...I was also holding the torch at the time, while I remarked how similar to a cheese grater It feels to touch!

Typical ted response = NO.

<Joseph Goebbels likes this!>

Typical broken record- sounds like this.

<all boring a holes like this!>

If you want tear-jerking stories to shamelessly plug a commercial event let me introduce you to some of the people at Wheatfields Hospice, a place that me and some of the lads do a tiny bit of fund raising for every year in the name of one of our mates who died there - maybe we could talk to some of the highly specialised professionals who work for Sue Ryder and who depend entirely on charity to pay their wages.

1% of £10bn would go a long way to those people.

...and I'm sure the guy who started sending pencils out to schoolchildren in Africa many years ago and now heads a charity that supports several complete schools, did it all because he thought that one day he'd be given a torch and told to trot 300 metres with it.

When you've finished weeping over the torch event come and see me Gareth, I've got loads of useless tat in my garage that I'd like to flog to you, you sound like just the sort of gullible sap I'm looking for.

Really, because that's what i implied didn't I? Well done for not being able to grasp the point, hundreds of thousands of children have been preparing for the Olympic and Paralympic games for the last two years by taking part in various projects and events based around the games and the Values. Schools have redeveloped their entire school ethos around the values of Respect, Excellence, Friendship, Determination, Inspiration, Courage and Equality instiling these values and engaging them through sport. The inspiring Torch Bearers display
the qualities in their achievements and therefore inspire others, especially children.
Apart from that, who the **** are you to say other people are gullible, when you've been nowhere near these events and seen the difference they're having.

Your belittling way of putting things too is also a nice touch.

Just one question Seth,

How the hell did you inspire children to display Respect, Excellence, Friendship, Determination, Inspiration, Courage and Equality before HM Gov committed £10 billion of public funding to the IOC ?

I have every empathy with the carers and patients, having had close people to me pass away in there care and I'm sure funding would help them as with all charities. I'm not sure I picture the carers echoing your feelings quite the same way.

Are you saying that no country should hold the Olympics because they cost too much and all countries are immoral?

Sounds a bit like my mum when I left food on the plate, "there's starving kids in Africa!" irrelevant mum, you weren't going to send it there anyway!

Exactly, they weren't and kids just ran riot.

....Bloody hell!!! I knew that's what youd put!

Good god, as you can't seem to read even a little between the lines, look I've been in school sport for the last 12 years and nothing has had the impact of the Games. Starting slowley a number of years ago and really gaining momentum in the last 2+ it has been immense. The magnitude of such an event could not be replaced, and it's intended to go on in future with a retrospective view and looking at the coming host nations. If you don't get it you don't, but then it's not your industry and you've not seen the impact on others like I have day after day.

So how often should we host The Olympic Games to stop kids running riot, how long will the feel good factor last for, how many years worth of good mannered kids full of Respect, Excellence, Friendship, Determination, Inspiration, Courage and Equality does £10b buy you.

I reckon we'll be needing to bid for the 2024 Games at least, best start saving up now.

I really don't know, but i agree entirely that it shouldn't be here for another 50+ years, and it won't, it's a 'one off' (pedants stay away) and we should all get behind it. I can appreciate the concerns of the budget, which I read is closer 8.4bn now, but move on.

What I do know is the impact we're having right now. The School Games (a national programme) is planned to continue long into the future, with current school projects being continued and developed for new school years. I don't mean it in a condescending way but I do wish people could see the activity and excitement that I have, and this is being replicated accross the country.

With all due respect Seth, you could do your work so much better with more money, you started several pages back by admitting that your original budget from a few years ago had been reduced and you are now working on a fraction of what you used to have.

Lets put this in terms of here and now - if a Government Minister was charged with the job of reducing his departments budget today by whatever he could find and he came back with a £10bn saving (or £8bn if you wish) then that Minister would earn themselves a life peerage and a gold plated pension.

On the other hand if a Sports Minister presented a plan to the Cabinet tomorrow for an international sporting event to be held in this country that would inspire schoolkids and boost tourism, but we need £10bn pledging from existing budgets, then he would be laughed out of the room because if David Cameron committed himself to that level of spending on sports right now he'd be crucified, literally.

I know what can be achieved with kids and sport, I've been involved with u8s to u12s in a RU club to see what can be achieved with limited funding but lots of enthusiasm and in that club I see full teams in all age groups from 8 to 17 (bar one year) from a small catchment area, I also see other RU clubs with much more funding, West Park, Sandal, and I see what they can do with money and how many more kids they attract and put to good work on a Sunday morning and mid-week evening, it doesn't take much to inspire kids with sport but it does take money.

And we, the taxpayer, have spent a lot of money for this event, a hell of a lot of money, and we didn't do it just to inspire kids or run around the country with a flame on a stick.

And with all due respect we've been through it all a million times, we've had the uncertainty of funding and our lively hoods, we still do, but we're very resourceful driven people, think that's what sport gives you. We, the people
who are in the middle of it all do not resent the games or equate the budget to money we could have, where does that kind of thinking end?

