Oh I think we do. Little flags next to their names, national anthems when they win. I’ll bet the nationality of Hamilton and Button are uppermost in the minds of F1 fans at Silverstone. I’ll bet the Spanish are thinking of Alonso’s nationality as did the Brazilians of Senna.

No indeed. I don’t why those that didn’t vote didn’t vote. They must surely know the consequences of their vote (or lack of it). It is interesting that some seemed to be supporting the idea of at least a 50% vote to allow industrial action and yet those same were against a similar proposal when it came to voting for MPs in the AV referendum.

So what does the union do? Force people to vote? It is still a free country.

A majority of those who voted, voted for industrial action. So the motion is carried. No different to an election. Just because we don’t like the result doesn’t mean we should change the rules.
Those who didn’t vote, or voted against, or indeed those who are not union members will still get the benefit of any changes that arise from industrial action.
If the 60% that didn’t vote in the NUT ballot were against industrial action, why didn’t they vote against it?

At the risk of drifting off-topic slightly, the Virgin Atlantic pilots voted 97% for strike action with a 94% turn-out. Is that an acceptable mandate for industrial action?

Arthur. Send me your address and I will send you a Union Flag to wave,;)

Already got one mate.:) It isn’t very big and it doesn’t fly in the garden. My daughter waved it while England were briefly in the last World Cup (until I corrected her and gave her a St. George’s cross to wave)

In many ways while the Olympic ideals are still valid, taking part is important, athletes strive to win as well. The two things shouldn’t be mutually exclusive. Occasionally there are those taking part that embody those ideals (Eddie the Eagle, Eric the Eel, the Jamaican bobsleigh team) and why not? But that doesn’t detract from those who work hard over many years towards winning or at least performing at their very best.

And your comparison with F1 is instructive, because there we are supporting drivers and cars, not nations.

Not nations but nationalities?

So do those competing in the world championship events not represent their countries. Do they not play the national anthems of the winner?
Athletes are part of their national team so I don’t see how games/sports/events like this cannot be nationalistic to some degree. It doesn’t appear to me to breed nationalism in a particularly bad way either.
I’m sure during the Olympics in London all the winners will be cheered. There may be a bigger cheer if the winner is British though.:)
Is Wimbledon overly nationalistic because we want Andy Murray to win more than a non-British competitor? If we cheer on Lewis Hamilton or Jenson Button at Silverstone does that make it overly nationalistic?

The teachers should have the right to withdraw their labour as most others have. It isn’t a life-threatening situation if the kids miss a day at school.

Fortunately for the teachers, they have Gove to deal with. He should be pretty easy to deal with. One minute he said this would hit working parents, especially single mothers, the next he suggests a mum’s army to look after the kids. So are they busy or not then Mr Gove? And without a CRB check? I don’t think so.

If the teachers (and other public sector workers) don’t waiver, another government u-turn will , I’m sure, appear in good time. Nobody wants to go on strike but if it is the only way of getting your point across then they should have that right.

Maybe what would be good government policy would be to treat people well enough that they didn’t need to consider withdrawing their labour in the first place. Radical I know.

Yes, I did read all the posts, yes I am formulating my own opinion and no, I didn’t realize that in order to post a comment I had to take into account and comment on all the other posts. My mistake clearly.:rolleyes:

As far as Olympics are concerned, yes they are big business, what isn’t these days, but I thought that after the UK’s performance in Beijing, the athletes achievements were still something we could be proud of – although apparently not everyone thought so. There were many great moments in 2008 – we should be looking forward to more of these.
To compete at the highest level today requires investment of time and money from those involved. The days of the amateur athlete are long gone.
Maybe we should go back to the plucky British amateur, trailing in last. Is that what we want?

I’m not sure how anyone can judge what might happen to the venues in the future. Maybe in 10 years time you can come back tell us you were right, but until then…..
It seems to me that every time something worthwhile happens in the UK, the doom-mongers appear in force. Having said that, judging by the ticket deman, the event promises to be a great one. I, for one, certainly hope so.

I have to say, and I fully respect those that disagree, that I think this is exactly the malaise that has taken over the UK. “It’ll be rubbish” , “It’s too expensive” “why do we want the games” etc.

Why not embrace the fact the Olympics are coming to the UK, treat it as an excuse to celebrate Britishness for all the right reasons and make it something that the UK can be proud of. Wouldn’t that be better than this perpetual talking down of everything?

Let’s face it, it wouldn’t have mattered how the tickets were allocated, there would have some problem with it, wouldn’t there?