Browse content similar to 03/08/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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One week in, we have the measure of the games. | :00:17. | :00:24. | |
Look at the time, it's a new world record. Huge viewing figures, a | :00:24. | :00:29. | |
feel-good factor, and a Boris bounce. Gold medal. If any other | :00:29. | :00:34. | |
politician anywhere in the world got stuck on a zip wire, it was | :00:34. | :00:37. | |
disastrous, for Boris it will be an absolute triumph. Will any of it | :00:38. | :00:42. | |
last, or will it fade from memory, like the 1948 games. I said, how | :00:42. | :00:47. | |
did you train? He said, train, I just stubbed out my cigarette and | :00:47. | :00:51. | |
ran! We will discuss that with three | :00:51. | :00:55. | |
British olympian, and this man, who went to the Olympic Park this week | :00:55. | :01:05. | |
:01:05. | :01:07. | ||
and had a sausage McMuffin. This time last week, while you and I | :01:07. | :01:10. | |
were watching Newsnight, literally everybody else was watching the | :01:10. | :01:13. | |
Olympic Opening Ceremony. We have learned an important lesson from, | :01:13. | :01:17. | |
that and tonight's programme is devoted to the games. What their | :01:17. | :01:22. | |
success says about Britain, whether it's laughable to think of them as | :01:22. | :01:28. | |
austerity games, and first, whether London 2012 will be a springboard | :01:28. | :01:32. | |
for Boris 20125 he didn't secure the Olympics for London, and yet | :01:32. | :01:37. | |
the public closely associates him with the event. He has instant name | :01:37. | :01:40. | |
recognition which is way better than whoever the hell I am. And the | :01:40. | :01:45. | |
polls say if he became Tory leader his party would be neck and neck | :01:45. | :01:53. | |
with Labour. Forget Boris for London, why not Boris for Britain. | :01:53. | :01:58. | |
August, and that most august tradition of journalism, the silly | :01:58. | :02:02. | |
season. And this year, the silly contender. Boris Johnson for Prime | :02:02. | :02:09. | |
Minister, very funny, but everywhere Londoners look up, they | :02:09. | :02:13. | |
see, not David Cameron, but another man on the wire. | :02:13. | :02:19. | |
This man made it across his wire, and despite those dangling legs, | :02:19. | :02:24. | |
this one might do too, it is not very silly at all. People are | :02:24. | :02:27. | |
coming from around the world, and they are seeing us and the greatest | :02:27. | :02:31. | |
city on earth. To a politician 60,000 people chanting your name is | :02:31. | :02:41. | |
:02:41. | :02:41. | ||
far from silly. The geiger counter of Olympomaina will go zoink. | :02:41. | :02:47. | |
then the zoink has gone zonk off the scale. So much so David Cameron | :02:47. | :02:51. | |
just took his hat off to his London mayor. If any other politician, | :02:51. | :02:56. | |
anywhere in the world, got stuck on a zip wire, it would be disastrous, | :02:56. | :03:05. | |
for Boris, it will be an absolute triumph. Even Johnson's biographer | :03:05. | :03:11. | |
has been taken aback. I have been rung by Americans, Swiss, the | :03:11. | :03:14. | |
Swedes want to know about him, everyone wants to know who this | :03:14. | :03:19. | |
astonishing figure is. He has used with amazing acumen to show that he | :03:19. | :03:23. | |
is a leader of a world city, and he can perform on the world stage. | :03:23. | :03:28. | |
This is, of course, raising him as a much more serious figure, or much | :03:29. | :03:32. | |
more serious contender to David Cameron, because he is the one, | :03:33. | :03:38. | |
well known story, who is not actually found -- Tory, who is not | :03:38. | :03:41. | |
actually bound into the not very popular decisions taken at | :03:41. | :03:47. | |
Westminster. The numbers bear this out, a nearby | :03:47. | :03:51. | |
I don't knowic Olympic bounce A Tory Party led by David Cameron -- | :03:51. | :03:59. | |
bionic bounce, a Tory Party led by David Cameron, as usual in mid-term, | :03:59. | :04:05. | |
with Boris Johnson as leader, the gap narrows. The road is not | :04:05. | :04:09. | |
straight ahead. D'oh to see Boris going to be leader of the party, | :04:09. | :04:14. | |
you have to do as many Olympics as Boris does in a sentence. Does he | :04:14. | :04:18. | |
