London 2012: A Preview to an Olympic-Sized Disaster

[moya]

Originally Posted by pmoseley

What an unhappy old man Marco Evers seems. I wonder how he manages to live in London and have to report on all that misery he sees around him; so friendless, lonely and sad. London is one of the most exciting multicultural cities - you only have to see all the Europeans visiting, living and working there to realise the draw it has. Even though poor old Marco Evers might not like London as an Olympic venue, the Olympic committee evidently disagreed with him and London in return has produced some marvellous facilities well within time, despite the usual hiccups. I suggest Marco Evers should go to live in Berlin, where he can indulge his loneliness travelling to and from his home in some anonymous apartment block on the hot trains that run on exact time with no air conditioning. One thing is for sure, though, at least he can contemplate that London was chosen as the 2012 Olympic venue without a sniff of corruption, unlike the German venue for the 2006 World Cup. Go home, Marco, because as you already know, Londoners don't like miserable, humourless people.

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This is by far the best contribution on Marc Evers' article. Spot on. Pmosely is superduper i.e. someone who agrees with me but with a good knowledge of Germany and a GSOH. My son lived and worked in Berlin for some years so I was out there quite frequently. Big, spacious, empty city packed with worrying historic buildings but no buzz at all. I heard on the BBC this morning that Mr Evers is Dutch!. Crikey! I've have met many Dutch in my life, but all have loved London, rain or shine. I never met a Dutchman who was not .... er..... (how to put it diplomatically) critical of Germany and the Germans. The Dutch are as unlike the Germans as Gouda is to Sauerkraut. If Evers is Dutch, how come he has been sucked into German Profilneurose which fuels German pleasure in kicking Brits in the groin, metaphorically of course? He was interviewed this morning on Radio 4's Today programme and was noticeably reticent about expressing anything positive about London or Britain. Yet, he hesitated for a nano-second when Charlotte Green asked him: "Were you writing for an audience". Why did he hesitate? Because he was indeed writing for an audience, just like the London correspondents of German papers who confessed as much all those years ago to the retiring British Ambassador, Sir Oliver Wright. (See my comment above.)

[achillesmd]

Originally Posted by sysop

London and the Olympic Games are clearly not made for each other. Visitors will need determination and, most of all, patience to reach the venues at all. And, for the locals, it all can't end soon enough.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...844599,00.html

Typical anglophobic and deeply teutonic-arrogance from a german guy in London...If you do not fancy London Herr Evers then please go back to Jeeermanyyy!

[oscotto1]

A rather shallow analysis of British attitudes-not the sort of reportage I would expect of Spiegel. Why not collect some evidence on British attitudes and the reasons for alleged disillusion? Personally I doubt that negative attitudes have little to do with which sports-more the cynicism about the allotment of tickets procedure, corporate sponsorship and official corruption.

[moya]

Originally Posted by jackscht

Don't have a clue who wrote this but I certainly wouldn't pay him again if I were you. Quoting Simon Jenkins known in Britain as the most uptight, humorless,miserable kill joy in the country and A.A.Millne an effete hooray Henry that is the best friend of the right wing Joan Collins. Get real.

The athletes village is actually on site a mere hop skip and a jump away.

As for the weather, I have lived all over the world and I [from Australia] along with 450 000 other Aussies love it. Admittedly this year is the worst [grey wise] since 1840 but as you know no different to Paris, Berlin, Brussels, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Stockholm..... the jet stream is over France where my mother now lives and has just had her home flooded.

Quality of life index? I'm sure people in their 70's would rather live in Vienna, Hamburg or Munich. But any younger than that and not choose London, they'd have to be insane.

Ridiculous article, sack the 'author' and welcome to the most cosmopolitan city on this planet. London.

I'm in my seventies but the last place I would want to live is in any German city again. Lived in Duesseldorf for three decades, permanently homesick for London, the city of my birth. Was able to return from Germany in 1993 and have never stopped being grateful! Germany is a well-run country with compliant obedient people which may explain why the place is a dead as a dodo. No buzz at all.

