The Mittal Orbit is Rising
I was down the Olympic site this morning and the Mittal Orbit is getting higher.
The Mittal Orbit is Rising
It can’t be getting that much higher! I like it!
I’ve Got Some Olympic Tickets
I originally applied for £3234 worth of Olympic tickets, but in the end I only got £785.
This is just over twenty-four percent of what I tried to get.
No-one seems to know how the ballot has been organised. In many cases I applied for two tickets, as I’m not keen on going by myself.
I hope I haven’t got loads of single tickets!
As an engineer with a stromg statistics training, I think there might be more to this than we think. I just sent this e-mail to BBC Radio 5.
But the figures on what people have got, don’t add up.
It will be interesting to look again, after people know the events they’ve got.
I do wonder though, if the method of the ballot process has leaked out and speculators and ticket touts have made a killing.
After all, I’ve not heard of anyone, who’s got all they asked for. On the law of averages, that should have happened quite a few times, and some would be crowing with delight.
I do suspect though, that some will make a killing. Touts and criminals always find a way to make money.
Another World Cup Problem for Qatar
FIFA and the Qatari government have been put on notice about labour conditions in the build up to the World Cup 2022, according to this report on Bloomberg.
The International Trade Union Confederation and Building Workers International urged FIFA and the Qatari government to prove that migrant workers won’t be subject to “inhuman” conditions as the Persian Gulf nation begins to build stadiums in anticipation of the 2022 World Cup.
Do we really want to compete in a World Cup built by exploited labour?
But then our athletes went to Beijing, where human rights are non-existent and there have been two Olympics and two World Cups in the United States, where there is the death penalty.
He Who Pays the Piper Calls the Tune
It looks like Fifa and Sepp Blatter have broken this major rule of both life and business, in that four major sponsors are unhappy at how the organisation is run, according to this report.
How many others will join them?
As after all the rich and powerful, who run such businesses, like to give people a good kicking, just to show you don’t mess with them.
This is one Blatter and FIFA will lose, as you may be able to fool some of the people all of the time or all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.
A Good Day For Wales
Yesterday, Swansea got into the Premier League at Wembley and the English cricketers turned a certain draw into an unlikely win at Cardiff.
I wish Swansea well at their new status. Their ground, the Liberty Stadium is certainly up to it, as I found last season. Perhaps, all it needs is a station of its own or better transport from the town centre.
Crisis? What Crisis?
I couldn’t believe that Sepp Blatter said this, but according to this report from the BBC, he did.
If ever there was a case, that when you gotta go, you should go now, this is it.
Barcelona Comes To London
I took these pictures in Trafalgar Square before the match.
Everything was very good-natured. It also seemed to be more about photography, singing and hsving a good time than excessive consumption of alcohol.
It was very busy in Charing Cross station, but where were the signs in Spanish/Catalan. There seemed to be a degree of crowding as fans tried to work out how to get tickets to Wembley.
London should get this right before the Olympics. But then we don’t need to, as all foreigners speak English. Don’t they?
Sorting Out Fifa!
With the Champions League Final going on today, FIFA have missed an easy way of sorting out their problems.
At the match or even at half-time, they could have a genuine shoot-out to see who prevails. After all, FIFA needs a strong person to sort out their problems and one who could survive a shoot-out would have a genuine advantage. On the other hand an innocent spectator might get injured by a stray bullet. But I suppose there is always Paintball guns, providing the gunk inside is indelible.
The shoot-out could also be linked to the match in the event of a draw. But then who’d want dear old Sepp? And some of those involved in the hoo-hahs at FIFA, are probably so bent they couldn’t shoot straight.
The Anonymous Widower 