want it? No question about. That consider this, there is no vacancy | :04:18. | :04:22. | |
for the top role, David Cameron is not universally adored by MPs, but | :04:22. | :04:26. | |
he's not going anywhere. What if the Tories lose the next election, | :04:26. | :04:31. | |
when Boris would have to bail early from being Mayor of London. That is | :04:31. | :04:35. | |
something he has promised Londoners he wouldn't do. He could style it | :04:35. | :04:39. | |
out. Many think his next chance is before the next election, that they | :04:39. | :04:45. | |
choose him in a pre-election panic. The country is enjoying the games, | :04:45. | :04:49. | |
but has the mayor ensured it is also making money? Boris Johnson | :04:49. | :04:53. | |
warned of gridlock, some shop floors have grown tumbleweed, he | :04:53. | :04:58. | |
gets the jokes of competition, but is he competent. One thing about | :04:58. | :05:03. | |
Boris is he's a real detalisman, he really studies his brief. He loves | :05:03. | :05:07. | |
chairing meetings and chairs a lot of really detailed negotiating | :05:07. | :05:11. | |
meetings and so on. He's also unbelievably hard working, contrary | :05:11. | :05:16. | |
to what a lot of people expect. He starts early and leaves late and | :05:16. | :05:20. | |
works weekends. His staff are concerned he works too hard. Can he | :05:21. | :05:25. | |
be Prime Minister? There isn't a vacancy, but he has defied | :05:26. | :05:29. | |
expectations before in terms of possibilities, and no reason why | :05:29. | :05:35. | |
that shouldn't carry on. The Mayor of London office has relatively few | :05:35. | :05:40. | |
powers, has hard for him to do things, -- it is hard for him to do | :05:40. | :05:47. | |
things that will capitalise on the Olympic bounce. But one thing he | :05:47. | :05:50. | |
could do would be to push through the driverless train, but it could | :05:50. | :05:54. | |
be a ruckus. A ruckus in London, what about elsewhere, we know he's | :05:54. | :05:59. | |
not that popular in Liverpool, he city he offended so much he was | :05:59. | :06:03. | |
sent to apologise in person. Those figures on the right of the screen | :06:03. | :06:06. | |
show Boris Johnson is more popular as a leader in almost every part of | :06:06. | :06:09. | |
the country. But when asked who would make the better Prime | :06:09. | :06:13. | |
Minister, that changes. David Cameron polls ahead, and in some | :06:13. | :06:21. | |
places by quite a way. Never say never with Boris Johnson, | :06:21. | :06:25. | |
but even his closest associates admit he doesn't yet know how to | :06:25. | :06:28. | |
get where he wants to get. The wire is ready, and he can walk on it, | :06:28. | :06:35. | |
but it is not yet hooked up to Westminster. | :06:35. | :06:43. | |
You said the zoike has gone zonk? It is easy when there is not much | :06:43. | :06:46. | |
going on in Westminster. Is Boris making headway because there is not | :06:46. | :06:49. | |
much going on? There are things going on, there is a big thing | :06:49. | :06:52. | |
going on today with Lords reform. Before we go on to that. It is | :06:52. | :06:57. | |
fairly serious, it is summer, it is quiet, but equally, and this is his | :06:57. | :07:02. | |
home turf. But he has been astute in how he is playing these messages, | :07:02. | :07:05. | |
he's doing well. He's hogging the limelight, and other politicians | :07:05. | :07:09. | |
are letting him. They have, however, made a fairly, they haven't | :07:09. | :07:14. | |
officially announced it, the signs are that Lords reform has died in | :07:15. | :07:18. | |
its massive 100-year history, and will have to spend a few more years | :07:18. | :07:21. | |
waiting to get on to the statute books, today it seems clear they | :07:21. | :07:26. | |
won't go ahead with, that after incredibly bullish signs from both | :07:26. | :07:30. | |
naerts they will have to try to come up with a compromise. It is a | :07:30. | :07:34. | |
big development on what is supposed to be the silly season. The BBC is | :07:34. | :07:38. | |
covering every Olympic sport, from every angle, all the time. If you | :07:38. | :07:42. | |
are a bit busy, the Newsnight guide to the day, will help you keep your | :07:42. | :07:52. | |
:07:52. | :08:04. | ||
Ever since the hugely successful Opening Ceremony, and all that | :08:05. | :08:09. | |
