Fellow Brits - Sick of the Jubilee & Olympics?

[Lost Drifter]

With the Jubilee (almost) over and the Olympics about to start is anyone else getting a little tired of the whole affair? While on one hand it’s nice to see the UK proud about something another part of me considers it a farce. The media, in particular the BBC, are forcing a desperate sense of patriotism down our throats (everyone loves the queen, repeat after me, EVERYONE loves the queen **** it) and are trying to recreate the community spirit of yesterday which is as alien to modern Britain as work ethics and compassion. Sure I don’t mind wanting to fix modern Britain but do so in a way that is more in tune with current climates rather than trying to recreate the past. Street parties don’t do it anymore, neither does having dumb celebrities tell us how much we all love the queen and how each and every one of us owe her a debt.

It just feels so forced that it’s almost laughable and the government are so desperate for people to spend the country out of a recession that they’ve churned up a frenzy of national hysteria. And to top it all off, this one goes up there with Christmas and New Years for holidays against lonely people, unless you’re attending some event with all your family and friends then you’re an unpatriotic loner, pretty much the worst person to be in Britain right now. I don’t know, it’s nice to see passion in people but I’d rather it be towards a better cause.

I’ll think I’ll hibernate during the Olympics

 

[ajdass1]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way. The whole Olympics affair so far has struck me as a desperate attempt to recapture the glory of Britain... to prove that it's still a rich, powerful, relevant country. In reality, who is it going to benefit the most? Probably the owners of the companies with the most lucrative contracts.

I haven't spoken to anyone in England who's actually excited about the Olympics.

 

[Jilted John]

Everything the above two posts just said.

 

[Pezza]

The Olympic hype is ridiculous, I like the Olympics but I only need to be told once when it's on, not every 5 minutes. I'm glad we're hosting it because it should help the economy a bit, but at the same time, the last hosts were China, so whatever we do will be a major disappointment compared to them. However I will be watching it.

As for the Queen, I'm sick of her. How many holidays have there been because of royalty this year? It was bad enough having the TV plastered with the Royal wedding at the beginning of the year. I shouldn't turn my TV on now to see that all of BBC One and ITV is 5 hours of royal bullshit, I mean FFS who wants to watch a royal picnic!!? It's a Picnic!! A bunch of people sat on there asses eating food. Just No. We don't need honeysuckle like that on TV, then to my Dismay I change the channel and see ITVs view of the Picnic. Why? WHY!!? I can't understand who would watch that voluntarily, let alone enjoy it. They even moved Roland Garros from ITV1 for the Queen during the celebrations, despite it's high amount of viewers. If the picnic wasn't bad enough it was followed by a group of Pre-Pubescent teens singing, and if for some absurd reason you didn't like that, there was a flotilla of 1000 boats going down the Thames the day before, that was fun to watch. I mean there were lots of boats. Moving. Slowly. In the water. Hooray.

 

[The Good Citizen]

Ahh most things in modern Britain are shitty, house prices, overcrowding, price of petrol, unemployment. Everyone got a day off work and a chance to take the kids out and wave a flag at the queen, where’s the harm? It was an inclusive day, and a street party is a good chance to meet your neighbours and instil a bit of community spirit. It might be a bit of a token gesture (of course it is) but where's the harm in having a happy day in the sun and enjoying yourself. I'm not especially pro or anti-royalist but I don't think it was forced, I think a lot of people do love the pageantry and sense of national identity and the sense of celebration you saw was genuine. If, like me you had better things to do then it was a day off work to go and do them, I had a round of golf, thanks queenie.

Its not always easy for Brits to do patriotism, it has always carried an undercurrent of something more sinister (probably more associated with being proud to be English than British though) so I think its a healthy outlet as there’s no politics behind it as such, its meaningless flag waving at a little old lady really, its silly and harmless which is why it should be encouraged.

Don't worry it will all go back to apathy and isolation soon enough, I doubt everybody’s going to start talking over the garden hedge to each other once the bunting comes down.

I'm keeping an open mind about the Olympics, it might cause chaos especially if you live in London but if it all goes off without a hitch and the opening and closing Ceremonies are not too embarrassing we might just pull it off.

 

[In a lonely place]

For something that only occurs once every couple of hundred years or so, I think the jubilee has been worth celebrating. I guess I am pro-royal, I haven't always been so, but now I make an effort to get involved in some small way (dressing up in red, white,blue) and enjoy events like this much more.
Same for the olympics, I was very sceptical, I couldn't get away from the fact that London has the lion's share of events such as these and places like the Midlands (middle of the country, therefore more accessible to most people in this country) don't get jackshit.
But, now I'm quietly looking forward to it, we should be proud that we can put big events like this on in our country and they will go off without a hitch in most cases. We are good at organising stuff like this and making a safe and racially equal platform for people to perform on. Unlike places like the Ukraine/ Poland where the euro football championships are to be held soon - we will see if there are any racist incidents there during the tournament as there have been in the recent past.

 

[Macaroni]

God save the Queen?... Blimey, didn't we save the Banks? Surely she's one person who doesn't need saving. Like most working Brits, I'm now too skint and too knackered to save anything.

"Hello, hello, hello, now here's a message from your Queen
As figurehead of the status quo I set the social scene
I'm most concerned about my people, I want to give them peace
So I'm making sure they stay in line with my army and police
My prisons and my mental homes have ever open doors
For those amongst my subjects who dare to ask for more
Unruliness and disrespect are things I can't allow
So I'll see the peasants grovel if they refuse to bow"

 

[In a lonely place]

Positivity breeds positivity. Surely we Brits need to be positive about events like the jubilee and the olympics, no-one else will shout about us if we don't.

 

[beautifulsorrow]

RUUUUUUUUUUUULE BRITTANIA!

 

[CAS]

Absolutely sick and tired of both of them, yes. Not keen on the monarchy, hate sports.

 

[Gutted]

The only reason I am even slightly excited for the Olympics is because I will be working there. Unless I decide not to take on the responsibility I will have. I don't think it's worth the pay at all.

As for the Jubilee, I said before in another topic, maybe not on here though, that it's silly. Whilst the country is broke, we can afford to spend loads of money on such an event.

 

[dannyr22]

jubilee? what's a jubilee lol

I have no care for the queen or royal family, unless they start performing dangerous stunts here in norwich or giving me tonnes of cash ( might happen )

as for the olympics well, I've got better things to worry about