Andy Roberts

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  HMS Ocean Helicopter Warship at Greenwich

  http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2012/05/12/hms-ocean-helicopter-warship-at-greenwich

  There’s a bloody great helicopter Warship moored in the Thames at Greenwich! When I surfaced at Greenwich on Thursday, there were two remarkable  ships on view. The newly reburbished and reopened Cutty Sark is looking great now, with all the scaffolding and stuff gone, so you can see the glass building that surrounds the bottom half of the hull as it should be seen. With a slight lengthwise curve to the roof, the old ship has an impression of movement, more like she’s back sailing on the water than when it was just sunk in a darkened concrete hole of a dry dock. Lynx helicopter And out on the river Thames itself,  before embarking the motor cruiser to see the Cable Car Crossing and the Thames Barrier, the scene is dominated by an enormous grey warship. From the waterside, the shape of HMS Ocean is disorientating. The superstructure is asymetrical, and the main hull looks like it’s been sliced lengthways, revealing two big holes at the side. Seeing the platform jutting out on the port side, it looks a bit like a traditional aircraft carrier, but it isn’t. It’s a helicopter ship, carrying eight Lynx helicopters there to patrol the no fly zone during the London 2012 Olympics. HMS Ocean at Greenwich According to information I looked up later, there are both Army and Navy Lynx helicopters onboard, as well as serving as a base for anti terrorist units during the period of the Games. Greenwich is used to seeing large Navy ships moored in the Thames, such as HMS Illustrious last year.     Thanks for subscribing to Andy Roberts blogHMS Ocean Helicopter Warship at Greenwich

  

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  May 12 2012, 2:45am | Comments »

• I posted to distributedresearch.net

  London Cable Cars Crossing The Thames

  http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2012/05/11/london-cable-cars-crossing-the-thames

  It was back in 2010 that I reported the London Cable Car Thames Crossing may go ahead, and now here it is. stretched over London’s River Thames between North Greenwich ( The O2 Millennium Dome) and The Royal Victoria Docks for the Excel Centre, the ‘Emirates Air Line’ consists of 34 cable cars suspended 50 metres above the river taking 10 people each. That’s up to 2,500 passengers an hour, equivalent to 50 buses or the hourly number of people passing through the nearby Blackwall Tunnel by road. The slender suspension masts were erected last month and after weeks of testing, the gondolas have now been attached and can be seen slowly passing each other in the videos and photographs I took from the deck of a cruise boat en route to the Thames Barrier yesterday.

  So the cable car gondolas are in place and operational, the next question being will the service be fully tested and open to the public in time for the London 2012 Olympics starting in less than 100 days time?

  For the duration of the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics the Emirates Cable Car Crossing  will help to transport spectators and athletes between two Olympics venues: The O2 dome (renamed North Greenwich Arena for the Games) where gymnastics and basketball  will be competed, and the Excel Exhibition Centre, temporarily(?) home to combat sports. But what about after the Olympic Games are over – the legacy? Will enough  Londoners  find a cable car more useful than the Jubilee Line, DLR or buses on a daily basis or will it become little more than a compliment to the Orbit Tower, a visitor attraction for tourists and photographers? Thanks for subscribing to Andy Roberts blogLondon Cable Cars Crossing The Thames

  

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  May 11 2012, 3:16am | Comments »

• I posted to distributedresearch.net

  The London 2012 torch mixes the Olympian and the corporate

  http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/05/19/the-london-2012-torch-mixes-the-olympian-and-the-corporate

  Sponsors to the fore in torch relay but who will light the flame in the London 2012 Olympic stadium?This article titled “The London 2012 torch mixes the Olympian and the corporate” was written by Owen Gibson, for guardian.co.uk on Thursday 19th May 2011 09.58 UTCAs Seb Coe stood up to speak about the inspirational effect of the flame that will a year from now be passing through the cities, towns and villages of Britain having been “lit by the power of the sun on Mount Olympus”, three other figures looked on intently.They sat alongside him as he went on to talk about the galvanising effect he expected the tour to have on communities as the Olympic spirit coursed through them and they hosted their own celebratory events in the early summer gloaming.And they listened intently as Coe spoke affectingly about a husband and wife team who sold their house so the community gym they run in south-east London could survive – his nomination for one of the 7,200 out of 8,000 torchbearer slots reserved for members of the public.The three onlookers, who then got to take their turn to speak, were representatives of the three “presenting partners” – Samsung, Coca-Cola and Lloyds TSB – who get to plaster their branding over the torch relay. The man from Coca-Cola alone promised to bring “happiness and celebration” to the route.It is they (along with local authorities along the way) who effectively pay for the hoopla that will surround the torch relay that organisers hope will be the moment that the nation drops any lingering cynicism and truly embraces the Games.It was the most obvious manifestation in London to date of the sometimes uneasy, but ultimately profitable, mix of heady Olympic ideals and hard-nosed commercialism that has turned the modern Games into the globe-straddling event that it is.The genius of the International Olympic Committee’s commercial growth since the Los Angeles Games of 1984 has been to rake in huge sums from sponsors while enforcing very strict rules on how they can use the rights.As one of the very few events that the IOC allows them to overtly brand, the torch relay is where that symbiotic relationship – the organising committee Locog needs the sponsors to contribute £700m towards its £2bn budget, the sponsors want to extract every last drop of value out of their huge investment – becomes clearest.So it was that Coe began his press conference invoking the loftiest of Olympic ideals and ended it defending the involvement of Coke and answering questions on how many fizzy drinks his children guzzled.In common with their wider activity to date surrounding the London Games – which has tended to focus on warm and fuzzy corporate social responsibility activity rather than overt branding – all three sponsors have bought into the idea of using the relay as a means to run campaigns offering worthy members of the public the opportunity to claim their own slice of Olympic history and run a few hundred yards with the torch.A Locog team has spent two years painstakingly researching the 8,000-mile route and negotiating with local authorities. They hope that when the relay hits town, backed by wall-to-wall coverage from local media who will concentrate on the rich back stories of those running and the celebratory event that will take place every night (something between a Radio 1 roadshow and a county fair sponsored by multinationals, by the sound of things) Olympic fever will take hold up and down the country.Whether they succeed will depend to a large extent on those sponsors. If they get it right, Locog, the brands and the public will benefit. Get it wrong, and it could dent public enthusiasm.Sally Hancock, head of 2012 at Lloyds TSB, argued at the launch that in many ways the Olympics couldn’t have come at a better time for her company. Struggling to repair public trust and negotiating the internal challenge of merging two huge banks, the opportunity to create a feelgood factor around an event that is at once local and national in scale could be a huge one.But if the public is turned off and fails to buy into the concept – Locog has promised half the runners will be between 12 and 24 and 90% will be ordinary members of the public, to be nominated through four separate campaigns by the organisers and the sponsors– then it will feel like a long 8,000 miles.Locog will also have to get the balance right between safety and celebration. The defining public image of the Beijing international torch tour, which caused the IOC to turn it into a domestic event confined to the host country, was of a scrum of security guards bludgeoning their way through human rights protesters as bussed-in supporters of the Chinese government looked on.The UK’s experience will be becalmed by comparison. But Coe – who has often described Britain as a “slow-burn nation” that will take time to reach fever pitch over the Olympics – knows more than anyone how crucial it is that the relay is the moment at which the flame ignites that enthusiasm.And by the time the torch reaches the Olympic stadium, the eyes of the world will be on it. Which raises three obvious questions: Who will light the cauldron? How? And where will it be (there is still debate within Locog about whether it should be in the stadium, on top of it or on some sort of structure nearby)?The most memorable final torchbearers – Muhammad Ali in Atlanta, Cathy Freeman in Sydney – have held resonance beyond merely their status as sporting heroes in their home country. And the more spectacular the method of lighting the cauldron (the archer in Barcelona, the flying Beijing gymnast), the greater the risk of global humiliation.The task for Danny Boyle, the Trainspotting director already planning the opening ceremony in an east London warehouse, will be to come up with something to top what has gone before. Bookmakers immediately installed Sir Steve Redgrave as favourite, but will the emphasis on youth that characterised the bid promises lead organisers to a younger face? Coe, who might have been a leading contender were he not already so intimately involved with the staging of the Games, has already ruled himself out. guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010Published via the Guardian News Feed plugin for WordPress.Thanks for subscribing to Andy Roberts blogThe London 2012 torch mixes the Olympian and the corporateRelated posts:London Olympics organisers appeal to protesters not to disrupt flame routeLondon 2012 Olympics countdown clock stopsLondon 2012: Ten best of the web