Olympic standard waving, 30 Mary Poppinses have been working day and | :08:09. | :08:13. | |
night to transform the stadium into a venue where athletes can run, | :08:13. | :08:23. | |
:08:23. | :08:23. | ||
jump and throw. Britain's big gold medal hope in | :08:23. | :08:30. | |
the heptathlon, Jessica Ennis, roared out of her first event, the | :08:30. | :08:33. | |
100m hurdles, at this speed she would have won gold in Beijing | :08:33. | :08:38. | |
against the world's specialist. Katherine Grainger and Anna Watson | :08:38. | :08:42. | |
have three sets of silver medals from Athens, Sydney and Beijing, | :08:42. | :08:48. | |
but something happened to them today, oh, what's the word? Was it | :08:49. | :08:54. | |
fulfilment, like some thunder boat had hit you, and -- thunder bolt | :08:54. | :08:59. | |
had hit you. What is the word? word is "finally"! | :08:59. | :09:02. | |
A clear victory for Britain, then, while in the sailing, well this | :09:02. | :09:08. | |
drama in the fin class speaks for itself. In the velodrome, an | :09:08. | :09:15. | |
explanation of why Gavin isn't here tonight. And more success for | :09:15. | :09:25. | |
:09:25. | :09:26. | ||
Britain's men and women. Well Greg Searle is here, he won bronze this | :09:26. | :09:31. | |
week in the men's eight rowing, a full 20 years after his first | :09:31. | :09:35. | |
Olympic appearance in Barcelona, where he won a gold medal. I know | :09:35. | :09:39. | |
you have come from the Olympic Park, how are the games for you? | :09:39. | :09:47. | |
games are unfolding beautifully. There was a slightly low -- slow | :09:47. | :09:50. | |
start, we were nervous about the home team. Now the medals are | :09:50. | :09:53. | |
coming in. People seem to have smiles on their faces across town | :09:53. | :09:56. | |
and across the country, around the Olympic Park. Hopefully people are | :09:56. | :10:00. | |
beginning to get into the games and start to feel proud of the British | :10:00. | :10:03. | |
team. As a participant, do you really notice the different cities | :10:03. | :10:07. | |
and what they bring, or when you are in the middle of it you could | :10:07. | :10:11. | |
be anywhere? It is very different for me, each of the different | :10:11. | :10:14. | |
experiences. In Barcelona in 1992 everyone loved it, every street you | :10:14. | :10:18. | |
walked down, there were flags and people excited about the games. | :10:18. | :10:22. | |
When I went to the Atlanta Olympics, it was very different, a very dry | :10:22. | :10:25. | |
experience, they were probably as interested in the baseball as the | :10:25. | :10:30. | |
games. That cast a shadow over it. In terms of the enthusiasm from the | :10:30. | :10:35. | |
home crowd. What about this British rowing success? The British rowing | :10:35. | :10:39. | |
success has been marvellous. We're strong sport in this country, we | :10:39. | :10:47. | |
have heritage and history that we are good at row, we have had Steve | :10:47. | :10:51. | |
Redgrave as aman, from years gone by, we have pick -- tailsman from | :10:52. | :10:57. | |
years gone by, we have picked it up and carried on. Colin Moynihan from | :10:57. | :10:59. | |
the Birtish Olympic Association, essentially saying, he didn't use | :10:59. | :11:04. | |
the terms, but saying a lot of sports are sports for posh boys and | :11:04. | :11:09. | |
girls, certainly where we win medals? That is where we need to | :11:09. | :11:12. | |
drive diversity, more people into sport. Rowing, as an example, you | :11:12. | :11:16. | |
said why are we good at it. We were good at it, because we used to have | :11:16. | :11:19. | |
posh boys and a few people were able to do sport. Now we have | :11:19. | :11:25. | |
talent identification programme, we have cast the net wider, so more | :11:25. | :11:28. | |
than Haher the rowers went to state schools not private schools, | :11:28. | :11:32. | |
because they have had opportunity to do the sport,, it has had | :11:32. | :11:37. | |
exposure. More fun doing it and more success from it T women's | :11:37. | :11:41. | |
rowing has had huge success and two gold medals from British women | :11:41. | :11:46. | |
rowers, that is the first time we have won gold in British women's | :11:46. | :11:49. | |
rowing. There is talk about legacy, sustainability, and whether they | :11:49. | :11:55. | |
