I am amused to see that the Queen's Diamond Jubilee this year is set to outshine the London 2012 Olympics, in terms of popularity and spectacle.
On Sunday, June 3, the Jubilee weekend will climax with a seven-mile flotilla of 1,000 boats making up the biggest gathering on the Thames in 350 years.
People are far more supportive and enthusiastic about the Jubilee, than they are about the Olympics.
This is hardly surprising given that the Jubilee will cost a lot less than the £12BN being wasted on the Olympics, and will cause far less disruption.
Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics
Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com
www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"
Thursday, 19 January 2012
Wednesday, 18 January 2012
Olympics Ticket Site Live Again
Locog have restrated the Olympics ticket site again, after is crashed last week.
However, it will not work as a live ticket exchange. Locog have offered to pay for any unwanted Olympic tickets until 3 Feb, but will not offer them for immediate resale.
Prospective purchasers will have to wait until April before they can attempt to secure the tickets.
Not at all impressive!
Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics
Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com
www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"
However, it will not work as a live ticket exchange. Locog have offered to pay for any unwanted Olympic tickets until 3 Feb, but will not offer them for immediate resale.
Prospective purchasers will have to wait until April before they can attempt to secure the tickets.
Not at all impressive!
Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics
Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com
www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"
Friday, 13 January 2012
Olympics Ticketing Shambles Continues
Last Friday I wrote the following about the Olympics online ticket system crashing:
"Locog has been forced to suspend part of the Olympics ticket resale process this morning, after the website crashed because of the high volumes of users seeking to sell or buy Games tickets.
Sellers of tickets, that they do not want, have been unable to upload their tickets to the site.
Locog do not know why this problem has arisen.
The system is meant to be back on line, and working properly, this afternoon.
Is it?"
One week on, and in answer to my own question, the site is still not working!
"We're working night and day to sort it out" and "apologise for the frustration that people feel.
We're going to get it right and make sure we get as many people as possible to the Games."
Not very impressive!
Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics
Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com
www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"
"Locog has been forced to suspend part of the Olympics ticket resale process this morning, after the website crashed because of the high volumes of users seeking to sell or buy Games tickets.
Sellers of tickets, that they do not want, have been unable to upload their tickets to the site.
Locog do not know why this problem has arisen.
The system is meant to be back on line, and working properly, this afternoon.
Is it?"
One week on, and in answer to my own question, the site is still not working!
Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has been forced to apologise for the shambles.
He is quoted by the BBC:
We're going to get it right and make sure we get as many people as possible to the Games."
Not very impressive!
Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics
Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com
www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"
Tuesday, 10 January 2012
Beware The Ticket Touts
Selling tickets on the open market without permission from the Olympic authorities is a criminal offence in the UK under the London Olympic and Paralympic Games Act 2006.
However, the BBC reports that unofficial (and therefore illegal) ticket sellers have been appearing in Google sponsored adverts:
"Liz, who declined to give her full name, contacted the 5 live Investigates team.
"Me and my sisters decided to club together to buy our mum and dad some Olympic tickets," said Liz, who is from Solihull. "So we typed into Google 'Olympic tickets' and at the very, very top of the page was a link to a company called LiveOlympicTickets.
"It was a sponsored ad at the top of the page, so we presumed it was a trusted official site, and we spent £750 on two tickets for my mum and dad to see the 1500m, which is what my dad really wanted."
The advert Liz clicked on was one placed by Google's own AdWords advertising service - one of the company's main sources of income.
However, after placing her order, Liz received an email from the company informing her that they could not complete the sale until she faxed over a copy of her signature.
"That's when alarm bells began ringing," said Liz.
LiveOlympicTickets is not an officially recognised 2012 Olympic ticket reseller.
A family member of Liz's wrote to Google, and received this reply: "While Google AdWords provides a platform for companies to advertise their services, we are not responsible for, nor are we able to monitor the actions of each company."
Promoting ticket touts The Metropolitan Police, which is dedicated to stopping crime associated with the 2012 games through Operation Podium, said it is aware of LiveOlympicTickets and that the company is breaking the law.
However, as the company is registered overseas, it may be difficult to prosecute as it is outside the UK's jurisdiction.
