Torch Bearers All

[lupestripe]

So it would appear Wolfie and I are going to the Olympics after Locog debited £216 out of my account on Tuesday. This represents about a third of the tickets we applied for but I am not going to work out which tickets we have actually got. I don't mind which events we see - it's just great to be going and no doubt I will find out on the 24th.

Also the price of ham has reduced from 62p to 56p which was a nice surprise. Plus it's really warm and sunny. Happy :-)

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Comments

[moth-wingthane.livejournal.com]

Lucky! Which events did you apply for?

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

A lot of different ones - some of the athletics and swimming but also some of the minority sports such as taekwondo, judo and handball. I'm happy just to be a part of it.

Congrats on the ticket win.

[alexf0x.livejournal.com]

I didn't apply for any as the chances of getting any are slim (yeah congrats on that as there were 10X the amount of applications as there were tickets available), and the likely hood will be that London will be gripped by traffic chaos for those two weeks next year.

I will be going to the torch parties if any are held in Cambridge or Peterborough however.

Re: Congrats on the ticket win.

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

If you don't apply then there is no chance. If you do, then there is some chance. As it turned out, 45% of people who applied did get some tickets and the ones who didn't get first choice next time around.

I am not too interested in seeing the torch to be honest although if I happen to be in Leeds on the day it's there, I'll probably take a look.

[fionacat.livejournal.com]

No tickets for me :(

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

Aww, perhaps you can get them in the next round.

[fionacat.livejournal.com]

Yeah i see about half the people that applied didn't get tickets >.>

So feeling a little better ^^

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

I hope you manage to get tickets at the next stage ^^

[giro-batol.livejournal.com]

My tesco now sells Ham trim, which is offcuts of ham!

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

Sounds even more grim than the ham I buy.

[giro-batol.livejournal.com]

No its proper ham! I mean its like finest ham, but its the end of the joint so its not huge ( wide) slices or its very thick slices because of how it sliced, £2 for 500g!

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

That's pretty good, sadly there's not a Tesco near here :(

[blueberrybadger.livejournal.com]

I bought about £600 worth and nothing has been taken out of my account. Plus i've had to pay an Olympics tax levied on all Londoners.

What a load of farsical nonsense.

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

So I assume you believe Londoners should get first choice on tickets then?

[blueberrybadger.livejournal.com]

If we're f**king paying tax for it, yes! You think we shouldn't? Let's see your money

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

I think to deny everyone else the chance to get tickets would have been wrong. Perhaps a set proportion should have gone to Londoners whilst the rest to a free ballot. That may have been fairer (although I am sure some of my taxes are also funding this and London will get the vast proportion of the economic benefits anyway so perhaps it IS fair).

[blueberrybadger.livejournal.com]

> I think to deny everyone else the chance to get tickets would have been wrong.
No, it would be right and fair.

> Perhaps a set proportion should have gone to Londoners whilst the rest to a free ballot.
They have had 8 _years_ to build a decent system and this is what they came up with. Its embarrassing

> That may have been fairer (although I am sure some of my taxes are also funding this and London will get the vast proportion of the economic benefits anyway so perhaps it IS fair).
Read this then tell me why exactly it is fair http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/yourview/1565971/Should-the-South-East-subsidise-the-rest-of-the-country.html

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

Successive governments have continued with a centralization policy in which London is the only place that matters. Yet in 2007, the northern cities combined contributed the same amount to the UK's GDP than London according to The Office of National Statistics. London has more higher rate tax payers than anywhere else so the data in your article which quotes no sources is not really representative. Furthermore, London has five of the ten poorest boroughs in the UK so your article appears to be nothing more than North bashing from a right-wing newspaper. What about supporting the poorer boroughs in your own city? Or shall we conveniently overlook those?

The predominance of London I believe has held other cities and parts of the country back as this poor distribution of wealth has been deliberately created. It's good to see cities like Manchester and Leeds rise again. And I still believe it is fair to give everyone the chance of getting tickets - even those from abroad. After all, we were told other UK cities couldn't hold the event - another point I dispute which conveniently ensures London gets everything AGAIN. As for the system itself - aside from creating a graded ballot in which Londoners got first pick I don't see how it could have been any fairer. Clearly we disagree - I imagine because you love London and I manifestly don't.