are different. Do you think simply seeing British women and men win at | :11:55. | :11:58. | |
rowing, will be enough to entice people to take up the sport for the | :11:58. | :12:01. | |
first time? I think you look at the Steve Redgrave story that I have | :12:01. | :12:05. | |
told, in the past people weren't rowing, then we had success in | :12:05. | :12:08. | |
Sydney, that was a big one, where Steve won the five golds. Now you | :12:08. | :12:13. | |
look at the result of that, 12 years on, we're a hugely successful | :12:13. | :12:17. | |
team. Cycling, exactly the same thing is happening. Sailing, | :12:17. | :12:20. | |
exactly the same thing is happening. These are not the mainstream sports, | :12:21. | :12:24. | |
this is getting people away from following football. Getting out, | :12:24. | :12:28. | |
getting a broader interest, finding things we are good at, activities | :12:28. | :12:32. | |
people can get fit doing. People having the team work experiences, | :12:32. | :12:36. | |
so we get more people into sport. Surely that is a great thing. | :12:36. | :12:39. | |
will talk more about this later, thank you, that is Greg Searle, | :12:39. | :12:44. | |
whose personal Olympic experience dates back 20 years. We will delve | :12:44. | :12:48. | |
back further now. To the London Games of 1948. Which came in, on | :12:48. | :12:51. | |
time, under budget, and in black and white. | :12:51. | :13:00. | |
We have been considering what we might learn now from then. | :13:01. | :13:05. | |
Could it be that there was a different spirit abroad then. | :13:05. | :13:09. | |
Afterall, we had just come through a war. People had got used to | :13:09. | :13:16. | |
making do, and not making a fuss. Take the man who brought the torch | :13:16. | :13:20. | |
to Wembley Stadium, to inaugurate the games. Did it bother him that | :13:21. | :13:27. | |
it was shedding hot gouts of poet it is a yum everywhere? Of course | :13:27. | :13:30. | |
it didn't, any more than the spectator, they hadn't felt warmth | :13:30. | :13:35. | |
like that in years. Excitement was at fever pitch. Times were so hard, | :13:35. | :13:42. | |
that the cyclists had to share bikes. But they drew the crowds to | :13:42. | :13:50. | |
Herne Hill, velodrome in south London. You know they make all this | :13:50. | :13:55. | |
fuss about this Wiggins fella! Newsnight is pitting itself against | :13:55. | :13:59. | |
Herne Hill's notorious wall of death, together with author, Janie | :13:59. | :14:06. | |
Hampton, who has written about the' 48 games. There was food rationing, | :14:06. | :14:10. | |
petrol rationing, clothes rationing, it was incredibly difficult to get | :14:10. | :14:16. | |
hold of any building materials. Hence the austerity nickname for | :14:16. | :14:19. | |
the games? The only labour available was German prisoners of | :14:19. | :14:25. | |
war. Did they build this? They didn't build any special arenas for | :14:25. | :14:32. | |
the Olympics. In the pastoral beauty of Richmond Park, with | :14:33. | :14:39. | |
ancient trees and grazing deer, a temporary home for visitors. Today, | :14:39. | :14:45. | |
that is to G4S, soldiers have moved in with the athletes. Back in 1948, | :14:45. | :14:49. | |
the reverse was true, athletes moved into what was a convalesce | :14:49. | :14:54. | |
sant hospital for soldiers. It was a different story for the high-ups | :14:54. | :15:03. | |
of the Olympic family, who enjoyed Britain's first infinity pool! John | :15:03. | :15:11. | |
Mann won a silver medal for Great Britain. -- Dorothy Manley won a | :15:11. | :15:16. | |
silver medal for Britain, Dorothy, a shorthand typist, could do the | :15:16. | :15:24. | |
100ms in 12.2 seconds, and 100 words perminute. Was she on a high- | :15:24. | :15:29. | |
performance diet like today's elite runners? Kind of. The only thing I | :15:29. | :15:33. | |
remember was having steak, my mother and father could have t they | :15:33. | :15:41. | |
could buy it, I was able to have it. That was rather nice. What about | :15:41. | :15:47. | |
high altitude training, practically de rigueur today, not so much. John | :15:47. | :15:51. | |
and her future husband, John, also a runner, got into the zone of | :15:51. | :15:59. | |
London 1948, with a gruelling stay at Butlin's Clacton. It was not an | :15:59. | :16:04. | |
