He has dislocated his right shoulder.
XXXth Olympiad - London
- Thread starter MacLeod
- Start date
He has dislocated his right shoulder.
China I believe has only topped the medal table once, Beijing 2008 when they where the host with the US in second place.
I'm pretty sure your elected representatives were informed when the IOC selected London for hosting the games. Or maybe it was a suprise? "Guess what, Mr British Prime Minister? You are getting the Olympics! You don't need to thank us."
Wow, great attitude. "I like having fun, I just don't want to pay for it."
Turin got from the 2006 Winter Olympics a new stadium, a few sport venues, a subway, and some pretty cool housing.
I dunno about the other venues, but the Athens' subway, renovated and extended for the 2004 Olympics, worked like a clock when I visited a few of years ago.
But we are still firmly in the field of a few Brits writhing their hands about money.
China won in Bejing because of the well known home field advantage effect. Nothing to do with whether "inhumane" training works or not. They do a lot better than expected in certain sports that the government has targetted to push athletes into, but the dont have America's bredth across a huge range of sports.
If you are so keen on failing, feel free to leave.
Well, I've got no problem with a country blowing that sort of cash if they are doing well and they have money to spare. If Britain was riding the crest of an economic wave and wasn't turning on it's most needy it wouldn't have been such a problem.
And yes, I do realise it was given to us before the meltdown.
Well were the Olympics a success, the answer appears to be yes. Where they worth the money spent and what will happen to the venues in the years to come, the jury still out on that one. As is will they turn a profit.
As for the EU debate, we could have endless threads debating it. Whilst polls might indicate a majority in favour of withdrawal from the EU, is that really the case? Or do most Brits want to remain in the EU but would rather it was more of a free trade zone rather than more of a political union?
As for the EU debate, we could have endless threads debating it. Whilst polls might indicate a majority in favour of withdrawal from the EU, is that really the case? Or do most Brits want to remain in the EU but would rather it was more of a free trade zone rather than more of a political union?
Fail by leaving the EU - oh the irony.
I'm sorry but that made me laugh. The subway is nice and they put a lot of effort into some of the stations but working like a clock is not what I would associate with it (nor most other form of transportation in Greece). But maybe I'm just still a little bitter about us missing the bus to Delphi because one of the subway lines was just closed without prior warning and without explanation. No offense to any Greeks on here, I love the country but that's not one of their strengths (unless you're late for the bus in which case it will of course leave punctually
).However, I was talking about the area where most of the sports venues were located. It's a shame because Athens could really use a nice park because there's so little green within the city. Admittedly, the little green that exists is mostly top-notch ("Oh, that thing over there? It's the pnyx.") but still. Hopefully, one day, they'll get around to it and we'll all share a laugh about the crisis.
Well, you have to consider that my point of reference is Italian mass transport system.
I'm sorry but that made me laugh. The subway is nice and they put a lot of effort into some of the stations but working like a clock is not what I would associate with it (nor most other form of transportation in Greece).
Well, in my city it's constantly broken in some way or there is construction work going on. Due to some confused French tourists I helped recently I found out that they neglected to update the subway/urban railway lines plans so that the line leading to the airport is shown to stop at two stations it hasn't stopped at for a very long time. Now I wonder how many tourists get stranded there waiting for a train that never comes until they catch on.
So, my expectations aren't too high, actually. It's no big deal if you aren't pressed for time and while on vacation, this is mostly the case. But this one time it really would have mattered.
So, my expectations aren't too high, actually. It's no big deal if you aren't pressed for time and while on vacation, this is mostly the case. But this one time it really would have mattered.
It would depend entirely on the terms negotiated for withdrawal.
The main point of concern would be access to the single market. Britain's preferred arrangement going forward would be to leave the EU but to remain within the single market. Whilst that may sound like having our cake and eating it, it's not out of the question. We're a net importer from the EU - chucking us out of the single market would be just as damaging to the remaining EU countries as it would be to us, probably more so. The likelihood is that we'd negotiate agreements as part of the exit strategy. It's better for Europe, it's better for us.
Plus Europe can then go off and do whatever it wants without the threat of our veto slowing things down. Again, better for all.
Ultimately, an em-passe will be reached - we can't transfer any more powers to Brussels without a referendum being triggered. The Conservatives wrote that into law soon after taking power. On the other hand, the core EU countries can't progress their plans for political and fiscal integration and union without more powers being centralized.
