Nip back in time to 1948 (no, I can’t either thank goodness) and we find London hosting a rather spartan Olympic Games with only 4,099 contestants from 59 nations taking part-mainly because Japan & Germany were barred from competing and the Russkies had the hump, so stayed at home! Think about all the effort that went into those games, just 3 years after the second World War. Think of all the industry still going on in London as it was being rebuilt, the lung clogging dust, the fumes from industry struggling to keep up with demand for building materials, steel, iron, and a host of other necessities man requires for restoring life to an acceptable level. Is it any wonder then that the ‘London smogs’ are now as infamous as Jack the Ripper gliding through the misty nights to conduct his grisly trade!
These athletes weren’t bothered about a bit of smog or air quality, or anything else apart from charging up a strip of grass faster than anyone else. in fact, I have no doubt that of the 84,000 odd spectators roaring them on, a good 50,000 of them enjoyed a fag or three-as smoking WAS the ‘in thing’
Now let’s step forward 64 years and see just how crazy this world has become. I welcome you to the London Olympics, 2012.
There has been a furore concerning the acquisition of tickets for these games as people don’t really seem to have been able to get the tickets for the events they wanted to see, as readily as they originally wished. in fact, it seems to be a bit of a free for all-unless you happen to be one of the chosen few (the corporate mob!)
A friend of mine has been saving his pennies for the last three years to spend as much time as he could afford at the games. Yes, he’s a ‘sporting loon’-well, from the sidelines he is for the actual effort required to actively partake has long since gone; his main sporting activity now being 6 pints & 10 fags during the pub quiz! Vociferous ‘yawping’ at the TV screen is also still well within his compass however. The knotty problem of obtaining tickets for the athletics events was starting to get him down as it seems that no matter what he applied for he was lined up for something else, even a sport he had no interest in-like yachting! He was beside himself when he read that “The waters of Weymouth Bay and Portland Harbour will play host to 10 exhilarating Sailing events during the London 2012 Olympic Games”. All his arrangements have been made for London! Beginning to get the picture of despair building up here?
A separate enquiry to the event organisers was made re the small matter of being able to have a fag during these elongated sporting events? I mean to say, we are talking endurance of a colossal magnitude here-how long does it go on for? So, off goes the first polite request to the tournament organisers:-
Dear Sir/Madam,
I have tried several times now to get an answer from the official web site of the 2012 games on the subject of Facilities for Smokers, they have their own “contact us and ask a question ” section, but as yet they have not got back to me with an answer. My question to them was, quite simply, given the fact that many thousands of smoking visitors/competitors will arrive at the London games site what facilities have you made available to them. I am sure that I have seen somewhere that they want to make the London games the first completely smoke-free games. If that is the case and they ban smoking everywhere on all the sites (many outdoor) are they going to tell the World that the games are smoke-free before people waste their money and pay for tickets and travel here? I think we need to know, Thank you in advance, Yours faithfully, xxxxxxxxxx
Now I think that is a fair enough request, don’t you? Such is the commitment of the organisers that the Q&A section didn’t/couldn’t answer the question and nor, apparently, could anyone by means of the written word! Now you would think that a simple question like this would be child’s play to an organisational committee dealing in £millions of trade turnover-but you would be wrong. Very wrong!
Further polite enquiries yielded the same response-‘nil pointes’. Only one answer to this irritating little problem then-go straight to the horse’s mouth (no similarity intended by the way folks!).
As it seems that Diane Abbott is the parliamentarian most ‘to do’ with the forthcoming games, it also seemed most reasonable that she be targeted for an answer, so a similar request went to her desk in Westminster. Low and behold a reply is forthcoming, it truly is a pleasure to know that our elected parliamentarians are so diligent (at times). I copy/paste: –
Dear Mr xxxxxxx
Thanks for getting in touch. LOCOG has confirmed that it will not be appointing a tobacco sponsor and that tobacco and cigarettes will not be sold at any of the Olympic or Paralympic venues. Smoking will also be prohibited in all ticketed sports competition, venues for the games (for example the Olympic Stadium and the Velodrome), as well as the athletes’ village.
Diane believes that we have worked hard to bring the Olympic Games to Britain. It should, again, be a time in which we take a lead and showcase what Britain is about to the rest of the world and she would like to see a smoke-ban implemented across the Olympic Park.