exacting schedule, we were keen to run, and we had good basic food, we | :16:04. | :16:06. | |
didn't have all the rubbish they are fed as youngsters. I think that | :16:06. | :16:13. | |
is why we are living to the age we live to. Who was the scientific | :16:13. | :16:19. | |
genius behind special diets for John, authorisity and the rest of | :16:19. | :16:26. | |
the -- Dorothy and the rest of the great British team? # Blinding me | :16:26. | :16:32. | |
with science That's right, it was windmill-armed | :16:32. | :16:38. | |
BBC doctor, Magnus Pike, long before he appeared in pop videos, | :16:38. | :16:43. | |
he was a scientist. He said olympians can't train on 2,500 | :16:43. | :16:46. | |
calories a day, which is what adults were allowed. They should be | :16:46. | :16:56. | |
:16:56. | :16:57. | ||
allowed the same as a coal miner, which was 3,500 a day. | :16:57. | :17:01. | |
competitors struggled to master the new food rations. A cyclist accuses | :17:01. | :17:08. | |
a rival of testing positive for potted tongue! But while athletes | :17:08. | :17:13. | |
splurged at the butchers, the national mood was distinctly frugal. | :17:13. | :17:18. | |
The initial budget for the 2012 games was �2.4 billion, it is | :17:18. | :17:24. | |
likely to be �9 billion. Although the Commons committee has estimated | :17:24. | :17:28. | |
security costs will push it to �11 billion. By contrast, three | :17:28. | :17:32. | |
quarters of a million pounds, the equivalent of �20 million today, | :17:32. | :17:38. | |
was set ased side for The Austerity Olympics. They came in at a thrifty | :17:38. | :17:45. | |
�76 2,000, and ticket sales 76 2,000, meaning the games turned a | :17:45. | :17:52. | |
small profit of �30,000. Everybody was happy, everybody was cheering. | :17:52. | :17:57. | |
Everybody was looking forward to it. Dorothy Tyler, a high-jumping | :17:57. | :18:03. | |
mother of two from south London took silver in a tensely-fought | :18:03. | :18:10. | |
contest. It was a wonderful atmosphere. It was packed every day. | :18:10. | :18:14. | |
They all stayed on, the king and the Queen stayed on to watch me | :18:14. | :18:21. | |
jump. We broke the Olympic record. We might think we have it tough in | :18:21. | :18:24. | |
today's recession, it was hardly a picnic in 1948, back then the | :18:24. | :18:28. | |
British olympians were amateurs who did it all for the love of sport. | :18:28. | :18:34. | |
They had to. You had to go and work in your factory or office. One of | :18:34. | :18:43. | |
the British team, who was in the 100m final, Alastair McCorkadale. I | :18:43. | :18:49. | |
asked him how he trained, he said he just stubbed out his cigarette | :18:49. | :18:54. | |
and ran. Wheeze it softly, but he nearly bagged a medal on his regime | :18:54. | :19:01. | |
of John Players, just being edged into fourth in this early instance | :19:01. | :19:09. | |
of a photo finish. The back up for the Brits might | :19:09. | :19:14. | |
have been a bit thin back then, but there was nothing thread bare about | :19:14. | :19:18. | |
their undergarments, a free pair of drawers for every male competitor | :19:18. | :19:23. | |
was the promise of the pantsman here. Would our veterans swap | :19:23. | :19:26. | |
places with today's olympians. wouldn't, because I wouldn't like | :19:26. | :19:30. | |
it to be the bee all and end all. My aim in life was to get married | :19:30. | :19:34. | |
and have a family, that's what, luckily, I was able to do. I | :19:34. | :19:40. | |
couldn't have put all that aside just to run. No. I couldn't have | :19:40. | :19:46. | |
stood all the regime. I ran because it was fun. If there's one last | :19:46. | :19:51. | |
thing the present games are lacking, it is a rousing specially-penned | :19:51. | :19:56. | |
anthem, like the one they sang 64 years ago. | :19:56. | :20:03. | |
# If all the lands # Could run with all the others | :20:03. | :20:09. | |
# And work as sweetly # As the young men play | :20:09. | :20:14. | |
# Moves with a laugh # And battle as brothers | :20:14. | :20:20. | |
# Loving to win # But not win every day | :20:20. | :20:24. | |
Greg Searle is still with us, we are joined by two of the 1948 | :20:24. | :20:29. | |
olympians from Steve's report, Dorothy and John Parlett, and | :20:29. | :20:32. | |