  

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  May 19 2011, 5:24am | Comments »

• I posted to distributedresearch.net

  London Olympics organisers appeal to protesters not to disrupt flame route

  http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/05/18/london-olympics-organisers-appeal-to-protesters-not-to-disrupt-flame-route

  Lord Coe says he is confident balance can be struck between security and celebration as he unveils locations of the Olmpic torch’s 70-day journey around the UK to herald the start of the London 2012 Olympic Games.This article titled “London Olympics organisers appeal to protesters not to disrupt flame route” was written by Owen Gibson, sports news correspondent, for The Guardian on Wednesday 18th May 2011 16.03 UTCLondon 2012 organisers called on protest groups not to disrupt the 8,000-mile journey of the Olympic flame around the UK, after unveiling its route for the first time.Lord Coe, chairman of the London organising committee of the Olympic Games (Locog), said he was confident the balance could be struck between guaranteeing the safety of the 8,000 torchbearers and ensuring a celebratory atmosphere.“We will make sure that the torch flame gets around the UK in the safest and most secure way, but at the same time we want communities to celebrate it and not [put it] behind a cordon of steel. I think we’ll get the balance right,” he said.He appealed to protest groups not to target the route of the torch, which according to tradition will be lit on Mount Olympus before beginning its journey around the UK at Land’s End on 18 May next year.“This is friendship, this is respect, this is showcasing extraordinary talent in local communities. I really don’t sit here thinking this will be a catalyst for massive demonstrations. I think people get this,” he said.The Beijing torch relay in 2008, the last that ventured beyond the borders of the host country before the International Olympic Committee (IOC) changed its policy, was chiefly remembered for protests and heavy-handed security. In Vancouver, protesters disrupted the last few days of the event, sparking counter-demonstrations from those supporting it.Coe, unveiling the first 74 locations on the torch’s 70-day tour of the UK, said the relay would be vital in igniting enthusiasm for the London Games beyond the capital and insisted that it would not be a giant marketing exercise for sponsors.“I am proud and excited as I envisage the moment that really marks the start of our Olympic celebrations in the UK and far beyond,” said Coe, who ran with the torch ahead of the Vancouver Games.“As it made its way around Canada, it drew renewable power from every community it passed through. As it made its journey across that huge land mass, Vancouver’s Games became Canada’s Games.“That is London 2012′s intention too. Ours will be a Games that takes place on your doorstep.”The 8,000 torchbearer places are divided between Locog and the three “presenting partners” – Coca-Cola, Lloyds TSB and Samsung – who will help fund the events that will take place at each overnight stop.As the only part of the Olympics that can be branded, it is likely the sponsors will have a heavy presence but, like Locog, they have promised to make the vast majority of their torchbearer places available to members of the public.Coe said more than 90% of places would be taken by the public, with half of the torchbearers aged between 12 and 24.Locog has already launched its own nominations campaign, inviting the public to put forward members of their community with inspiring stories.The sponsors will take a similar approach in distributing the tickets to the public and staff. The cast of public torchbearers is likely to be augmented by athletes and celebrities.The announcement has also sparked speculation about the likely identity of the final torchbearer who will light the cauldron in the Olympic stadium at the climax of the opening ceremony, with bookmakers installing Sir Steve Redgrave as favourite.The final route will take the torch to within an hour of 95% of the population across England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and six outlying islands. It will visit the Isle of Man, Guernsey, Jersey, Shetland, Orkney and the Isle of Lewis. Coe said Locog was also in advanced talks to take the torch to Dublin.British IOC member Sir Craig Reedie said the route would also pass UK sporting landmarks including Wimbledon, Old Trafford, St Andrew’s and Much Wenlock in Shropshire, the birthplace of the modern Olympics.The event will also be crucial to the cash-strapped British Olympic Association. Under the terms of its recent settlement with Locog after it backed down in a row over the division of any surplus from the Games, it will receive the royalties to two branded items of Olympic merchandise.In Vancouver, more than 3.5m pairs of red mittens were sold to those who lined the route to raise money for Canadian sport. The BOA will unveil its branded merchandise next year. guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010Published via the Guardian News Feed plugin for WordPress.Thanks for subscribing to Andy Roberts blogLondon Olympics organisers appeal to protesters not to disrupt flame routeRelated posts:London Olympic organisers defend ‘peculiar’ ticket payment processLondon 2012 Olympics countdown clock stopsIran claims London 2012 Olympics logo spells ‘Zion’

  

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  May 18 2011, 11:57am | Comments »

• I posted to distributedresearch.net

  London Olympic organisers defend ‘peculiar’ ticket payment process

  http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/05/18/london-olympic-organisers-defend-peculiar-ticket-payment-process

