Olympics: the countdown is upon us…

So the pomp has started, along with the countdown. Boris is chipper, so is Tessa….. Oh yes, the Olympics are on track….London 2012. And the various talking heads spouting forth about what legacy this sporting event will leave.

Well, I can think of one in an instant…debt. Originally the Olympics was supposed to cost the taxpayer something in the region of £2.4 billion. It now stands at an astronomical £9.3 billion (and it could go beyond £10 billion). Oh, and private finance was supposed to sub the rest…but there’s an economic crisis. Yes, there’s smiles from Boris and Tessa while the costings spiral out of control.

But once the Olympics have been and gone, what then? What will happen to the venues and apartments (half, apparently will be ‘earmarked’ for social housing).

And well I never…someone is making a profit…!

The other legacy coming out of the Olympics was grassroots sports projects but funding has failed to materialise. And lets not forget the raids on public money to fund this 2 week elitist spectacle.

Well, I for one will be definitely out of London come the grand event…..

Ssangyong occupation update

The occupation by the car workers is still going strong even though they are surrounded by riot cops and under immense pressure to end it as water and gas supply has been cut. Protesters, supportive of the occupiers, outside were subjected to tear gas and further brutality by riot cops as they attempted at the weekend to enter the factory to provide drinking water to the workers.

 In a recent attempt by riot cops to storm the occupation they were met with a shower of nuts and bolts, which pushed the cops back.

 Solidarity with these brave workers who are fighting back against the global recession. They have also (I think) sent messages of support to the Vestas workers.

US dockers’ union condemns military coup in Honduras

From ITF

A US-based dockers’ union is supporting the ITF’s condemnation of the military coup that took place in Honduras in June and calling for a democratic solution. The coup saw the ousting of president Manuel Zelaya.

In a letter to the ITF on 22 July, Robert McEllrath, international president of the ITF-affiliated International Longshore and Warehouse Union, wrote to the ITF declaring that the union was calling for the political strife in Honduras to be resolved in a democratic manner. He said: “The military takeover of a democratically elected president and the removal of union workers from their jobs for organising peaceful demonstrations in support of president Zelaya are not acceptable.”

Last week, the ITF released a statement urging its affiliated unions to denounce the military takeover and stand up for democracy in the country by taking action against Honduran vessels.

http://www.itfglobal.org/news-online/index.cfm/newsdetail/3580

Solidarity from trade unionists in El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua protesting against the coup in Honduras.

http://www.itfglobal.org/news-online/index.cfm/newsdetail/3487

http://www.ilwu.org/

Vestas events

Reminder regarding Vestas events:

Save Vestas rally, Tuesday 28th July , 6.30 pm, outside the Department of Energy and Climate Change,  3 Whitehall Place, London (off Whitehall, Charing Cross/Embankment tube). Called jointly by the Campaign against Climate Change and the RMT.

Wednesday 29th July at 10am there will be a demo outside Newport County Court on the Isle of Wight where the case will be heard for the injunction to evict the occupiers.

For more info on this visit the Save Vestas website.

Public sector cuts: it will be liberating and empowering …apparently

I was reading Paul’s post on Philip Hammond (wannabe Tory chancellor) when I was reminded as well by this pearl of wisdom from the Tory:

There is a sense of liberation that we are going to empower public sector professionals to undertake the reform.

 Slashing the public sector will be liberatiing and empowering….yes, for members of the ruling class it will be but not for working class people.

Spending cuts whether under NL or under the Tories add fuel to the deflationary fire. The cynics amongst us might be tempted of course to say that the whole establishment, regardless of party affiliation, sees the ecomonic crisis as an opportunity to attack working class people whether through pay cuts, benefit cuts, cuts in pension rights or the destruction of the public sector.

 And we have been warned of what the Tories have planned for us…..

Television in the noughties…..

And now for something different…..

In no particular order….

State of Play

The Office

Sopranos

CSI: Las Vegas

Life on Mars

Family Guy

Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Dr Who

House

Red Riding trilogy

Indeed, it is that part of the decade (Oh, how time goes hyper swift…!), the near bittersweet end where lots of compilations will appear.

Ok, my list is top-heavy with American imports but I was really racking my brain to think of British television that ‘blew me away’ so to speak, which is odd really as I am usually transfixed by what’s on the box.

Anything staring John Simm is up there. I should include ‘Black Books’, ‘Spaced’ and the surreal nightmarish, ‘League of Gentlemen’ and of course, ‘Nighty Night’…  I had to include the resurrection of Dr Who (toyed with including Torchwood). And yes, I enjoy my glossy slick  entertainment that blinds me with the pseudo-science…absolute sucker for that!

And yes, some will think it is remiss of me to leave out The Wire but everyone is including it. But for me, it has to be The Sopranos… one of the only shows through the noughties (ok, it did start over here in 1999) that I consistently watched because the acting, storylines, plots and the whole shebang just ‘blew me away’ from watching the pilot onwards. I mean, just the intro listening to Alabama 3’s Woke Up This Morning as Tony Soprano is driving through New Jersey was forever etched in my mind.

Anyway, this is all subjective and based on personal taste…. And it aint definitive. So what programmes are ever lastingly etched in your memory banks….?  What captures the zeitgeist of the noughties…?

Commercial break over…..