Even before the opening ceremony for the Olympics central London was strangely deserted. There were less people most places I went and a lot less traffic. Every now and then I’d run up against barriers to hold back crowds that were supposedly going to materialise to watch the Olympic flame procession – but I was pleasantly surprised by how few people appeared to be interested in this, although the media and Olympic organisers claim this non-event attracted huge crowds.
Now when I go into corner shops – such as newsagents – the owners complain that the Olympics has ruined their business. The endless warnings to locals to get away from London to avoid the total disruption of their lives, added to the fact that the roads are carved up with Stalinist Zil lanes reserved exclusively for official traffic, have had the effect of transforming much of the British capital into a ghost town. Not even the city’s notoriously right-wing black cab drivers (many are ex-cops) seem to like the London Games because they’ve been banned from driving in the Zil lanes.
While the cops have cracked down on protesters – for example by kettling and arresting those attending a regular pro-cycling Critical Mass rally – and the Olympics itself is pumped up with corporate and nationalistic bullshit, having less cars running around the city is fabulous. The air is cleaner and the streets are safer! So why not make this upside to the Olympics permanent – by banning cars and black cabs from London forever?
And while you’re at it don’t forget to check – www.stewarthomesociety.org – you know it makes (no) sense!
Comments
Comment by Harvey “Whacko” Proctor on 2012-07-29 21:07:38 +0000
With the Olympics I think London has disappeared up Mayor Boris Johnson’s asshole – now that is a truly nasty and pornographic image!
Comment by Brian Budd on 2012-07-29 22:09:15 +0000
It seems the London Olympic spirit consists of refusing to prosecute multi-billion dollar fraudsters from the banking industry and arresting innocent cyclists.
Comment by Robb London on 2012-07-29 22:56:12 +0000
I released a bunch of singles back in sixties mostly as Robb London and the Rogues before disappearing up my own asshole. There are worse things that can happen to a man!
Comment by Michael Roth on 2012-07-30 06:25:12 +0000
This new simulation of London looks great on TV, as it was meant to since it’s a back drop for all of those corporate commercials!
Comment by mistertrippy on 2012-07-30 13:05:51 +0000
Perfect for empty hearts and empty minds…..
Comment by Steve Lennox on 2012-07-30 14:17:51 +0000
London looks like a stage set on my TV, so I guess they’re gonna knock it all down after the Games.
Comment by Jean Baudrillard on 2012-07-30 15:00:35 +0000
I think London these days isn’t so much a fake as a simulacrum.
Comment by Max Splodge on 2012-07-30 16:00:12 +0000
Two pints of lager and a packet of crisps please!
Comment by Harry Potter on 2012-07-30 21:04:32 +0000
Fake it till you make it!
Comment by Travis Erikson on 2012-07-30 23:30:34 +0000
London is a myth – don’t believe the hype!
Comment by Fred West on 2012-07-31 01:18:45 +0000
Some of these comments are as fake as a nine bob note….
Comment by Kitty Firth on 2012-07-31 18:22:22 +0000
I liked the bit about clean air!
Comment by Mac MacDonald on 2012-07-31 20:48:34 +0000
Seems to have taken the media two days to catch up with you – today the papers and TV news started reporting on the fact that central London was empty!
Comment by Simon on 2012-07-31 21:04:44 +0000
Hey don’t forget some of us black cab drivers read your posts!! Even if I agree it is a ghost town at the moment, as soon as ramadan began early all the arabs departed and then the families went with the school holidays and the business people scared off by the propaganda leaving us empty!! It is eerily quiet in places….
Comment by mistertrippy on 2012-07-31 21:47:09 +0000
I know some black cab drivers read my blog and that not all are right-wing (I just meant the overall image and as an average – made to appear worse perhaps by the views of some many who call up LBC talk shows). Also last time I mentioned black cabs on the blog I got an angry response from some drivers… so I guess I know I got some black cab driving readers. I was pleased to see a woman black cab driver go past me today – you see more but still not enough, and the same goes for diversity of background among black cab drivers.
Comment by The Man in the Iron Mask on 2012-07-31 23:07:24 +0000
I’d like to see Grace Jones driving a black cab – she can drive my hearse too.
Comment by Texas Hold Em on 2012-07-31 23:33:55 +0000
Forget the Olympic flame and check out Slade In Flame, the greatest rock and roll movie ever made.
Comment by Rob Tuffnell on 2012-08-01 00:18:51 +0000
There are no great rock and roll movies, only great rock and roll records.
Comment by The Man in the Iron Mask on 2012-08-01 00:24:50 +0000
PERFORMANCE is a great rock and roll movie, and so is KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS: its anti-hero wages a one-man class war and is the first Ted… And if it’s a good flame you’re still after, then check Pontecorvo’s great anti-imperialist epic QUEIMADA aka BURN! Morricone’s music is better than anything Slade ever did too.
Comment by Lucy Johnson on 2012-08-01 05:32:41 +0000
Oh yes what a fantastic idea!
Comment by mistertrippy on 2012-08-01 12:40:36 +0000
I probably prefer Driller Killer as a rock and roll movie to Performance but have to agree with TMITIM that Burn is great – I certainly like it a lot more than The Battle For Algiers…
Comment by 6Ts Pop Picker on 2012-08-01 15:27:38 +0000
There are so many classic rock films but you really ought to check out Ghost Goes Gear in which The Spencer Davis Group stumble into a haunted manor house!
Comment by The Man in the Iron Mask on 2012-08-01 22:50:44 +0000
Stumble? Shouldn’t they ‘Keep on Running’?
Comment by mistertrippy on 2012-08-01 23:10:17 +0000
Toot toot!