  London Mayor Boris Johnson brands Olympics 2012 ticketing process ‘an oddity’ Locog gives itself until 24 June to inform successful applicantsThis article titled “London Olympic organisers defend ‘peculiar’ ticket payment process” was written by Owen Gibson, for The Guardian on Wednesday 18th May 2011 16.51 UTCLondon Olympic organisers including Lord Coe have been forced to defend their ticketing process in the wake of criticism from consumer groups and after the mayor of London, Boris Johnson, called it “peculiar”.Consumer groups including Which? have criticised the fact that money started coming out of applicant’s accounts this week but Locog has given itself until 24 June to inform them which tickets they have received, if any.Coe denied the policy was an attempt to avoid a scenario where customers may cancel their orders if they had only received tickets for less popular events. He argued instead it was an attempt to create the breathing space to solve any problems with payments.“The important thing here is, let’s not be coy or naive about, we want to make sure that people have the funds to be able to do this. We’re talking £500m here, this is not chopped liver,” said Coe. “We want to make sure people have funds available. In the event they don’t, we don’t want to rip up that application on the first day.”Which? has said the ordering process forced people to take “a gamble with their finances”. Johnson told a parliamentary committee that taking payment before emailing successful applicants was “a bit peculiar” and “an administrative oddity”, though he added it was “not the end of the world”.Locog’s head of ticketing, Paul Williamson, said up to 25% of ticket payments may not go through first time due to lost cards, technical problems or because there were insufficient funds, adding an extra layer of complexity to a system that had 6.6 million tickets on sale across 648 sessions at five price points and numerous venues. He said the ticketing process had been well trailed and that he had no regrets about the strategy.“We can’t tell people what tickets they’ve got until we’ve charged their card. We need to make sure it’s a fully paid for order before we inform people. That’s sensible business practice,” said Williamson. “The second reason is the sheer scale of this enterprise. More than 1.8 million applied and more than 20 million tickets were applied for. The sheer scale of it is why it takes time. If we told people the day after their credit card went through, we’d be telling people across three or four weeks. You might be told and your next door neighbour wouldn’t.”He said that by the middle of next week Locog expected to have charged well over half of all payments. The emails to inform applicants whether they were successful will all go out on the same day.“We’re trying to be fair to people. No one is going to be allocated a ticket they haven’t applied for. On average, people have applied for 12 tickets worth a total of £500. People are applying for tickets they’ve chosen,” said Williamson.He also defended the fact that Locog has not informed buyers where they will be sitting, effectively asking them to take on trust that more expensive tickets will have better views.“The higher price points are closer to the action and more central, the lower price points are further away and higher up. That’s quite normal in major events where you’re selling tickets a year beforehand,” said Williamson, drawing comparison with other events such as Wimbledon and the FA Cup final that sold tickets in price bands.In June, anyone who didn’t get any tickets at all will get “first bite at the second chance cherry”, said Williamson, followed by those who didn’t get everything they applied for. All the remaining tickets will go back on general sale in November. guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010Published via the Guardian News Feed plugin for WordPress.Thanks for subscribing to Andy Roberts blogLondon Olympic organisers defend ‘peculiar’ ticket payment processRelated posts:London Olympics organisers appeal to protesters not to disrupt flame routeWill the 2012 Olympics be a sell out?London 2012: Ten best of the web

  

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  May 18 2011, 11:55am | Comments »

• I posted to distributedresearch.net

  Is the Olympics skills legacy on track?

  http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/05/05/is-the-olympics-skills-legacy-on-track

  Voluntary sector organisations in the capital have expressed concerns about local peoples’ ability to secure jobs during and after the London 2012 Olympic Games

  This article titled “Is the Olympics skills legacy on track?” was written by Dave Hill, for guardian.co.uk on Thursday 5th May 2011 15.59 UTC I’ve been doing a bit of homework for a forthcoming Guardian podcast and found two things I’d like to share. First, the fun thing. That was from last September. The Games Makers programme is now at the selection phase, with successful applicants being measured up for different roles. But what will it contribute to the long term regeneration of East London which is, of course, the ultimate objective of the great Olympics adventure? How about the complementary London Ambassadors scheme and the Personal Best initiative, which was designed to prepare the long-term unemployed for securing some of the Games’s 70,000 volunteer roles and beyond that “encourage 20,000 people into work”? What about local peoples’ hopes of securing the new jobs in the pipeline at Stratford City? This brings me to the second thing. It’s less fun than Eddie Izzard but still deserves your attention. In February, the London Assembly’s economic development committee heard from guests who are closely involved with ensuring that East Londoners are equipped not only to take advantage of the employment and skills opportunities that the Games will provide, but also to use them to secure jobs and careers in the regeneration years to come. I’ve picked out a few quotes from the transcript of the meeting. First, a word of warning from Jonny Boux, the head of employment and training at the East London charity Community Links: [This] is a once in a lifetime opportunity for people in East London and I think there is a real danger that the focus, in terms of sustainability and longer term opportunity is lost…our experience tends to be, we are hearing a lot around the wonderful short-term opportunities…and the fact that people may find work for a month, but there are no guarantees beyond that.

  Next up, Kerry Tweed, Director of Greater London Volunteering on the Personal Best scheme: The problem is that Personal Best is effectively finished now in London. I have not heard about any evaluation or any further work that might be possible to do with the around 4,000 people who have been through the programme to work with the training that they have been provided with to work with employers to see how that is transferable for them, to offer further support and training to move the participants closer towards work. The last stats that I had from Personal Best was that actually the biggest outcome for␣most people was they went on to further volunteering. Clearly, they need a bit more time to develop their skills, their confidence and their employability.

  Committee chair Len Duvall asked about “barriers that may prevent long-term unemployed Londoners taking advantage of the Games Time opportunity.” Jonny Boux answered first: One of the main barriers is a lack of skills, particularly around some things you need for particular jobs, and also life skills is an important factor. One of the things that, particularly, our long-term unemployed people face is often a difficulty around reliability and low confidence. There is often a lack of motivation as well; it is what we call, broadly, life skills. Then, I guess, multiple barriers which can be anything from major housing issues to difficult family circumstances and financial pressures. Many people we support are heavily in debt.

  Then, Lindsey Donoghue the Employment Manager of the Bromley-by-Bow Centre said: I would echo everything that Jonny said. Obviously some of the roles are quite short-term and that is an issue for some people in terms of them having been on benefits for quite a long time and feeling comfortable on those or perhaps feeling that coming off them might be a risk and feeling unwilling to do so for a short period of time. Also, doing roles like that they would need to arrange things like childcare; a lot of the people that we work with are parents. So, again, a short time role is difficult for them because they need to arrange childcare for that. Something that we have seen in our community is␣a␣sense of, “Well, it’s␣not really for me”. We have perhaps seen a limited number of people go into roles in the Olympics so far and because of that people sort of feel, “Well, maybe it is happening separately to me or it is not something that is necessarily part of our community”.