Another key point is that we are also engaging non/less sporty children in sport who love being 'part of the Games' in many other ways than competing.

I don't get why you need to use belittling terms like 'flame on a stick' seems a child like way to force a point. I don't believe it's just about inspiring kids, but what a great benefit that's been, reaching a huge % of the population.

Seth - I share your passion for school sport. I'm also a huge fan of the Olympics and think the positive legacy it will have will outweigh the cost, which when broken down over time as Gareth alluded to earlier is a much smaller figure per taxpayer than it originally sounds.

However, I'm not sure how school sport should be improved by the Olympics. It's given people a reason to actually take an interest however it's a disgrace that the structure of sport (especially competitions) in school was ever allowed to deteriorate to the extent it has.

Until schools, and especially Primary Schools employ teachers who have an interest in, and a committment to providing sporting opportunities no Olympic Games will make a difference. I currently run cricket, rugby, athletics and football clubs throughout the year and support rounders and netball. This is usually one night a week and often a couple of lunchtimes. We have reached regional finals for football and netball, city finals for athletics and West Yorkshire finals for netball. Add to that a Spirit Alive event, sports days, Euro 2012 football tournament and a bit of teaching along the way and I am literally burnt out. I'm lucky that 2/3 colleagues help out with sports events and my head usually agrees for us to attend. I do this for no extra incentives, other than the fact I love both sport, and seeing the kids achieve and enjoy events outside of the usual 9-3 grind. There are other schools in our cluster who regularly don't turn up, even for a simple football tournament. They prioritise differently and don't for example allow year 6 out of class between Christmas and SATs. Without getting into a debate about education, our school achieve good results and I believe one of the main reasons are that while we have high expectations for work we provide an enriched curriculum with a variety of extra curricular opportunites.

The Olympics, has left me with a couple of extra events to co-ordinate such as the torch ceremony and a family of schools Olympic competition for 40 kids which was superb. Other than that we'd have done everything we do anyway, and the schools who don't do much still haven't done much. These events need organising with or without the Olympic Games being in London.

Having said all that, I can't wait for the Games - am still gutted I didn't get tickets

Will that national programme of school games be enough to counteract the surge in schoolchildren getting fatter than ever after they've consumed even more McDonalds and Cadbury's Chocolate all guzzled down with Coca Cola, courtesy of the legacy left by the very same Olympic sponsors?

Seriously, that's your contribution?!

You must have felt a tad of disappointment when your funding was cut though, you wouldn't be human if you didn't look at the Olympics budget, underwritten by succesive governments with the same tax payers money that pays your wages, and think, "What I couldn't do with just half of one percent of £10bn", there's only one taxpayers pot and everything that gets funded by government has to come out of that - the £10bn isn't magic money that appeared from down the back of the settee, some of it probably came from your budget cut.

Sport in the public eye does a tremendous amount for the participation.

Have you ever tried to get a tennis court in late June / early July? Compare and contrast with how easy it is to get in April / May in good weather.

Problem is that its very transient, and people soon forget about it. Hopefully the kids will be engaged enough to reduce this effect, or it could be a lot of money spent on a 4 week spike in activity, followed by falling into the same inactive rut

Nope, it's the [i'supersize me'[/i olympic contribution to promoting healthy eating among schoolkids and everyone else. Don't forget to hand out the Chicken McNuggets at those school games - Usain Bolt swears by them as the key to his success.

Because the Olympics is the only Golbal sporting competition to have McDonalds and Coca Cola as sponsors.

Really are a fekwitt of the highest order.

I said that the construction jobs were real enough for both projects and therefore the jobs created for the Olympic construction work would also have been created had the funds been spent on a more important infrastructure project ie: my suggested airport/hospital example.




It has obviously escaped your attention but there has and is an ongoing debate about either an additional runway at Heathrow or a brand new London airport in the Thames estuary. And again you do not seem to be aware of the commercial/employment long term benefits that a new airport will create.



Just how many real jobs have been created by the Olympics then? excluding the construction ones that would be the same on another infrastructure project?

If you are going to count corporate sponsorship and ticket sales then you should also count the huge cost of security and inconvienience in addition to the loss of the usual high income from tourism during this time as most sensible people will avoid London at this time like the plague.

Really important point about that extra 2 weeks in the context of long term jobs!

It would seem that there are a few wide eyed and open mouthed adults too that have bought into the hype!

Good for you.

Of course, I doubt you have a monopoly on losing someone close in such circumstances and being moved to raise funds for a worthy cause as a result of it's impact.

There are many worthy charities and many worthy contributors to them. I'm sure all those good people would welcome you churlishly dismissing any recognition of their efforts as "media inspired bull non events".

You're a bitter old cynic. We get that. On the other hand many people are quite happy to recognise the efforts of many worthy individuals through the medium of the torch relay. Just like there's many of us that are happy that our taxes have contributed to staging the Olympic games.

Been there, done that. Once took one of your paintings remember.

What hasn't escaped my attention is that response is full of assumptions but short on answers to the questions I posed.