Olympian spirit? Not with these po-faced killjoys
I WANT to be enthusiastic about the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games and express unfettered support for our wonderful athletes.
I want to feel free to celebrate a great moment in Britain’s history, take a picnic to events, wave flags, take memorable photos and get close to the torch-bearers as they run through the nation.
Sadly, I can’t. Support is allowed only in an ‘appropriate’, ‘officially sanctioned’ manner.
What should have been a joyous celebration of national pride has had all the fun, spontaneity and freedom wrung out of it by interminable rules and penalties.
Any spontaneous celebration has been organised out of existence, criminalised into an over-regulated, politically correct, censored, dystopian nightmare — a dried-out husk of what it should have been.
Oppressive security, strict searches, CCTV, scanners, dogs, po-faced officials, guns and missiles are the order of the day.
No drinks over 100ml, no longlens cameras to photograph our heroes, no ‘ noise - making implements’, no ‘ unapproved’ T-shirts, no flags, no ‘unsponsored’ food, no ‘inappropriately sized’ picnics, no ‘inappropriately sized’ umbrellas despite the rain. You can’t even get at your own money near the official venues unless you have the right debit/credit card.
Already long Heathrow queues will grow, and Heaven help anyone driving in a Games lane while corporate and state worthies, refreshed from their stay in five-star hotels, waft by in freebie BMWs.
The last straw was the sight of the thugs-in-mufti ‘torch guard’ dragging a poor child off his bicycle and hurling him to the ground because he rode ‘too close’ to a torch bearer. Where are those who slated the Chinese for similarly heavy-handed tactics?
The public seem to be an irritant to be tolerated because our money is needed to buy the grossly overpriced Olympic tickets, food and drinks — and our taxes will continue paying for this overblown circus for a couple of decades.
Had the authorities seen sense, especially with the state of the economy, these Games would have been a celebration of the sporting spirit, a well- organised ‘austerity games’, not a race to build more white elephants. But it didn’t happen. So, welcome to the 2012 Censorship and Paramilitary Games.
JEREMY ZEID, Kenton, Middx.
Count on the Beeb
NEWSPAPERS seem obsessed with comparing the number of BBC staff covering the Olympic Games to the number of athletes competing for Britain.
This a ridiculous comparison. The BBC will be covering the entire Games, including all 10,000 participating athletes from 204 countries, not just Team GB. By this measure, should the BBC send only 22 staff to cover the FIFA World Cup Final?
Broadcasting coverage of the Olympic Games is a massive operation that gets bigger every time they are held as the demand for live feeds increases.
The large time differences around the world — up to 12 hours — require several shifts to manage the broadcasting of round-theclock coverage for viewers.
American broadcaster NBC uses eight to ten times the number of BBC staff and doesn’t transmit as much live coverage. Germany recently praised the BBC as an example of how things should be done regarding staff.
BoB FoLEY, Ewhurst, Surrey.
Don’t carry on Cleo
WOMEN might be the brighter gender, but some are victims of Cleopatra Syndrome (Mail). Most people think of the ancient Egyptian queen as a woman who used her beauty and body for political survival.
Her longish nose, her bosom (bitten by the asp) and her baths in ass’s milk are legendary.
Sadly, her acute intelligence, interest in mathematics and astronomy and knowledge of more than half a dozen languages has been overshadowed. She was partly to blame, perhaps, as her behaviour has contributed to the skewed perception.
These days some intelligent women use their appearance rather than their brains to get ahead, but the revealing way in which they dress in public or on TV works to their disadvantage.
Beauty is short-lived — a beautiful woman can soon be replaced by another — while intelligence and a good mind have a long life.
It might be rewarding to be admired for your beauty, but in the long run people will remember these women only for their appearance rather than their intelligence. ANAND DESHPANDE, Westhoughton, Lancs.
Mr Grey adds colour
I’M ASTOUNDED by all the criticism of the novel Fifty Shades Of Grey (Mail). In these days of double- dip depression and hardship, most women are fed up with juggling work, children and men who aren’t earning enough.
These things contribute to difficulties in relationships, producing tiredness, a poor sex life and lack of communication. I imagine that all women have at some time or another resorted to serving their man, ‘prostituting’ themselves on some level. How many ladies haven’t slept with their man simply to keep the peace or to stop him being grumpy?
I have a fantastic, sexy and loving relationship with my husband, but at times I know I’ve agreed to sex to make life a little easier.
The escapism of Mr Grey’s lifestyle — he’s a billionaire and buys Anastasia anything she could ever wish for — was thrilling to read. She found him mysterious at first, then, mutually, they fell in love. Anything sexual to which two people consent is fine by me.
Reading these books, I’ve been able to share with my husband — who is my very own Christian Grey, whom I love to please — my intrigue about erotica. And he’s truly delighted by my curiosity in such subjects.
I would say to all the critics who complain that this trilogy is poorly written: go back to your dull lives, leaving all the millions of readers who have been ‘thrilled’ by them to carry on reading. FRANCINE HoDGES,
Shoebury, Essex.
Out of focus
THE story of the wedding dress worn by three generations highlights the deteriorating quality of official wedding photos (Femail).
Some of the wedding pictures printed in my local evening paper make me cringe: bridal bouquets are left out in preference to wine glasses, bodies are turned sideways with arms draped round each other and the backgrounds are horrendous.
How different things were when I worked for a photographer in the Fifties. I still recall the promise: ‘Book with us and you’ll get ten mounted 8½ by 6½ in photos, in a plastic covered album, for £2/10 shillings.’
Can you believe that price? I then went on to describe each photo, starting with the bride arriving with her father and finishing with one taken at the reception of the cutting of the cake.
And herein, I think, lies the problem today. Those ten photos were posed to perfection, the flowers strategically placed just below the waist, dress flounced, figures in order and background checked. Any less-than-perfect photos never left the shop.
Today, you get hundreds of rushed pictures, many of them informal, looking like the ones which, years ago, only the guests would have taken.
Wedding photographers need to be reminded it’s quality not quantity that matters. Mrs M. ADAMS, Swindon, Wilts.
Lake District blight
ANGELA HUTH is lucky that the view out to sea from her native Norfolk is the same as it was decades ago. If only that were true of Cumbria (Mail).
The view from Silecroft beach, in the Lake District National Park, is one of mile after mile of menacing wind turbines. At night it looks as though Blackpool has moved 100 miles north — and it’s even worse when seen from the fells.
Silecroft is known for its wild nature. The wind turbines are totally incongruous.
The Lake District is hoping to be granted World Heritage Site status on the grounds of its beauty. While we allow its desecration, this looks unlikely to happen.
NICoLA FooTE, Wakefield, W. Yorks.