The maximum penalty fine for reselling Olympic tickets without authorisation from the Olympic authorities was raised last year from £5,000 to £20,000.
Despite this, Google has placed adverts for unofficial ticket resellers which are breaking the law by selling London 2012 tickets to customers in the UK.
In this case, LiveOlympicTickets was Google's top sponsored link for 2012 tickets - and remained so for more than a week even after the Metropolitan Police had asked the search engine to remove the advertisement.
The company link was finally removed after 5 live Investigates contacted Google."
Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics
Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com
www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"
However, the BBC reports that unofficial (and therefore illegal) ticket sellers have been appearing in Google sponsored adverts:
"Liz, who declined to give her full name, contacted the 5 live Investigates team.
"Me and my sisters decided to club together to buy our mum and dad some Olympic tickets," said Liz, who is from Solihull. "So we typed into Google 'Olympic tickets' and at the very, very top of the page was a link to a company called LiveOlympicTickets.
"It was a sponsored ad at the top of the page, so we presumed it was a trusted official site, and we spent £750 on two tickets for my mum and dad to see the 1500m, which is what my dad really wanted."
The advert Liz clicked on was one placed by Google's own AdWords advertising service - one of the company's main sources of income.
However, after placing her order, Liz received an email from the company informing her that they could not complete the sale until she faxed over a copy of her signature.
"That's when alarm bells began ringing," said Liz.
LiveOlympicTickets is not an officially recognised 2012 Olympic ticket reseller.
A family member of Liz's wrote to Google, and received this reply: "While Google AdWords provides a platform for companies to advertise their services, we are not responsible for, nor are we able to monitor the actions of each company."
Promoting ticket touts The Metropolitan Police, which is dedicated to stopping crime associated with the 2012 games through Operation Podium, said it is aware of LiveOlympicTickets and that the company is breaking the law.
However, as the company is registered overseas, it may be difficult to prosecute as it is outside the UK's jurisdiction.
The maximum penalty fine for reselling Olympic tickets without authorisation from the Olympic authorities was raised last year from £5,000 to £20,000.
Despite this, Google has placed adverts for unofficial ticket resellers which are breaking the law by selling London 2012 tickets to customers in the UK.
In this case, LiveOlympicTickets was Google's top sponsored link for 2012 tickets - and remained so for more than a week even after the Metropolitan Police had asked the search engine to remove the advertisement.
The company link was finally removed after 5 live Investigates contacted Google."
Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics
Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com
www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"
Monday, 9 January 2012
Olympics Censorship
Locog have banned the 70,000 volunteers for the London Olympics from getting into detailed discussions online about the Games.
Good luck policing that then!
Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics
Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com
www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"
Good luck policing that then!
Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics
Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com
www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"
Friday, 6 January 2012
Olympics Ticket Site Crashes
Locog has been forced to suspend part of the Olympics ticket resale process this morning, after the website crashed because of the high volumes of users seeking to sell or buy Games tickets.
Sellers of tickets, that they do not want, have been unable to upload their tickets to the site.
Locog do not know why this problem has arisen.
The system is meant to be back on line, and working properly, this afternoon.
Is it?
Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics
Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com
www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"
Sellers of tickets, that they do not want, have been unable to upload their tickets to the site.
Locog do not know why this problem has arisen.
The system is meant to be back on line, and working properly, this afternoon.
Is it?
Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics
Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com
www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"
Wednesday, 4 January 2012
Boris Fails To Walk on Water
The Olympics has been used as an excuse and target for many politicians and organisations to push for their pet projects to be funded, completed and be publicised.
Sadly for Boris Johnson his plan for a £60M floating "River Park" (which should have been opened in time for the Olympics) has been blocked by the Port of London Authority (PLA).
The public park would have included eight linked pavilions on pontoons, running along the north bank for more than half a mile from the Millennium Bridge to the Tower of London, along with a lido and a new jetty for Thames ferry services.Sadly for Boris Johnson his plan for a £60M floating "River Park" (which should have been opened in time for the Olympics) has been blocked by the Port of London Authority (PLA).
The PLA believes that this would have created a navigation hazard, and as such the City of London Corporation are now reviewing the scheme.
Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics
Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com
www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"
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