Matthew Taylor, part of the Downing Street team when the games were | :20:32. | :20:35. | |
secured, and Giles Coren, who, for the Times this week, has been | :20:35. | :20:39. | |
playing close attention to the buns at McDonalds and the women's beach | :20:39. | :20:42. | |
volley ball. We hoped to be joined by the Olympic secretary, Jeremy | :20:42. | :20:47. | |
Hunt who told us he would be with us live in the studio, | :20:47. | :20:51. | |
but...Sometimes the best laid plans don't work out. | :20:51. | :20:55. | |
John and Dorothy, thank you for joining us in the studio. What do | :20:55. | :21:03. | |
you think the 2012 games could learn from 1948? I was looking at | :21:03. | :21:08. | |
the official report before we came here, and they had a problem with | :21:08. | :21:14. | |
tickets. They had allocated tickets for the foreign countries that were | :21:14. | :21:19. | |
coming here, and at a fairly late stage, these countries decided they | :21:19. | :21:25. | |
didn't want the tickets. So they had a problem. And there was a | :21:25. | :21:30. | |
comment that those who are organising further games should | :21:30. | :21:36. | |
look at these comments and do something about it. But some how, | :21:36. | :21:41. | |
somebody somewhere didn't. You talked, Dorothy, about you wouldn't | :21:41. | :21:46. | |
want to be part of the athletics now, it wouldn't be your scene, but | :21:46. | :21:50. | |
in terms of how big the games have become, do you think they are too | :21:50. | :21:58. | |
big? Do think they are too big, I think there are too many events | :21:58. | :22:02. | |
nowadays. Putting football, tennis in, which have got things in their | :22:02. | :22:07. | |
own right, haven't they, that they can look up to. From your joint | :22:07. | :22:11. | |
experience, obviously taking part in the 1948 games, do you think | :22:11. | :22:18. | |
Britain are now more swept up in the games than they were then? | :22:18. | :22:23. | |
seem to be. But, quite honestly, I can't really remember, it was 64 | :22:23. | :22:31. | |
years ago, you know. I know there was 80,000, virtually the same | :22:31. | :22:36. | |
amount of people watching. quickly did people forget the 1948 | :22:36. | :22:42. | |
games? I know it has taken you 60 years, did people remember in 1949 | :22:42. | :22:47. | |
what happened? I don't know. What did happen was that there was, | :22:47. | :22:52. | |
as far as the athletics was concerned, they set up a national | :22:52. | :23:00. | |
coaching scheme to train people in the clubs to be coaches so they | :23:00. | :23:06. | |
could bring youngsters on, by 1950, at the European Championships, | :23:06. | :23:10. | |
there were two young women that ran very well, that hadn't run in the | :23:10. | :23:16. | |
Olympics, they had come up. I think they had gained a lot through this | :23:16. | :23:20. | |
scheme that was going. So clubs were getting more involved. | :23:20. | :23:25. | |
Matthew, I know you are a bit worried about the size of the games. | :23:25. | :23:29. | |
Of itn't quite what you expected? think the games are -- it isn't | :23:29. | :23:34. | |
quite what you expected? I think the games are fantastic, it is | :23:34. | :23:38. | |
great to see the excitement running across the country. We have to be | :23:38. | :23:41. | |
realistic about the knock-on effects of the Olympics. I heard | :23:41. | :23:45. | |
John Major saying today this will be a massive boost for Britain and | :23:45. | :23:49. | |
get us back on track. I'm not sure that is the case. I think the | :23:49. | :23:52. | |
Olympics are great. And it is a great sporting event. You want them | :23:52. | :23:56. | |
to be smaller and cheaper, that is what you were expecting? Everybody | :23:56. | :23:59. | |
knows when you set the Olympic budget, it is likely to end up more | :23:59. | :24:03. | |
than it was. In terms of the organisation. The strength of this | :24:03. | :24:06. | |
Olympics has been the organisation, it is extremely good, you look at | :24:06. | :24:10. | |
the number of people going to all the event. The legacy planning is | :24:10. | :24:14. | |
better than other Olympics, it couldn't be much worse. If there is | :24:14. | :24:20. | |
a problem, we want these Olympic on grounds of diversity and inclusion. | :24:20. | :24:23. | |
-- Olympics on grounds of diversity and inclusion. That story isn't as | :24:23. | :24:28. | |
