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!
Tags: 2012, Critical Mass, crowds, cycling, ghost town, London, Olympics, police oppression, spectacle, Zil lanes
With the Olympics I think London has disappeared up Mayor Boris Johnson’s asshole – now that is a truly nasty and pornographic image!
It seems the London Olympic spirit consists of refusing to prosecute multi-billion dollar fraudsters from the banking industry and arresting innocent cyclists.
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!
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!
Perfect for empty hearts and empty minds…..
London looks like a stage set on my TV, so I guess they’re gonna knock it all down after the Games.
I think London these days isn’t so much a fake as a simulacrum.
Two pints of lager and a packet of crisps please!
Fake it till you make it!
London is a myth – don’t believe the hype!
Some of these comments are as fake as a nine bob note….
I liked the bit about clean air!
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!
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….
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.
I’d like to see Grace Jones driving a black cab – she can drive my hearse too.
Forget the Olympic flame and check out Slade In Flame, the greatest rock and roll movie ever made.
There are no great rock and roll movies, only great rock and roll records.
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.
Oh yes what a fantastic idea!
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…
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!
Stumble? Shouldn’t they ‘Keep on Running’?
Toot toot!