The Olympics are if anything about elitism, winning, high standards, self discipline, determination and never giving up in the face of adversity, picking yourself up and trying again after ‘failing’ the first time…it is also about national pride and honour, pride that some one from your part of the world succeeds.
Everything in fact that the BBC and the Left abhor and endlessly rail against in a never ending stream of broadcasts and Guardian articles….the Leftist policies being “flawed ideological policies” which were “creating a lost generation of children and young people and plunging millions into poverty”.
Happily for many in the BBC and Guardian this is just another chance to add to the barrage of attacks against the ‘rich and privileged’…never mind that it is pretty much a kick in the teeth for many of those athletes and medal winners whose success is, if anything, down to raw talent combined with massive amounts of hard work and determination…now they’re being told ‘You only won because you’re rich’….regardless that their parents probably made huge personal financial sacrifices to get them to that success…..and no doubt rubbed shoulders at PTA meetings with the very same Lefty people who are squealing about people buying success but whose kids all want to be in the ‘media’ like mummy and daddy….and usually get there according to a recent survey which stated the media is dominated by privately educated people.
All those 5Live presenters and reporters so enthusiastically waving the flag and jumping for joy every time ‘Britain’ wins a medal will go back to their day jobs and the relentless drone about how there is no such thing as Britishness or Britain…we are so diverse that there can be no overarching unifying culture or ideology…can there?
They will go back to demanding that the middle classes be prevented from having a ‘stranglehold’ on education…rather than celebrating the fact that at least some in society value and ’embrace’ education.
They will applaud schools that hand out prizes for everyone and never allow anyone to ‘win’..because then there would be ‘losers’.
The BBC have reported with a straight face Moynihan’s ‘demand’ that Jeremy Hunt reverse his ‘damaging’ school sport policies, whatever they are, and start pumping more money into state school sports.
Not a blush from the BBC as it fails to mention the Lefties drive to eradicate competition and ‘elitism’ in both the academic and sports arenas.
The BBC raises the question why are so many ‘winners’ coming from private education….the question should be why aren’t they coming from the State Schools in such numbers? See above for the answer.
It cannot be lack of money…billions are thrown into the State system….pupils don’t get much less spent on them per head than in many private schools….Teachers get paid very good salaries.
The State primary school down the road is buying iPads for the children….computer technology litters the place…and rightly so….I have no doubt that if a school wanted to compete and encourage its pupils to enter sports other than athletics or football such as rowing or eventing they could find a way working with already established local sports clubs which have the facilties….kids are shipped off to the local swimming pool and often to the ‘private’ local rugby club to use their pitches….so where’s the problem with money and facilities?
Half the problem is the schools attitude to these sports and the pupils knowledge about them….they may not even realise there is such a sport..so how can they possibly compete in it?…..and a wider choice of sports would give those not inclined to play football or rugby etc a chance to do something else rather than lurk unwillingly trying to avoid all contact with a muddy ball.
If the BBC were to actually do a full, indepth investigation into the sport facilities available to schools and the attitudes that prevail amongst the head teachers and trendy teachers towards sports instead of the usual guilt ridden, knee jerk middle/upper class bashing we get from the Today programme et al we might not only get a truer picture of what is going on in schools but also if anything, and what, can be done to improve opportunities for State School pupils.
Perhaps all those in the well paid ranks of the BBC or Arts who rage on about capitalism and consumerism and greed might like to dip into their own pockets and give up half their own rather too easily gotten gains and spread a bit of egalitarianism around and fund these budding state school sporting stars of the future….they can replace all those ‘evil’ sponsors such as McDonalds and Coca Cola.
The real problem is the ‘Left’ have given up on life….it’s so easy if everyone is the ‘same’….no one has to try.
What’s that French saying?
Vive La Difference!
PS:
I really don’t think it’s all about money….its more attitude and making a choice of what you consider important.
If you have a potential sports star should you spend money and time educating them in an academic subject of relatively little merit or use those resources to build on his sporting prowess?
The Army does exactly that…people in sports teams concentrate on the sports whilst sidelining other training…undoubtedly the Chinese and USSR did the same in their state schools system….even the Americans do it with sporting scholarships…where no scholarship is needed.
Why do private schools succeed?…because they are private and have to compete hard to build and keep their reputation and continue to attract fee paying pupils…they also like to compete just for the hell of it.
It’s more attitude and choice by schools on what to spend their money on rather than solely a quantity of money issue.
Is it just me just being a miserable sod, or is anyone else getting a little bored with all the emotional incontinence going on at the Games? I don’t want to belittle the brilliant achievements but for goodness sakes, all of the blubbering and apotheosizing of humans into the pantheon of the Gods is getting a little over the top, in my humbug opinion. OK so you can row a boat quicker than the next team, a great physical feat and one that I respect, but come on, it’s not as if you’ve just turned water into wine for goodness sakes.