strong. It is not quite as clear to me what the core message of the | :24:28. | :24:33. | |
Olympics are, what are we trying to say about Britain, other than we | :24:33. | :24:38. | |
are good at organising major events. You have been at the Olympic Park, | :24:38. | :24:42. | |
what is the message? I think it is a poor look when John Major says | :24:42. | :24:46. | |
everything will be OK. I have enjoyed myself, I have a Willy | :24:46. | :24:51. | |
Wonka golden ticket I can go to everything, being low on the roster | :24:51. | :24:55. | |
of experts, that usually means the trampolining and the live goat | :24:55. | :24:59. | |
racing. But it is basically it is enormous, far too large. I have | :24:59. | :25:02. | |
been writing it from the Opening Ceremony, right up close, face | :25:02. | :25:05. | |
pressed against the window. You can't begin to comprehend it. | :25:05. | :25:08. | |
Whatever you are at there is something better happening down the | :25:08. | :25:13. | |
road T might be an hour across London or out at Eton Dorney, there | :25:13. | :25:18. | |
is 17 different athletics tracks in the one park. 1948 sounds like it | :25:18. | :25:22. | |
was comprehensible, you had fit, strong young people running around | :25:22. | :25:27. | |
in circles and you gave medals to the best ones. Now I spend a couple | :25:27. | :25:32. | |
of days in the McDonalds, why it would be the main sponsor, | :25:32. | :25:37. | |
McDonalds, Coca-Cola and Heineken, the three dietry supplements you | :25:37. | :25:42. | |
need to be an athlete, and then you have the busiest McDonalds in the | :25:42. | :25:45. | |
world at the centre of it, it sounds bogus. Kids we are talking | :25:45. | :25:49. | |
about, will sit down, watch television and emulate this, they | :25:49. | :25:54. | |
will go out and eat Hamburgers. There was another attempt, apart | :25:54. | :25:58. | |
from inclusion and diversity to give these Olympics a distinct feel, | :25:58. | :26:04. | |
that is when Boris in Beijing did his bumling brilliance that they | :26:04. | :26:08. | |
would be more humane and generous, because of corporate sponsorship, | :26:08. | :26:11. | |
security and high-tech, we haven't been able to to that either. What | :26:11. | :26:15. | |
is the legacy from that? interested in this point about | :26:15. | :26:21. | |
London, and what London is like in 1948 and in 2012. To me, London is | :26:21. | :26:26. | |
a proud, diverse, multicultural city now, with so many nations, so | :26:26. | :26:29. | |
many different cultures coming together, living shoulder-to- | :26:29. | :26:32. | |
shoulder with each other, that is what London is about to me. And we | :26:33. | :26:36. | |
have the games. You don't want these countries to come to London | :26:36. | :26:39. | |
and be supported by people who support all that diversity, all | :26:39. | :26:42. | |
those countries coming together, and everyone has someone who wants | :26:42. | :26:51. | |
to support those nations and to see the Sculler from Niger competing at | :26:51. | :26:56. | |
rowing with support. It is sur priegs you don't want that. What is | :26:56. | :27:01. | |
the legacy of these games, in if a year's time, what will we remember? | :27:01. | :27:04. | |
People will have memories for the rest of their memories. What is | :27:04. | :27:09. | |
life, other than fantastic memories. It is a snapshot or photograph? | :27:09. | :27:13. | |
don't think it is an enormous amount more than. That the most | :27:13. | :27:18. | |
disappointing thing is our hopes this would increase sporting | :27:18. | :27:22. | |
participation, especially for disadvantage groups, has not been | :27:22. | :27:25. | |
fulfilled and next year we will see cuts in school sports. We will have | :27:25. | :27:30. | |
to fight hard to keep that. I have an 11-year-old daughter, I want | :27:30. | :27:34. | |
sports available my daughter can play. I totally agree we don't need | :27:35. | :27:38. | |
more football and tennis, what about handball, and the women's | :27:38. | :27:42. | |
football team. What about the women rowers winning today, what about | :27:42. | :27:51. | |
the women psyche cysts all the -- cyclists, all the female role | :27:51. | :27:56. | |
models. So my daughter has someone to look up to as an 11-year-old, | :27:56. | :28:04. | |