  And here’s quite a striking speech by Roger Taylor, Director of the Olympic Host Boroughs Unit. If you asked anybody in the host boroughs what they felt about legacy, they would say that there is an ever-present danger that legacy becomes conflated exclusively with what happens during the Games and what happens on the comparatively limited, although very important, opportunities that will follow on on the Olympic Park. We feel it is terribly important to constantly remind somebody of what the bid promise was: the most enduring legacy of the Olympics will be the regeneration of an entire community for the direct benefit of everyone who lives there, and also to link that with the sheer scale of the opportunity that inner East London has within its grasp over the next 20 years. We are not just talking about the Olympic Park, we are not just talking about Westfield and Stratford City, although we think that is actually a pretty successful model largely down to people like Newham and Westfield themselves. We are also talking about the already-given planning approval effectively to double the size of Canary Wharf, and the very, very significant developments that we still expect to take place in the Royal docks and on the Woolwich and Greenwich waterfronts. Essentially, if anything I think the Mayor’s promise about 70,000 jobs is an understatement of what over the next 20 years is likely to be an opportunity in East London. The question then is whether or not we have got a sufficiently strong and clear vision to be able to ensure how that opportunity relates to the people in the communities in East London. I think that is where the really challenging questions lie.

  On this evidence, I’d say that there’s plenty of work still to be done if a really impressive skills and employment legacy is to be delivered for East London in particular. Something for the Mayor to get a good, firm grip on.

  guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 Published via the Guardian News Feed plugin for WordPress.

  Thanks for subscribing to Andy Roberts blogIs the Olympics skills legacy on track?

  Related posts:Iran claims London 2012 Olympics logo spells ‘Zion’ London’s 2012 Olympics must be a ‘regeneration games’ London 2012 Olympics countdown clock stops

  

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  May 5 2011, 12:56pm | Comments »

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  Health agency issues Olympics emergency warning

  http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/05/05/health-agency-issues-olympics-emergency-warning

  Health Protection Agency says upheaval caused by its abolition could pose ‘extreme risks’ during the London 2012 Olympic Games

  This article titled “Health agency issues Olympics emergency warning” was written by James Meikle and Owen Gibson, for The Guardian on Thursday 5th May 2011 16.30 UTC The NHS’s main public health body says its planned abolition weeks before the 2012 Olympics could compromise emergency responses if there are serious incidents at the games. The Health Protection Agency (HPA) warns the upheaval generated by huge organisational changes across the health service could pose extreme risks when Britain hosts the world’s biggest sporting event next summer. There is “high potential” for funds aimed at protecting the public at the event to be cut, it says. In the past, the risk to public health at the Olympics has come from incidents as diverse as food poisoning and terrorism. The agency is responsible for disease control and monitoring as well as scientific and public health advice during emergencies. Its responsibilities are to be absorbed within the Department of Health. Other authorities which tackle such crises are also in turmoil, with staff leaving primary care trusts well before they are abolished in 2013, while local councils are being hit by spending cuts. Labour has demanded the shakeup should “at the very least” be put on hold until after the London Olympics. Diane Abbott, the shadow health minister, said: “David Cameron seems to be prioritising driving through his NHS reorganisation above public safety during the Olympics. “For this Tory-led government to push our public health services into a state of chaos and abolish the current agency right before London 2012, with people from all over the world arriving in London, and the eyes of the entire world on Britain, is nothing short of a disgrace.” The revelation of the HPA’s concern over the Tories’ NHS plans comes as public health professionals fear their voice is being ignored, even during the government’s two-month listening exercise. They have no members on the Future Forum group overseeing the exercise, headed by GP Steve Field. The timetable for the shakeup has already been hit by the break in the progress of legislation – meaning the first changes are now scheduled for July 2012, the month in which the games begin, instead of April. That shift has led the HPA to say the risk of “compromising” national emergency responses during the Olympics is now even higher than when it first raised the issue in its official response to the shakeup in March. It warned then that there might be “considerable risks to the national capability to launch multi-agency responses to incidents and emergencies”. The agency said the planned changes would create “considerable uncertainty” and “preparation for, and response to, incidents arising in association with the Olympic and Paralypmic Games will be compromised” unless an appropriate structure replaced the current one. In a statement to the Guardian, the agency said: “Deferring the changes to July 2012 would increase the risk. We have made the Department of Health aware of our views concerning the risks in delaying.” It said a small number of its 3,850 staff had already left, citing concerns about the independence of their work and advice if they were moved to the health department. The HPA’s March document states that the move could also undermine wider public and professional confidence. Abbott said: “It is time that this government listened to public health professionals. Alarm bells are now ringing within the Health Protection Agency, local authorities and also local primary care trusts, and increasingly there will also be concern amongst the public. “We have worked hard to bring the Olympic Games to Britain. It should be a time in which we showcase what Britain is about to the rest of the world. The priority should be public safety and ensuring that we are prepared to respond robustly to major incidents and emergencies.” Lindsey Davies, former national director of pandemic influenza preparedness at the Department of Health who is president of the Faculty of Public Health, said: “The entire public health community has grave concerns about the potential risks from the timing of the changes.” Although there have been few major health scares linked to past Olympics, there was a terror attack at the 1972 Munich Olympics and a bombing which killed two people in Atlanta in 1996. A stomach bug struck competitors at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi last year. The agency says the games will raise the risk of diseases spreading due to the influx of international visitors and from mass gatherings in restricted spaces during the games. Early identification will help reduce the risk of widespread exposure and minimise the impact on visitors as well as local communities. Other concerns include heatstroke among crowds. About 300,000 people a day are expected to be in the Olympic Park during the height of the games. The Department of Health said it was working to ensure “business continuity” was maintained during the transition. A team had been established to ensure the the ministry and the NHS is able “to respond to major emergencies continues to be robust and to ensure the requirements of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games are met. Work is under way to test how the proposed new systems would function during the 2012 Games. This work will focus and strengthen safety at the 2012 Games”. It is understood Olympics organisers are aware of the concerns but have not been directly involved in discussions. Thousands of athletes begin arriving in Britain for training camps in the UK in June 2012. The Olympic village opens in mid-July and the games run from 27 July to 12 August 2012. The Paralympics run from the end of August into September. A total of 17,000 athletes and officials from about 200 countries will stay in the village on the Olympic Park, in east London. In total, more than 10,500 athletes will compete in 26 sports based in various venues around the capital and beyond. Sailing will be based in Weymouth and the Olympic football tournament will be played in various grounds around the country. According to the detailed transport plan released last month, the busiest day of the games – Saturday 4 August – will see 700,000 ticket holders moving around London to watch sessions at 11 venues. In all, 8.8m tickets are available for the Games, with 6.6m on sale to the general public. About 20,000 broadcast and print journalists will also descend on London.

