EYE-ronic - don't you think....
Listen to the toon whilst you read this post (link above on isn't it ironic) - great soundtrack for this post.  Perhaps all my posts should come with soundtracks from now on.... :-)

In preparation for going on LBC 97.3 radio last night, I did a little research into the Olympics mascots (amongst other Olympics related general knowledge) yesterday, to try to find out what inspired their design.  I found out the basics (read here for detail):

1. The story: they're fashioned from droplets of steel left over from the last girder for the stadium
2. The light on the forehead is meant to represent the for hire light on our iconic London taxis
3. The eye is meant to record all that they see - sounds like CCTV to me!

But, yesterday I had two immediate concerns with this.  One, why pay homage to the Taxi Drivers when they are so very excluded from the Olympics.  Listen to me discussing it on the radio here, as part of an Olympics Panel on LBC 97.3  Famous black taxi driver @JohnTheCabby is on the panel.

My favourite tweets after I pointed out on air, the mascot taxi link:

Two, (which I didn't mention on the radio), a question: is the "eye" a tribute to the marketing company that designed them, i.e. IRIS, or am I being too cynical?  We are bending to the big corporations in every other way, (protecting their sponsorship in bizarre extremes when it's a drop in the ocean within the overall budget) so it seems to follow that we would also give up the opportunity to represent sport in deference to being symbolic for the designers themselves! In the absence of them going all out and actually having their logo plastered across the things.  At the very least you'll never forget the name when you subliminally make the connection between the eyes (of Mandeville and Wenlock) and Iris (the design agency).

Funny that their original announcement is no longer on their site, wonder what it said before this? Look at the drawing on the bottom of the wall here; it wasn't a big leap to design the olympics mascots - I hope they weren't paid lots for the design - the publicity they are getting in itself is priceless!

But as I investigate more, you can't fail to see all the possible links between the all seeing eye, and the mascots - if you are into conspiracies you'll already know all about that.  If not, have fun looking up all the olympics 2012 conspiracies on You Tube - beware they're loads!

Anyway, thanks to this story by the Huffington Post, I followed their link to these Amazon reviews which literally had me howling with laughter - you just HAVE to read them, now!

And I am not the only one to have concerns about these mascots and what they represent - have a read here.

I got to see the Olympic Mascots a whole year ago at Christmas in July as talked about Wendy here (a pre-Christmas press event to show the press and mummy bloggers the future must have toys).

I already knew back then that I was not a fan - I just did not know why.

But the thing is, now they are everywhere - look!

If you want to take it to the extremes, and you're into numerology, read this!  But beware it may keep you awake.... so click with trepidation, and a pinch of salt.

And the EYE puns just keep on springing to mind, like this:

Even the founder of Olympic branding says London's gone too far....

And celebs like Ewan McGregor don't like them either!

ME on the RADIO - LBC 97.3 tonight! Topic of Conversation: The Olympics

Hi

Last night I was on
If you are still up and you are in the UK please tune into LBC 97.3 at 3 a.m. to hear me, in a panel of 4, talking with Duncan Barkes about the London Olympics.  We were invited in, so that real Londoners could give their views on the forthcoming Olympics, coming to a City near you in just 7 days....

If you are anywhere in the World, you can listen to LBC 97.3 at http://ukrp.musicradio.com/lbc973/live

Here is the Olympics Panel speaking: listen to me here.

Here are the photos.  Such an enjoyable way to spend my night :-)

An absolute honour!

The reception - their offices are in Leicester Square - should I say "recording studios"?

View of Leicester Square from the "green room"

Me and the view - self portrait!

Inspirational posters in the green room

Inspirational posters in the green room

Inspirational posters in the green room

The "Olympics Panel" - real LBC 97.3 listeners and Duncan (me in red!)

Thank God Cat took the photo again :-)

Me @NewMumOnline and @CatFarnsy (Duncan's producer)

Duncan and Matt (the 16 year old on the panel) who represented the voice of Sport and Youth!

Same again!

The panel, Duncan, Cat and the LBC logo (yes we got a guided tour of LBC studios) - LONDON'S BIGGEST CONVERSATION

 While I was acting like a celebrity on the radio, my baby was asleep in the car with Daddy (as below) - Daddy who gave me a lift there and home - thank you Daddy :-)

My wonderful sleeping lad xxxx

LBC 97.3 thank you so so much for the opportunity - thoroughly enjoyed it!

Liska xxx