The problem for the government is that whilst they would prefer us to stay in, they know that the electorate do not. Worse still, any 'education' that they'd look to do ahead of a referendum would struggle to reach the public as the vast majority of our media is Euro-sceptic, particularly anything Murdoch owned and influenced. They have the BBC, but then they have a duty to be balanced.
It's not really a matter of whether Britain pulls out, most economists will tell you that it's just a matter of time now, and, how we do it.
It would be unfair and ultimately damaging to the rest of the countries participating in the single market to allow a country the same access that wouldn't follow the same rules and regulations at least to some extent. Otherwise, you'd end up with one country undercutting the others. Also, the EU would lose much of its appeal.
So, you'd probably get a deal similar to Norway which has to adopt many of the EU rules and regulations to participate in the single market. This might reduce your costs to some degree though the costs of adopting new rules and regulations would still remain to an extent. You'll save some amount of money but you'd have no say over these rules and regulations and no influence over the EU anymore. It would be interesting if someone calculated the amount of money you'd save to see if it's worth giving up the political influence.
So, you'd probably get a deal similar to Norway which has to adopt many of the EU rules and regulations to participate in the single market. This might reduce your costs to some degree though the costs of adopting new rules and regulations would still remain to an extent. You'll save some amount of money but you'd have no say over these rules and regulations and no influence over the EU anymore. It would be interesting if someone calculated the amount of money you'd save to see if it's worth giving up the political influence.
Maybe, but I was doing some reading about the Birds Nest and the Water Cube over the weekend and those two pieces are still being used. They have concerts and sporting events at the Olympic Stadium and they turned part of the Aquatic Center into a water park. Actually the most important thing the Olympics did to help China was improve it's smog problem. Remember how that was such an issue going into the games? Well a lot of the policies to clean it up are still in place, and for that I think the Olympics helped them more than it hurt.
Studies have already been done looking at the effect of withdrawing from the single market altogether. One done in the UK, one done in the US for the International Trade Commission - both concluded that even a full withdrawal would cost us less than our current contributions. Even with tariffs imposed, these would be capped as we, and the EU, are members of the WTO. Can't remember offhand, but the maximum tariff that could be levied is something like 4%. That being said, an imposition of tariffs on our goods would almost certainly be met with tariffs on imports from the EU.
The direction in which Europe is headed at the moment, you'll get a core group of countries that want to press ahead with full union, and you'll get those, like us, that are only in it for the single market. As integration progresses those two groups will become more divergent. The single market, and terms for its membership will have to be reviewed at some point in the near future anyway.
Existing outside of the EU also gives us the benefit of being able to renegotiate our own trade agreements with the rest of the world again. Given the changing nature of our pattern of trade, that's becoming a far more important factor than it once was. Within the next few years we should see a situation where the majority of our trade is with non-EU countries again. The US is already our largest trading partner, and the highest trade growth with other countries over the past 5 years has been with Russia, China and India.
Indeed, and then in true EU fashion, they just put it to another vote, until they get a YES.
The Eu usually gets used as a scapegoat for all kinds of unpleasant policies by politicians in all EU countries and the media doesn't do a very good job of informing the public about what the EU does or doesn't and why, either. So, unsurprisingly, it has a bad reputation. That's why I think it's so important to have a mature, fact-based public discourse about the advantages and disadvantages before a referendum in the UK.
As I said, leaving the EU would probably save the UK some money but it would also mean quite a substantial loss in influence. The electorate would have to weigh these things against each other and decide what's more important to them. However, most of the time, the rejection of the EU seems to be more of a knee-jerk reaction without any consideration of the consequences.
It's possible that all EU citizens will have to make similar decisions in the near future if there is a substantial push towards further integration. Given the inherent inertia of the system, I doubt it, though. But if it happens, I sincerely hope it will be an informed decision.
As I said, leaving the EU would probably save the UK some money but it would also mean quite a substantial loss in influence. The electorate would have to weigh these things against each other and decide what's more important to them. However, most of the time, the rejection of the EU seems to be more of a knee-jerk reaction without any consideration of the consequences.
It's possible that all EU citizens will have to make similar decisions in the near future if there is a substantial push towards further integration. Given the inherent inertia of the system, I doubt it, though. But if it happens, I sincerely hope it will be an informed decision.