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  May 5 2011, 12:51pm | Comments »

• I posted to distributedresearch.net

  I can’t get up worked up about the royal wedding, AV or the Olympics

  http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/04/28/i-cant-get-up-worked-up-about-the-royal-wedding-av-or-the-olympics

  I can’t be bothered to argue with Fielding about the royal wedding, and I asked him about AV but it’s a bit like the Olympic tickets business. It’s into the void with both of them

  This article titled “I can’t get up worked up about the royal wedding, AV or the Olympics” was written by Michele Hanson, for The Guardian on Thursday 28th April 2011 20.01 UTC Three huge events going on and I can’t get worked up about any of them: the wedding, the AV decision and the Olympic ticket deadline. Fielding is fairly ratty about the wedding. “I don’t want to sound like Dave Spart,” says he, “but England is all about class, and they absolutely reinforce it. Do you know they own England?” He’s ashamed that his own mother used to go to Ascot to admire the bonnets of the ruling classes. Yawn. What a spoil-sport he is. At least his mother had a jolly day out, which we’re all trying to have today. And I know this is a fiercely republican newspaper, but Olga and Olivia have met the Queen, and they assure me that after all these years and a squillion handshakes, she’s still perky and amusing. How could one not love the darling creature? Her grandson is perfectly pleasant, the bride seems to want the job, and the costumes and the  horses are heaven. So what is Fielding griping about? I can’t be fagged to argue. I asked him about AV. We both tried to sit up straight and not glaze over, but it’s like the Olympic ticket business. You’re into the void with both of them. You tick your boxes or send your credit card details, and who knows what you’ll get, whether you’ll like it and how much it will cost? Could be the Euro-Sausage Party in charge, or first-round ping-pong, or everything or nothing that you asked for. At least buying Olympic tickets isn’t compulsory, but I suppose we have to vote. People have died so that we can. But which way? We can’t understand it, so Fielding plans to vote Yes, because Osborne is voting No and Eddie Izzard (below) is voting Yes. But that method is flawed. John Prescott and union people are for No, Nigel Farage and Cleggy for Yes. The nice and the nasty people are mixed on both sides. Now down in Dorset, Fielding has gone off to drink ale at a village wedding party. The turncoat. What does it all mean? Don’t know, don’t care.

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  April 28 2011, 3:58pm | Comments »

• I posted to distributedresearch.net

  Olympic Park: name that neighbourhood

  http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/04/19/olympic-park-name-that-neighbourhood

  Some sort of competition for naming the five Olympic villages for the London 2012 Olympic games in Stratford East London.

  This article titled “Olympic Park: name that neighbourhood” was written by Dave Hill, for guardian.co.uk on Tuesday 19th April 2011 09.47 UTC The Olympic Park Legacy Company recently made known four of the entries to its competition to name the five residential areas the park will eventually contain. It says the four are a sample of the “hundreds” it has received, and quite an instructive sample it is. I’m guessing that the suggestion of Plastic Fantastic is aimed at Area 3 and a historical reference to the development of early forms of plastic in the old chemical industry area of Hackney Wick, where dry cleaning too was pioneered. But who would rush to reside in a place called that? Would it assist estate agents in their noble task of wooing purchasers of the mixture of flats and family homes destined to rise alongside the Lea Navigation Canal? Stylish modern living in, ah, Plastic Fantastic? The OPLC’s Duncan Innes anticipates it being “quite a funky little area,” with “lots of arty people living there,” perhaps because the new local industry is galleries. From the commercial point of view, I’d be looking for bog standard pretentiousness in that case. Leaside Quarter? Wick Modern? Old Laundry? The three other suggested names released are Little Athens and Redgravia, whose Olympic inspirations, though ingenious, are perhaps a bit too obvious, and Dog and Bike, which to me sounds like a pub and only a pub. Still, I suppose the efforts made public were chosen to give clues and motivation to other potential competitors rather than on the basis of quality, and they do concentrate the mind on the complexities of the task. It needs to be tackled seriously. The organisers reserve the right to reject all contenders if they don’t think they’re up to scratch and impose their own instead. Should the five neighbourhoods’ names be Games-connected or reflect local history? They can’t really be both. If Games-connected, should they have a British or an international flavour? If localist, how local? And if history is to be the guide, whose history should take priority? That last is, of course, a political question and there was more than a whiff of politics about the decision to elongate the park’s name to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Would such eager deference to royalty have happened under a Labour government and Labour London Mayor? The very Conservative Boris Johnson is plainly pleased with the monarchical association, and it is one that could in theory be extended to the neighbourhood names, giving the whole area a thematic unity. Charles Environs? Middleton Village? On the other hand, perhaps Boris’s predecessor, who played such a big part in securing the Games for the capital, should have a neighbourhood named after him to recognise his contribution? Alas, Kenton and Kensington have already been taken. I’d been interested to hear your suggestions for Olympic Park neighbourhood names, and I’m sure the OPLC would too. Full details of its competition and the five neighbourhoods are here and the BBC, a partner in the enterprise, provides further helpful information here and here. I’ll be away on holiday when this post goes live, which means I’m unlikely to respond to comments. However, I’m sure there will be more to say on this subject before the competition’s closing date of May 18.

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  April 19 2011, 6:36am | Comments »

• I posted to distributedresearch.net

  Olympics 2012: Are there ways to save on tickets?

  http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/04/08/olympics-2012-are-there-ways-to-save-on-tickets

  What’s the best way to get good value Olympics 2012 tickets without breaking the bank?

  This article titled “Olympics 2012: Are there ways to save on tickets?” was written by Jim Griffin, for guardian.co.uk on Friday 8th April 2011 11.07 UTC Every week a Guardian Money reader submits a question, and it’s up to you to help him or her out – a selection of the best answers will appear in next Saturday’s paper.   This week’s question:   My husband is planning to spend more than £1,000 on Olympics tickets, which seems crazy to me. He wants to go for the pricier tickets, as he says the cheap £20 ones will be over-subscribed. Is he right? Any tips I can pass on for reducing his (our) bill?   What are your thoughts?

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  April 8 2011, 6:34am | Comments »

• I posted to distributedresearch.net

  Olympic stadium completed on time

  http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/03/29/olympic-stadium-completed-on-time

  London 2012 Olympic Stadium designers hail ‘the beginning of the end’ of the construction phase as the main arena comes in on schedule and under budget.

  This article titled “Olympic stadium completed on time” was written by Owen Gibson, for The Guardian on Tuesday 29th March 2011 19.51 UTC The designers of the Olympic Stadium in east London have hailed its completion as “the beginning of the end” for the construction phase of the 2012 Games. As International Olympic Committee inspectors arrived in the city for a three-day visit to check on progress, organisers hoped the good news on the completion of the Stratford stadium would overshadow an ongoing row with the British Olympic Association over how any hypothetical profit would be distributed. Lord Coe, the chairman of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games, watched Frankie Fredericks, a four-time Olympic silver medallist, lay the last piece of turf on the infield. The £486m stadium is the second major venue on the Olympic Park to be finished, after the Velodrome was unveiled earlier last month. “I do not want anybody to run away with the idea that this stadium is ready to stage a track-and-field championship tomorrow,” said Coe. “But as a chairman of an organising committee to be able to tick off this venue is terrific. It is fantastic. I think it will be an intimate theatre for sport and it has fantastic legacy potential, too.” Work began on the 80,000-seat stadium in May 2008 and the Olympic Delivery Authority, which is responsible for spending £8.1bn of public money on the infrastructure to host the Games, said its completion was a “huge milestone”. “The Olympic Stadium has been finished on time and under budget,” said ODA chairman John Armitt. “To complete a complicated project such as this in less than three years is testament to the skill and professionalism of the UK construction industry.” Rod Sheard, of stadium architects Populous, said he was looking forward to watching “this innovative design perform for the first time”. He added: “Its completion marks the beginning of the end of the construction phase of London’s Olympic Games.”