and think, I won't sit and watch Disney channel and X Factor, but to | :28:04. | :28:10. | |
go out and get a good heart and lungs. Did it have to happen here | :28:10. | :28:13. | |
and Britain spend the countless billions? Yes, because we wouldn't | :28:13. | :28:19. | |
have invested in those sports, and have a home entry for sports like | :28:19. | :28:24. | |
handball or volley ball, those role models wouldn't be there. | :28:24. | :28:28. | |
should we pretend we will make money out of it and get �9 billion | :28:28. | :28:34. | |
out. Why not say it is a gift, we are putting it on for the world, | :28:34. | :28:38. | |
come back and have fun. It is hard to measure how much money you make | :28:38. | :28:41. | |
from something. We should just give it away. I don't think the goal of | :28:41. | :28:46. | |
the Olympic Games was to say, let's put it on and make money. The goal | :28:46. | :28:50. | |
was to create the greatest show on earth and show what a beautiful | :28:50. | :28:55. | |
city London is to the world. legacy planning in East London is | :28:55. | :29:02. | |
good, the thing we can be hopeful that we won't see stories about | :29:02. | :29:04. | |
derelict sites. I think they have done everything they can to | :29:04. | :29:11. | |
mitigate that possibility. When you walk through the Olympic Park now, | :29:11. | :29:17. | |
it is easy to imagine tumbleweed. If you look at other Olympics, if | :29:17. | :29:21. | |
nations improve their performance and the Olympics after that and | :29:21. | :29:26. | |
that their performance dips, there isn't really a strategy to build on | :29:26. | :29:30. | |
sporting participation on what is achieved at the Olympics. | :29:30. | :29:34. | |
disagree, look at the creation of role models in the sports I have | :29:34. | :29:42. | |
mentioned. The effect of a successful games we had in Sydney, | :29:42. | :29:48. | |
we have gone from one Olympic medal in 1996, Great Britain, then we had | :29:48. | :29:52. | |
a National Lottery, people put money into sport, we have invested | :29:52. | :29:57. | |
in sport, and now we win 19 gold medals in the Beijing Olympics. | :29:57. | :30:00. | |
Thank you for bringing in the medals and thank you for. That they | :30:00. | :30:05. | |
are getting bigger as the years go on. Nice it see you all. That's all | :30:05. | :30:15. | |
:30:15. | :30:18. | ||
from Newsnight, Kirsty here on from Newsnight, Kirsty here on | :30:18. | :30:20. | |
Monday, have a good weekend. It looks like Saturday will be | :30:20. | :30:23. | |
another day of sunny spells, and also some heavy showers, the | :30:23. | :30:27. | |
showers, initially of the lighter variety, but come the afternoon | :30:27. | :30:30. | |
they will be turning heavy across parts of northern England in | :30:30. | :30:33. | |
particular, a focal point for some thunder, lightning and rain in a | :30:33. | :30:37. | |
short space of time. As you get towards the south eastern corner, | :30:37. | :30:41. | |
leading something of a charmed life, the showers few and far between, | :30:41. | :30:45. | |
that is good news for most of the Olympic venues, it is dryer than | :30:45. | :30:49. | |
elsewhere in the UK. Lots of heavy showers in parts of the south-west | :30:49. | :30:53. | |
of England. The east of Wales a focal point for heavy showers, as | :30:53. | :30:56. | |
the Midlands, the further west you are decent spells of sunshine | :30:56. | :31:00. | |
coming and going, the odd light shower as well. Northern Ireland, | :31:00. | :31:03. | |
well sunshine here from time to time, but equally the cloud will | :31:03. | :31:07. | |
thicken up and produce some showers. Temperatures never getting out of | :31:07. | :31:11. | |
the high teens, similar temperatures in Scotland. 19 or so | :31:11. | :31:14. | |
in Glasgow. It is south of Glasgow where most of the heaviest showers | :31:14. | :31:17. | |
are likely to be. Through the evening a lot of those showers tend | :31:17. | :31:21. | |
to fade away, they will be back again on Sunday. Meanwhile, if you | :31:21. | :31:24. | |
are heading off into northern Europe, an unsettled look for | :31:24. | :31:28. | |
things for Amsterdam, Paris and Berlin, with showers through the | :31:28. | :31:31. | |
weekend, meanwhile further south through the Mediterranean, it is | :31:31. | :31:35. |