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OliverChettle

Listed below are comments made by OliverChettle between Thursday, 19th June 2008 and Tuesday, 1st July 2008.

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What does London 2012 mean to you? 6:26pm on 01 Jul 2008 I feel that the Olympics show that we do not have a media that subjects claims made by the authorities to rigorous testing. The budget was full of holes, as could easily have been exposed during the bidding process if the media had deployed financially literate journalists. But we were duped, and right now I feel that we are just being taken advantage of by the IOC, which designs the games in such a way that they are ludicrously expensive. We should scrap the Olympic village (ever heard of hotels, IOC?), the media centre and most of the security (if you're too afraid to travel then don't). Grass roots sport, the arts, and heritage are being wrung dry to fund this monster, and I am already sick and tired of the hype. What is the Olympics in any case? A collection of championships in sports that almost everyone ignores almost all of the time. Please IOC, make Athens the permanent venue, and stop taking advantage of the credulity of candidate cities.
Beautiful logo hits right note 7:49pm on 25 Jun 2008 Any logo in a fairly bulky shape could be reissued in different patterns and colours, so that it no excuse for the awfulness of the shape of this one. The focus on youth is offensive, as they are not the ones paying for this outrageously over-priced and over-hyped farce of a sporting event.
ICC boxed in over Zimbabwe 7:44pm on 25 Jun 2008 This particular sporting boycott is entirely relevant because the international cricket community, via the ICC, doesn't just play Zimbabwe Cricket, it provides the majority of its funding. Money is taken from cricket supporters in England and elsewhere and given to Zimbabwe Cricket. Zimbabwe Cricket spends most of its money on salaries and perks for administrators, who are members of the ZANU-PF elite. I believe ZC gets about $10 million a year from the ICC, which is perhaps 1% of the entire hard currency resources available to Mugabe to fund his regime. Thus while people talk about banning Zimbabwe from cricket as if it is only a sporting issue, it will actually be an effective economic sanction aimed directly at the pockets of the ZANU-PF elite.
Zimbabwe future on ICC agenda 5:12pm on 24 Jun 2008 sandcastlejim Mihir Bose used to work for the Telegraph. I'm surprised the BBC appointed him, as he is not a left-winger.
For the want of a walnut whip? 8:33pm on 19 Jun 2008 Bidding for the games was a huge mistake. We should withdraw, and sell the rights to whatever other suckers the IOC can find.
Inside cycling's £1m project 8:02pm on 19 Jun 2008 This has very little to do with sport. In order to make the races a true test of each country's cyclists, rather than it scientists and economy, all the riders should be issued with identical bikes from a central stock just before each race.

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OliverChettle