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  March 29 2011, 3:35pm | Comments »

• I posted to distributedresearch.net

  London 2012 tickets, Japan appeal and census targeted by scammers

  http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/03/27/london-2012-tickets-japan-appeal-and-census-targeted-by-scammers

  Warnings issued over phoney doorstop callers, fake emails asking for money and too-good-to-be-true London 2012 Olympic tickets

  This article titled “London 2012 tickets, Japan appeal and census targeted by scammers” was written by Jill Insley, for The Observer on Sunday 27th March 2011 00.05 UTC Bogus doorstep callers have been posing as census collectors to try to get into people’s homes – and householders are being warned to be on their guard for fraudsters after today’s deadline for filling in the form. Following an attempt by a fraudster purporting to be a census official from the county council to get into an elderly man’s home in Leicestershire, the Local Government Association has urged people to be vigilant. Paul Bettison, the chairman of local government regulation, said: “Fraudsters are known to take advantage of any situation. If they can make money from it, then they will give it a go. “People visiting a household for official business should be able to provide photographic identification and unless that is the case, nobody should allow anyone access to their property.” Official census collectors will, from 6 April, visit a small number of households that have failed to complete the census – which can be returned in a pre-paid envelope or filled in online – but they will provide identification. Anyone who thinks they have been targeted by a bogus caller should call the census helpline on 0300 0201 101. Fraudsters have also been trying to scam money out of people wanting to donate cash to the Japan Tsunami Appeal. A spokesman for the Red Cross said: “There are some fraudulent emails circulating claiming to be raising money for the Japan Tsunami Appeal. These may request that you donate through companies like Western Union or Money Bookers, which we would never do. If you suspect an email is fraudulent, do not open attachments or click on links. “In addition to this we have also received reports of people requesting money over the phone, or cash on the doorstep. Although the British Red Cross does undertake both street and telephone fundraising, our calls are for regular commitment by direct debit and not for donations by cash or credit card.” An email forwarded to the Observer includes a donation form requesting details that including the donor’s credit card details, their mother’s maiden name, driver’s licence or passport details, and Verified by Visa password. Mark South, a spokesman for the Red Cross, confirmed the email was fake and added that people wanting to donate money to Japan should ensure they never divulge their personal details to an unknown source. Donors should only give through trusted channels, such as the Red Cross website or via the British Red Cross hotline on 08450 53 53 53. All British Red Cross marketing email addresses end @mail.redcross.org.uk, and the charity does not use general email providers such as BT Internet or Gmail to solicit donations. Anyone suspicious of an email they have received should contact the British Red Cross supporter care team on 0844 87 100 87 or at supportercare@redcross.org.uk. The 2012 Olympics have also proved a temptation for fraudsters who have set up websites to act as fake or unauthorised ticket outlets for the games. The official Olympic website – http://www.london2012.com – includes a tool that will check if a website is a genuine outlet, plus a list of known unauthorised websites claiming to offer London 2012 tickets. These include genuine-sounding names like http://www.london-olympics-tickets.org.uk and http://www.london-2012-games.com/2012-olympics-tickets – two sites that are defunct or look like they have been abandoned. However, other fake or unauthorised sites are still live, including http://www.londonolympicstickets.com and http://www.2010olympictickets.net. Real tickets will carry the name of the purchaser, and it is illegal to sell them on through auction sites such as eBay or to ticket resale sites. Those who buy legitimate tickets but can’t go to the event will be able to resell through an official resale exchange: this will launch early in 2012 before tickets are sent out, and will set prices at the tickets’ face value. But, a spokesman for London 2012 admitted, many people will have had tickets bought on their behalf and while spot checks may be carried out, only those with cancelled or fake tickets are likely to be turned away from events. He said it would be impossible to check whether all tickets are being used by the original purchasers and their friends and families as 8.8m tickets will be issued for events at 34 venues over 16 days. “We’re more interested in protecting people from losing their money through the purchase of fake tickets,” he added. Michael Norton, the managing director of PayPoint.net, said: “We expect fraud levels to increase dramatically following the passing of the ticket application deadline on 26 April. Opportunistic fraudsters will be looking to take advantage of those unlucky consumers not able to get tickets for some of the most oversubscribed events.” Tickets may only be bought using a Visa debit, credit or pre-paid card, which enable consumers to claim all their money back if they do fall into the trap of buying fake tickets. Norton said ticketholders should check the London 2012 site for a list of the official sales channels, research the true cost of tickets and not be lulled into a false sense of security by a well-designed site – some of the fake ones look very legitimate. He added that they should print out or take a copy of all sellers’ details, including the terms of the ticket purchase, full contact information for the ticket seller, and any published criteria about ticket location and likely delivery date. This will let them pursue any issue with the order even if the seller website changes and will support any future credit card chargeback.

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  March 27 2011, 10:00am | Comments »

• I posted to distributedresearch.net

  Millions will watch as Boat Race is re-branded as ‘world-class event’

  http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/03/25/millions-will-watch-as-boat-race-is-re-branded-as-world-class-event

  The 157th Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race will be shown in more than 200 countries and it’s one of the top 10 annual events in London

  This article titled “Millions will watch as Boat Race is re-branded as ‘world-class event’” was written by Barney Ronay, for The Guardian on Friday 25th March 2011 20.38 UTC In terms of sheer weight of numbers, the biggest attraction of a busy sporting Saturday takes place tomorrow afternoon, not in Cardiff or Colombo, but on a suburban stretch of the River Thames between Putney and Mortlake. The 157th Varsity Boat Race, an event competed for by amateurs at several rungs below world class level, will once again attract six million UK TV viewers, with 250,000 watching from the river bank and a further multitude tuning in via BBC website streaming and TV coverage in over 200 countries. At last week’s weigh-in at City Hall the London mayor Boris Johnson described the student race as “a world-class sporting event that is huge for London”. He seems to be at least half right. Part nostalgia pageant, part emerging talent showcase, the Boat Race has in the last two years made a visible effort to reposition itself as a high-end London heritage event. Selling it has been the lot of Boat Race Ltd, the company responsible for dragging this unique sporting “property” — an unavoidably class-bound two-horse race — into the modern world of high-end revenue raking. “It really is a part of London’s history,” says David Searle, the company’s executive director. “The mayor has been incredibly supportive. He’s there to promote London as a centre of all things and the Boat Race is considered one of the top 10 annual events in London.” Menaced by the loss of its ITV rights deal two years ago, the race has since promoted itself aggressively and is now brought to you by title sponsor Xchanging, plus a slew of commercial partners. Despite all of this Boat Race Ltd maintain the race is still financially under-geared. “Running it is very expensive,” Searle says. “We pay the clubs [Oxford and Cambridge] to turn up and row. That’s very expensive. There’s travel and coaching for teams. We don’t get any money at all from the colleges.” If the Boat Race has perhaps been more energetically sold, paradoxically today’s race is one of the more parochial of recent years. The race is often maligned as a sub-standard event. This is perhaps unfair: with the national squads yet to be formed, and thanks to the unusual intensity of Varsity race training, these are still currently the two finest eights in the country. On the other hand, with London 2012 now officially looming the pool of available talent is at a four yearly low. Currently the priority for potential Olympians is national competition. Hence the unusual absence of jobbing overseas rowers in today’s field; 13 out of the 18 competitors are British with just one American. On the plus side both of today’s eights are unusually well-stocked with young British talent, including six undergraduates whose chief rowing experience has come through their colleges. Cambridge are fancied by many to repeat last year’s triumph. They are the heavier eight, by 13 kilos, and also the more experienced, with four previous rowing Blues. But even in the light blue boat there is a fresh-faced tinge. Cambridge’s Dan Rix-Standing didn’t even try out for the race last year. There is also undergraduate colour: David Nelson, an Australian economics student, likes to hunt crocodiles in his spare time back home in Brisbane. In the Oxford boat the teenage old Etonian Constantine Louloudis is flagged up as one to watch. Dark Blue cox Simon Hislop, a 26-year-old testicular cancer survivor and a campaigner for awareness of the disease provides the most heartening story of a race that, true to its own branding as an annual rite of spring, seems set to take place on an unusually placid River Thames.