As long as we’re winning medals you’re a miserable sod….no medals and you start to be right.
Oh well… looks like I’m a miserable sod, then.
No Alex you are just being honest about it of course you will be called a miserable sod by those so caught up it the media moment that any dissent of the oil-yimpic and the sport that they now love but 2 weeks ago couldn’t give a £$%^ about and in 2 weeks time won’t again is non British almost traitorous !
Mind will be interesting to see how many of the new flag waving patriots will hang around to watch the C4 para-Olympics as I think the sight of a Trooper with missing limbs or a young woman with learning difficulty’s being competitive wont carry the same wow factors for them or the BBC !
One of the most irritating aspects of the Games, for me, has been its breathtaking sabotage by the Lefties with their explosive outbursts of support for the multicultural diversity agenda… it’s become a hysterical socialist advertising campaign. The media (primarily the BBC) in this country is the Left’s weapon; they control the media and so can portray the untruth that the Left is the prominent power in Britain. If we could somehow get rid of the BBC and de-indoctrinate the populace from the Marxist diarrhea frequently discharged from liberal bowels, then the fight back for truth could be stronger than many think.
If one opposes multiculturalism, one is immediately labelled ‘racist’; never mind if your community has been airbrushed from the history books or has vanished under vast swathes of immigration… you don’t matter, you are racist. This is fascism as it is an enforced way of living, an ideology of the few, imposed on the many. One of the most characteristics of fascism is its silencing of dissent; we see this all around us. We are now living in a fascist state; look behind you next time you type… you never know when that knock on the door will come.
OT … but listen to this (27m. 17″ in).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b01ldg5x/
from bbc any answers – re syria and intervention, A. Anand can be heard scrabbling through her papers as he speaks.
These stupid, middle-class Leftist buffoons simply won’t hear any other view other than ‘Assad is an evil oppressor and the rebel army is good’. The BBC has been atrociously pro-Jihadi since day one in this civil war and doesn’t give a brown and smelly about the thousands of religious minorities who have been subjected to terror under the Suni extremists, sorry, pro-democracy Freedom fighters… appalling bias from the BBC.
Just as at the Jubilee celebrations a few weeks ago, the Olympics are bringing out a long lost sense of patriotism in the BRITISH nation.
Hundreds of thousands are lining the streets and filling the stadia to support and cheer on BRITISH competitors. When the national anthem is played, thousands are singing along.
So don’t knock it, the pride in being BRITISH, so long derided by the sneering Left and BBC, has emerged and the genuine tears in the eyes of not only our winners but those who are supporting them, show that 13 years of unsmiling socialism and 40+ years of anti establishment deliverances by the BBC have not killed our pride in what our country achieved and once stood for.
You miss my point. I do not take issue with the pride in our flag and never would; I also have no problem with the many cultures who live peacefully side- by-side in this country and who make us proud through their achievements in the Olympics. I do, however, take issue with the BBC and the Left’s cynical opportunism in promoting the (enforced statist) Marxist diversity agenda over which we have no say. Big difference, my friend.
Brother, I was replying to Alex’s post not yours, but somehow it got tagged below yours.
Surely we are saying the same thing.
lol no probs mate. Right I’m off to watch The Waltons as I’ve had enough of gold medals 🙂
Slightly OT but not totally unconnected: another “Is it just me” but has anyone else noticed both BBC radio and BBC TV finding the most specious reasons to mention Usain Bolt? They mention him every few minutes and it has been going on all week, but it has really ramped up the last few days especially on 5 Live.
correct … goodness pass the gag bag,
i wonder how our junior world champ will fare?
A few will make fortunes from the games and become the next so called stars, but how many ordinary people have the games disinfranchised nobody will ever know.
I do notice that it has been harder for the BBC to find things in the past few days with which to lambast the current government for some supposed fault concerning the Olympics. I wouldn’t mind betting that the gloves will be off in a big way around 24 hours after the ‘fabulous’ closing ceremony to the ‘people’s games’ (tags yet to be applied, I know, but give it just a little time….), and the BBC will return to its day job of trying to undermine the government in any possible way.
OTT but….
Having used the phrase the Salford “Palace of Truth” on this blog a couple of times perhaps you should see some images of it.
This is the web site for the BBC Media City: http://www.mediacityuk.co.uk/ The images are lovely.
The true costs: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1205058/BBCs-purpose-built-media-city-Salford-cost-1bn–taxpayers-helping-pay.html But will the real total ever be disclosed?
If The Queen of this country were to spend on Buckingham Palace one hundredth of the one billion (or more) spent by the BBC on their new Palace of Truth there would be riots (again) up and down the land.
So if the BBC folks are; Untouchable, as we know they are; and live in a Palace, as we know they do; and their Word is the Law, as we humbly believe it is, does that make their new boss George Entwistle, (All Hail King Entwistle), ‘The Real Czar of The New Socialist State of Great Britain’?
