There are a lot of people who read this blog; I am
amazed by the amount of countries it goes to – well it goes to
every country, of course, but I'm amazed by the amount of countries
where people read it.
For some reason, within minutes of it being published
the post is read in Iowa by somebody; I know the IP address and the
city and I would love to hear from them - in fact I can see where
every post is read.
I never know by whom, of course; I have two counters
and the one where I have all the details has the blog receiving about
40,000 hits since I started and the one which comes with the package
has it nearer 50,000 hits.
This is nothing compared with Matt Drudge's blog, of
course, but the post I wrote about Julian Assange has had over 5,000
hits and still attracts them even though I wrote it in December
2010.
I would like to tell all those people that no matter
what you may hear or read elsewhere, London is really the place to be
at the moment. There were a lot of naysayers about The
Olympic Games but they are here, they are
successful and they are making a lot of people happy.
It's such a friendly place to be with Britons
believing they could be winners at last.
This time last year, on August 8th
in London, my daughter and her boy friend/partner/esposo were
out having dinner and celebrating his birthday. His name is Chris
too; no not Chris 2, Chris too – so happy birthday Chris.
As they sat there the London riots, which had broken
out on August 6th,
arrived at the leafy suburb of Ealing where they were eating. My
daughter was four months pregnant at the time so they cut their
evening short and managed to get home safely.
Nearby a 68 year old man, well known to the locals of
Ealing, tried to stamp some of the fires out and was killed by one of
the participants of the so called riot. I know the perpetrator
probably didn't mean to kill him but the exponential affect of a
growing mob when it gets out of control can lead to anything.
Four cars were set on fire, shops and buildings in a
street nearby were smashed and set on fire too. These shops were
small businesses; some set up by young people who had raised the
money for a deposit and borrowed the rest. There were about 150
rioters, so they say, and they also looted a branch of Tesco's for
alcohol and cash. I remember seeing them on TV smashing a bookies'
window.
15 of them jumped on to a bus, forced the driver out
and crashed it.
We were in Edinburgh at the time and the young people
of that city didn't riot at all; there was too much to do with the
festival and things.
Some people from other countries, likened the riots
here to the Arab Spring.
It's sad when people don't know the history of the place and give
wrong opinions. Two years after the Conservatives were elected last
time there were riots in Toxteth, Liverpool. Police had a bad
reputation there with their treatment of blacks and the sus law; the
sus law allowed police to pull in anybody for questioning if they
'looked' suspicious. It was bound to happen just as it happened in
Tottenham
last year and spread to other boroughs and other inner cities.
Last year's riots were started after the police shot
someone – I'm not going to comment on that but if you want to read
more just put Tottenham Riots on Google.
But there were other young people last year who were
doing something else. The rioters last year were a minority of the
younger generation – to use an old phrase – but there were
thousands of others who were getting ready for this year – the
Olympic Games.
The Olympic Games were always criticised
by somebody – I remember years ago asking someone if they'd seen so
and so and they said they didn't like the Olympics as they were all
supposed to be amateur. Well that was okay for rich posh boys and
girls who could afford to take time off to train or if you were from
a country in the Communist Block
who fed their athletes performance enhancing drugs and gave them time
off to train.
Isn't it good to see that since there is now a real crack
down on drugs and more sophisticated equipment is available to detect
the cheats, that the Russians and Germans don't seem to be winning
much.
And I know about the IOC and the old men who run it
and take advantage of the youth the games are meant for, but those
corrupt old men send people to take part in sport and not to get
killed in wars.
The Opening Ceremony was wonderful and the crowds
attending the games are supporting the athletes. The British are as
partisan as the rest of the world, for a change, but support the rest
of the world's athletes too; especially Usain Bolt; the 100 metres
final was watched by one third of the total population.
The final of the 100 metres almost coincided with the 50th
Anniversary of Jamaica's Independence and plenty of Jamaican
Celebrations took place in the capital.
London won the Olympics on July 6th
2005; people celebrated it was a great day. The place was on such a
high. People were actually dancing in the streets and the next day
the bombers attacked.
Whether it had anything to do with the Olympic
announcement I don't know. They had planned the attacks and made
their pathetic videos well beforehand; got themselves out of bed that
morning and could probably see the happiness and the celebrations
taking place and still placed their bombs killing 52 innocent people.
Seven years later the Olympics are up and running and
are successful and they are great!
And then there was Morrisey.
He says 'I am unable to
watch the Olympics due to the blustering jingoism that drenches the
event' and he criticises the U.K. public for the outpouring of
support which has been seen since the Olympics kicked off.
The former 'Smiths' singer has cited a spirit of 1939
Germany in Britain this summer. A headline on the Internet says
'Former Smiths singer Morrissey has caused controversy by citing a
“spirit of 1939 Germany” in Britain this summer.'
I hate jingoism and I agree with Samuel Johnson when
he said that patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel but these
people are cheering their team on; they appreciate good sport and
applaud the other teams too.
I know it takes people's minds off the troubles of
the world and kind of brainwashes them (us) but people need to feel
good at the moment with politicians seemingly not knowing what they
are doing and the bankers steaming forward into their new world order
with their single currency ambitions and the worship of greed, but
Britons are, for the first time, believing they are winners and maybe
this will inspire youth to go to sport instead of rioting – who
knows?
Morrisey lives in Los Angeles so he should know a
little bit about jingoism and patriotism and in a business where he
is almost worshiped by acolytes I think it sounds a bit rich.
Poor old Morrisey.