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  March 25 2011, 4:46pm | Comments »

• I posted to distributedresearch.net

  Golden rower Tom James forces his way back into Olympic reckoning

  http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/03/25/rower-tomjames-olympicgames-boatrace

  A Welshman Tom James heads the British squad‘s internal rankings for the  boat race at the London 2012 Olympic games.

  This article titled “Golden rower Tom James forces his way back into Olympic reckoning” was written by Martin Cross, for The Guardian on Wednesday 16th March 2011 15.33 UTC Tom James, one of the men who took a fours gold medal in Beijing, has made a dramatic return to the sport by heading the rankings of the British squad’s internal races, held last weekend. The Welshmen took a year out after Beijing 2008 and missed the 2010 season after an operation for a back injury. But the 27-year-old, who is still intent on forcing his way into the team’s top boat in 2012, surprised with his performance. On this form, it is likely that James could have a major influence on the shape of the British Olympic team. James will now be teamed up with Alex Gregory, a former fours world champion, who also came well in well in the internal series of races. Remarkably, though the two men have not raced together before, they share the same age and birthday. Britain’s chief coach, Jürgen Gröbler, will be hoping that this new combination will have enough synchronicity and dynamism to challenge his top pair of Andrew Triggs-Hodge and Peter Reed – who were told by Gröbler to sit out the trials. But despite being the anchor men of the British squad, since 2004, Triggs-Hodge and Reed – also Olympic champions – have recently suffered 12 straight defeats at the hands of New Zealand’s top pair. Now, Gröbler will hope that the new partnership of James and Gregory may just be the combination, either to beat Triggs-Hodge and Reed or push them hard enough to help them find more speed for the 2011 season. The 38-year-old Greg Searle is also a man in search of more speed. The Barcelona Olympic champion wants a second gold in 2012 but found the pace tough last weekend. While his physiology is still developing well, Searle knows he must be fully focused on delivering a better result in the next crucial trials race, now just four weeks away.

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  March 25 2011, 3:37pm | Comments »

• I posted to distributedresearch.net

  London 2012: Ten best of the web

  http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/03/25/london-2012-ten-best-of-the-web

  Lots of sites about London 2012 Olympics tickets including Oscar Pistorius, ticketing guides and Visa’s new Olympics ad

  This article titled “London 2012: Ten best of the web” was written by Steve Busfield, for guardian.co.uk on Friday 25th March 2011 12.52 UTC 490 days to go As promised, here is this week’s selection of the best London 2012 Olympics content on the web (please add links below the line or send via email or Twitter. 1. Top 10 Olympic travel tips from Diamon Geezer. He also has a pretty good ticket guide (Via Owen Gibson) 2. There’s an (unofficial) app for that. 3. Visa has a London 2012 ad featuring plenty of Olympic stars. Eat your heart out Mastercard. Oliver Holt in the Mirror had this to say about it. (Via Penny Woods) 4. Worried about staying in London during the Games? Matt Beard of the London Evening Standard reports: “Top hotel chains in crisis talks with 2012 Olympics organisers over ‘rip-off’ re-sale packages.” 5. Have you looked at the terms and conditions of Olympic Tickets? Nick Pearce did and here’s what he found. 6. Oscar Pistorius’ dream of running in theOlympic Games at London 2012 moved a step closer when the South African set a new personal best, just 0.06 seconds short of the ‘A’ standard needed for automatic Olympic qualification, reports the BBC. 7. Want to know more about the BOA v Locog row? This piece by Alan Hubbard uses boxing metaphors to explain. (Via Owen Gibson again) 8. The mountain-biking arena is ready. 9. Should handball be an Olympic sport? There was a brief but entertaining below the line debate on our Watching The Games series. 10. For 2012 refuseniks, here’s an apposite cartoon from the Daily Telegraph’s Matt. (Via Chei Amlani) Please share your thoughts or more links below the line or send via email or Twitter.

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  March 25 2011, 8:31am | Comments »

• I posted to distributedresearch.net

  Will the 2012 Olympics be a sell out?

  http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/03/24/will-the-2012-olympics-be-a-sell-out

  Now the London 2012 Olympic Games tickets have been on sale for a week, the success of the event in London will be determined by the sports fans.