[pengland]

I've never really 'got' the Quality of Life rankings. The winners are rarely the very cities that energetic, lively, fun (yes, fun) people would want to live. Vienna? Give me a break! Munich? You are joking, right? I'm amused that Orkney and Shetland are supposedly the highest on the list for the UK. I suspect that those who take part in these polls are suffering from what used to be called "Skoda syndrome": whereby people who had made strange life-style choices (such as buying a car made by the then awful Skoda) felt more likely to justify their choice than someone who bought, say, an Audi, or a BMW).
London is probably the most exciting city in the world. The Germans may want all cities to be efficient, quiet, and dull, but that is due to their genius in extracting all of the fun and humanity from every last thing that they do.

[sarahmerryn]

"TfL knows that the success of the Olympics will be decided in the Tube's tunnels and stations, some built in the Victorian era, especially those on the Northern, Central and Jubilee lines."

Queen Victoria's reign (Victorian era) 1837 - 1901

The oldest stations on the Jubilee line, from Baker Street north were built in 1939, the vast majority of the line and its stations were not actually built until the 1960s and 70s and the Jubilee line (opened in 1979) in reality boasts some of the most spacious, user friendly and safest stations in London with the most up to date stock of trains. What you have written is simply untrue, I can't even be bothered to look into the history of the other lines, as you certainly don't seem to have either.

Much of the infrastructure of London was built in the Victorian era but it is worth noting that there is a lot of solid engineering celebrated and explained in places such as the (free, fantastic and recently refurbished) Museum of London and London Transport Museum that is still very much fit for use. What cities aren't based on historical engineering that is refurbished and replaced as necessary?

It is no secret that many people in London are complaining about the games being here, for various reasons. Research shows that this is usually the case, the Olympics are rarely if ever welcomed by the majority of the host nation and local communities.

Londoners will only really base their opinions on the legacy of the games (which many other hosts have struggled with). I really hope it will all be worth it. The regeneration of the East End where I have lived for several years has certainly been exciting.

[londonisfab]

I look forward to Herr Evers grovellingly apologetic article on the blindingly successful olympics, how the opening ceremony was spectacular, how the wide-eyed tourists were entertained on a daily basis by the wacky guides in different British stereotypical guises every day at London Bridge, how the sun shone (and the rain fell, but only occasionally), how London was free-flowing transport wise, how the infrastructure coped admirably. How wrong could one article be? Marcel, are you very inexperienced at journalism to not allow yourself an escap should your predictions not take place, as they so overwhelmingly have?

Let's take a few: "The Olympics...will turn into a fiasco". They are an enormous success! The British are enjoying every minute and united in their love of the sporting spectacular (sorry that we are well above the Germans in the medal table )

"And the children? They haven't become athletes" Hello?? Britain 14 Gold, Germany 5 (05/08). Need I say more?? Admire the sleek torsos of the British women, coated in sweat and gleaming like wet otters. And not a bockwurst in sight.

"Those who live there will be delighted, of course, but only once it's over." we want them to go on, for months if possible, and be repeated every year.

Then there was assorted nonsense about the financial markets failing, the airports failing, the city being unable to cope. Yawn. Herr Evers, come and see for yourself, your team really needs the support, and ask why so many germans come to work in London for the experience, variety, high salaries, variety.

N.B. If the Munich olympics in 1972 had "twice as many soldiers as Britain has in Afghanistan, a helicopter carrier and special forces units armed to the teeth" (as per Herr Evers article) perhaps the Munich massacre would have been prevented.

[cdubro@gmail.com]

He got it all wrong didn't he! The Olympics in London has been embraced by Londoners and Brits alike.
What a negative article!

[Purley_resident]

Publishing claptrap like this only makes Der Spiegel lose all credibility in more serious matters.
Herr Evers got it almost completely wrong.
Public support has been phenomenal, there were almost twice as many unpaid people volunteering as were needed, there were few if any transport problems, the volume of cheering in the stadiums made this the "enthiusiastic" games.
Sadly Germany wasn't in contention as one of the top countries. Sorry about that

[mae]

Originally Posted by moya

He then asked them, "Why then are your articles so critical of Britain"? They answered as one man: "Our editors want it".

This would require German journalists to be pathological liars.

But than again perhaps German editors prefer pathological liars being one themselves.

Bottom line, negative articles about the Brits & Americans sells in Germany. Put this down to a malicious culture that gloats over Brits & American problems. After all schadenfreude is a German word.