She thinks that LOCOG has so far done nothing to publicise this commitment themselves, and the opportunity to promote a tobacco-free Olympics is slipping away. LOCOG must take the lead on this, urgently.
We need detail on what tobacco-free will mean in practice. In particular: will the Olympic park be tobacco-free indoors and out? When LOCOG says that the athletes’ village will be smoke-free, will this include the entire facility? Will the use of Olympic events for corporate hospitality by tobacco companies be prohibited? Will the ‘no sponsorship’ policy extends to sponsorship of individual teams and broadcasting rights in third countries?’
Please feel free to check out website as it includes news updates as they happen.
Best wishes,
Gabe
0207 219 4426
07730 522980
Gobsmacked? Well so am I-and, I have no doubt, the other 25% of the population who smoke will be too! Just plough through this e-mail response and see what is going on here:-
LOCOG has confirmed that it will not be appointing a tobacco sponsor and that tobacco and cigarettes will not be sold at any of the Olympic or Paralympic venues.
Well, in the present “let’s vilify all smoking/smokers” climate this really isn’t that surprising!
Smoking will also be prohibited in all ticketed sports competition, venues for the games (for example the Olympic Stadium and the Velodrome), as well as the athletes’ village.
What? This is unbelievable! These are virtually outdoor activities-for example, does the Olympic Stadium have a roof on to protect us from the odd spot of rain or the toxic components of our inner-city air?
Diane believes that we have worked hard to bring the Olympic Games to Britain. It should, again, be a time in which we take a lead and showcase what Britain is about to the rest of the world and she would like to see a smoke-ban implemented across the Olympic Park.
Note ‘Diane believes’, note ‘we take a lead’, note ‘showcase what Britain is about’, note she would like to see’-sweet suffering Jesus, the Olympic Games have suddenly become all about what Diane (her most holiness) Abbott wants/or thinks we should be adhering to! This from someone certainly not ‘holier than thou’ ( Abbott was investigated by the Committee on Standards and Privileges regarding payment she had received from the BBC. They found she had failed to declare earnings of £17,300 on the Register of Members’ Interests which had been received for appearances on the television programme This Week. ) Note it doesn’t state she had to pay any monies back or penalties for non-declarations-only apologise! How sweet that is.
She thinks that LOCOG has so far done nothing to publicise this commitment themselves, and the opportunity to promote a tobacco-free Olympics is slipping away. LOCOG must take the lead on this, urgently.
‘She thinks’, the opportunity to promote’, LOCOG must take the lead’-why? Again, we are being subjected to HER personal preferences in a matter that is for public entertainment-just who are these narrow minded, mentally warped people?
We need detail on what tobacco-free will mean in practice. In particular: will the Olympic park be tobacco-free indoors and out? When LOCOG says that the athletes’ village will be smoke-free, will this include the entire facility? Will the use of Olympic events for corporate hospitality by tobacco companies be prohibited? Will the ‘no sponsorship’ policy extends to sponsorship of individual teams and broadcasting rights in third countries?
The remainder is just more anti-smoking drivel which basically warns any smoker thinking of attending that their personal enjoyment will be totally curtailed if she,”Queen Abbott” has anything to do with it.
What is she going to do if the athletes themselves fancy a fag-many of them do smoke! For those living ‘on the site’, the site has become their home-however temporarily, are they allowed to smoke in their temporary home? Again, this is TCOOC-Tobacco control Out of Control! Again, it is the whims of a few anti-smoking nutters dictating to the majority and restricting people’s freedom2choose for themselves. I think it is the perfect way to utilise crowd control procedures-simply ban smokers!
Well folks, as you can easily imagine, this email response from “Queen Abbott’s” lair sealed the deal. Our friend has easily cancelled accommodation bookings, saved himself endless time & anguish trying to book tickets for London events and is now debating on what to spend his £1,742 (& 42p apparently) that he had saved for his Olympic extravaganza next year.
Given that London fails the EU air quality test year on year and has to pay fines because of it, maybe the question of “should the games actually be held in London because of the dangerous toxic air quality level” be asked of the EU. If the air quality is already so polluted as to be financially penalised then what difference are smokers going to make to that air quality. Surely, by holding the Olympic games here, in such dire air conditions, this country stands to be charged by any other nation of intentionally harming its (that nations) subjects! Where there’s blame, there’s a claim-the Americans have taught us that one!
Do you know, I might just ask “Queen Abbott” this very question…..!