  This article titled “Will the 2012 Olympics be a sell out?” was written by Owen Gibson, for guardian.co.uk on Thursday 24th March 2011 11.21 UTC It is an extraordinary ticketing process in more ways than one. Ten days into the application process for 6.6m of the 8.8m tickets to the biggest sporting event ever to hit these shores and it remains hard to precisely calibrate the level of enthusiasm for being there. The keenest have constructed elaborate spreadsheets and affixed colour coded Post-it notes to their already dog eared Guardian guides as they try and spread their bets between events they are desperate to see and their chances of getting the hottest tickets (opening and closing ceremonies, velodrome, evening athletics sessions among them). For others, next August still feels like a long way away – particularly if there are more pressing financial concerns. My barber reckons he’ll leave it until closer to the time and see what’s left, our childminder has become so used to picking up tickets at the last minute from eBay or Viagogo that she too can’t see the point in shelling out more than a year before the Games. For some football fans, there’s the annual debate about whether to renew their season ticket to be had first, for others a discussion about whether to forego the family holiday in favour of the Games. The fact that Locog has promised a ticket resale system has perhaps encouraged those inclined to wait it out. Locog has successfully communicated the “marathon not a sprint” message to avoid a rush on the first day that applications opened – but could be a victim of its own success if people translate that as a signal not to hurry at all. Expect the reminders about this being the best chance to secure tickets for the events you really want to see to increase in frequency as the closing date on April 26 approaches. For the media too, there seems to be uncertainty about how to judge success. The usual media narrative around the sale of tickets for big events (Glastonbury, Take That, Champions League final) runs like this: huge hype around the onsale date, followed by a mad rush, creaking technology and a spate of stories about tickets being sold for exhorbitant sums and online scams. Because this process is so different, we have instead already seen the first stories hinting that sales have been “steady” rather than spectacular. In truth, it is hard to criticise Locog for doing exactly what they said they would do – give people time to find their way through a complex process. During this period of stasis, Locog – which can monitor what registered users are doing – believes many people are still calculating their options and trying different combinations of tickets in their online shopping baskets before hitting the buy button. Such is the scale of the task – 645 sessions across 26 sports at five main price points – that it was never going to be simple. Locog deserves huge credit for thinking long and hard about how to balance the need to raise the £2bn required to stage the Games with its promise to make it as accessible as possible. The eye watering prices for the most expensive (including that £2012 opening ceremony ticket) were justified on the basis that it was better for that money to flow to Locog, where it could subsidise cheaper price points, than touts who would mark them up anyway. But even given the number of £20 tickets (2.5m), the pay your age scheme, the concessions for over 60s and the free tickets for some school kids there is no getting away from the fact that the sums involved soon add up – particularly if you are buying for a whole family, and particularly if you are coming from outside London. There are already some grumbles about the high prices of the packages being sold through Thomas Cook and for all the entreaties from Locog and the Mayor to the hotel industry, staying in London during the Games was never going to be cheap. Which? has also raised concerns about the fact that money could come out of ticket buyers accounts on May 10 but it could be as late as June 24 before they are told which tickets they have. For most, it is likely to be a big outlay in one go. And while some have alighted upon the solution of applying for a Visa card with an interest free period to spread the cost, it is something of a surprise that Locog have not put in a place a more formal scheme to pay in installments. While reluctant to go into detail about levels of demand for individual sports and sessions, organisers say they are pleased with the level of steady engagement and that the spikes of demand are largely where you would expect them to be. Sports that are less familiar, but on the Olympic Park, are unlikely to prove too difficult to shift as people look for a relatively cost effective way of grabbing a slice of the atmosphere. More problematic could be the events at the cavernous Excel. And there must be a nagging fear that the there is a band of mid range tickets – those around £300 that are not the prized blue riband ones that people will want at all costs, nor the relatively cheap ones that will give you a slice of the experience – that will prove most difficult to shift. Somewhat ironically, given the extent to which it dominates media coverage and conversation in this country, football is likely to give organisers the biggest headache. With more than a million tickets to sell to a population who perhaps see the Olympics as an antidote to football’s dominance for the rest of the sporting calendar, just a few weeks after Euro 2012, it is a big ask. Bear in mind too that the Olympics (under 23 with a handful of over age players) is not the pinnacle of achievement as it is for most other sports, while the political issues surrounding the British team appear endlessly intractable. And while 2012 represents a huge opportunity for women’s football in this country if organisers can fill the Ricoh Stadium in Coventry or St James’ Park to see, say the Japanese women’s team take on the Swedes on a night when Team GB is going for gold elsewhere the Locog marketing and ticketing gurus will deserve every one of the plaudits that will flow their way. Locog chief executive Paul Deighton has set a high bar by promising to marry an electric atmosphere with full stands in all venues, while selling out all tickets. It is something that has never been achieved in recent Games. He has the British love of sport and major events of any kind on his side. But our natural cynicism and tendency to wait until the last minute might yet leave him with some nervous moments.

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  March 24 2011, 1:28pm | Comments »

• I posted to distributedresearch.net

  Who will live in the Olympic Park homes?

  http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/03/23/who-will-live-in-the-olympic-park-homes

  Dave Hill wonders if  the Olympic Park‘s post-Games vision really can be translated into reality.

  This article titled “Who will live in the Olympic Park homes?” was written by Dave Hill, for guardian.co.uk on Tuesday 22nd March 2011 10.39 UTC First, lap up a projection of the Olympic Park’s future. That’s the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, to give it it’s full handle – a place of graceful living in stylish family homes amid world class sporting facilities, giant visitor attractions and rather large butterflies. Behold. Appetising, isn’t it? Speaking at the unveiling of the revised park masterplan last October, Boris Johnson declared: Not since Georgian England has London seen such an ambitious and comprehensive vision for a new district. Our plans seek to combine the classical best of this city with the greatest benefits of modern urban living. But who will actually live in this promised paradise? How many of its inhabitants will be drawn from that rather large pool of Londoners on low or even average incomes who find the bulk of the capital’s housing stock beyond their means? There are signs that the percentage could be rather small. The masterplan makes provision for only 35 percent of the 11,000 homes the park is anticipated to eventually contain being “affordable”. And that term “affordable” is a stretchy one. It accommodates everything from homes let by housing associations for subsidised “social rents” to “intermediate” range properties that households with quite large, middle-class earnings can part-purchase through schemes designed to help people onto London’s ludicrously steep housing ladder. Soon “affordable” will demonstrate still greater elasticity. Next month Mayor Johnson will bring into effect his First Steps policy programme, making “intermediate” schemes available to family households with incomes as high as £74,000 a year – rather more than a member of parliament is paid – compared with the present £60,000. (See policy 1.2C on page 22 of his London Housing Strategy). Meanwhile, the government is preparing to bring in what it calls its new “affordable rent” model, which will underpin the finances of housing associations. This will require the introduction of housing association rents at a level of “up to 80% of gross market rents” in the area concerned – a figure far higher than the highest at present. At last week’s London Assembly plenary Margaret Ford, the Olympic Park Legacy Company’s chair, candidly acknowledged that she and colleagues were still trying to work through its implications for their housing plans. These could be far-reaching, especially in light of the government’s forthcoming capping of housing and other welfare benefits. Rents set at 80 percent of local private sector levels look likely to be beyond the reach of many families in the greatest need of the sorts of homes Boris and OPLC want to see built in large numbers on the park. Is that what London’s Mayor wants? You can read much more about that ideal future of the park on the OPLC’s website. It will have its own, brand new postcode – London E20 – and bear the hopes of many that it will succeed where so many regeneration schemes have failed in the past. Although its completion is a long way off, the process of translating that “comprehensive vision” into reality is already underway. More than half of the 2,800 future homes presently comprising the athletes’ Olympic Village have already been sold with nine developers shortlisted to buy the rest. Bids have been invited to build the first 800 post-Games homes in one of the five new neighbourhoods set out in the masterplan. Will the end results resemble those vibrant, mixed communities of regeneration cliche or a rather less attractive legacy – one that benefits the affluent and wealthy investors from which ordinary working and struggling Londoners are all but priced out?

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  March 23 2011, 3:09pm | Comments »

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