Some might say so, but I couldn’t possibly comment.
We still have a long way to go though. I’ve been looking at the make up of some of the teams and, for example, Nigeria is 100% diverse, as is the Chinese team.
Britain still has an awful lot of competitors who are ‘not of colour’. Something must be done about this. Quotas must be enforced, it’s the only solution.
Usain Bolt is one of her majesties subjects. He could be included in the statistics if you include the Commonwealth Realms as the continuing sovereign embodiment of the British Empire.
Yup, I’ve been tempted to do exactly that.
‘How many medals have been won by the queen’s subjects?’ To be featuring as a light-hearted item on the Today programme this week…
Someone at the BBC accidently posted an unbeat sort of story but luckily they were later able to turn it around for a bit of Tory bashing……
at 10:30 this morning we had a story entitled:
This has now morphed into:
http://www.newssniffer.co.uk/articles/541852/diff/2/3
I may be wrong, forgive me if I am, but I do not recall too many remebering that Lottery funding helped turn round so many British olympic sports and they were introduced by…..
…..John Major’s Tories.
Brendan Foster did mnetion lottery once this morning but sorry John no mention for you.
Dame Mary Peters mentioned the Lottery on bbc1 at around 11.30 last night.
And did John Major get any credit, in this single instance of reporting, Jim?
A little bit of propaganda for the Free Syrian Army or am I being cynical?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19136630
A week ago I was as cynical as anyone, I’d have even given James Delingpole a run for his money.
But I’m currently stood by a big screen in London, having watched 12 hrs straight yesterday at home. I’m enjoying every single minute of it, and so is Mrs E.
Get rid of Cameron, get a new Thatcher in, and it could be like this all the time.
Having been lucky enough to go to a bog standard public school, one that has produced a good number of hockey and several rugby internationals, I would highlight the dedication of the teaching staff as a major factor in boys sporting success.
There were no teaching unions boycotting extra-curricular sports activities and we were encouraged to play sport every day. Teachers even gave up holidays to take us off to cadet camp, Duke of Endinburghs award weeks and climbing trips.
Don’t see the bbc mentioning factors like that, probably the most important factors in instilling the love of sport in children.
Yes but where the buildings new, the lefties insist that new buildings are essential in making dull kids bright.
Early Victorian !
Alan
I think you missed a few links there to back up your assertions. Might you start with one to back up this:
‘The BBC have reported with a straight face Moynihan’s ‘demand’ that Jeremy Hunt reverse his ‘damaging’ school sport policies’
I couldn’t find anything to suggest Moynihan had said that. I’m suspicious because Hunt of course has little purchase on school sport policy.
Otherwise, this is a rather bizarre piece. You would have to be very one eyed indeed to argue the Bbc’s coverage of the Olympics is ‘lefty”. Why not join the rest of the nation and enjoy them, and put the desire to see Marxist perfidy in everything the BBC do on the backburner for a while.
Look Jim Dandy, put an egg in your shoe and beat it!
Well said, mate.
Ha ha… Big Brother is watching!
‘I couldn’t find anything’
Strewth, that’s swung it.
Talent like that and a BBC Editorship awaits.
Just remember to preface with ‘sources say..’ or ‘critics are angrily demanding…’ and you’ll join the pantheon of stars of the reporting infirmament such as Nick Robinson, Robert Peston, etc.
Now maybe the author will oblige you; maybe not.
But what this does again highlight for me is how, when I ask the same of those co-funded by me via compulsion to the tune of £4Bpa, the best response is a vague ‘we got it about right’ .
Not saying post and forget is any more acceptable here, but why do you hold a free blog with limited resources in time to such a standard and not the world standard broadcaster you devote so much time here defending?
It’s almost like there are two sets of standards operating.
And remember, precedent has a long half-life.
All those 5Live presenters and reporters so enthusiastically waving the flag and jumping for joy every time ‘Britain’ wins a medal will go back to their day jobs and the relentless drone about how there is no such thing as Britishness or Britain…we are so diverse that there can be no overarching unifying culture or ideology…can there?
Isn’t that the whole point behind the endless ‘Team GB’ drivel? There’s no need for anyone to mention the name of our country.
State School teachers are the largest occupational group within the Labout Party membership. Rumoured to make up no less than 50% of their activists.
Oddly enough, State School teachers are an ulmost unimpeachable profession – as far as the BBC are concerned.
Meanwhile my daughter’s comprehensive located a little east of London – though having a reasonable acedemic record – have cancelled their last three sports days. Due to rain. And have not bothered to re-schedule. Legacy, what legacy? The teachers, I hear, are cock-a-hoop. They can bugger off home for the afternoon.
Radio 5 presenters are over the moon because they get 2 weeks at home and not in Manchester.