I don't know why I never noticed that of course we don't even have an alternate Pentathlon anymore besides the Modern Pentathlon. Given it has different events than the Heptathlon and Decathlon, they should bring back Ancient Pentathlon as an option.
I suppose for trademark reasons unless it was run by the IOC you could not do an actual modern Olympiad composed of just the events from the ancient games, but I think it would be a neat idea.
Bring back the hoplitodromos!
Ah yes, read about that one the other day - and since it was traditionally the only event not competed in the nude, it would be acceptable in today's prudish times.
One striking thing in the medal table is the failure of Islamic nations.
Islam = 23% of humanity.
The highest achieving Muslim nation is Iran at 25th, followed by Indonesia at 42nd. Indonesia has a population of 250m.
Islam really is the most desperate human cul de sac in all ways, sporting to scientific, cultural to technological. It is intrinsically stagnant.
India is the highest scoring Hindu-majority nation - 64th, with 1 silver (badminton) and 1 bronze (weightlifting)!!!
Neither Muslim or Hindu nations have ever been that good at sport, beyond cricket and a handful of minor sports like weightlifting or wrestling. In terms of sporting prowess they are well behind Western and East European, African and Caribbean and Far Eastern nations and generally behind Latin American countries too
One striking thing in the medal table is the failure of Islamic nations.
Islam = 23% of humanity.
The highest achieving Muslim nation is Iran at 25th, followed by Indonesia at 42nd. Indonesia has a population of 250m.
Islam really is the most desperate human cul de sac in all ways, sporting to scientific, cultural to technological. It is intrinsically stagnant.
India is the highest scoring Hindu-majority nation - 64th, with 1 silver (badminton) and 1 bronze (weightlifting)!!!
India's Olympics performances are unbelievably dismal
One of the problems - to my mind - seems to be a middle class that, as soon as they get rich, or at least affluent, immediately gets fat.
But with a population of one billion plus there must be plenty of hardy hillsmen and woodsmen and lissom teenage girl-gymnast types who would do India proud, if they develop the culture and the attitude.
The Indian middle classes all want their children to be doctors and lawyers and engineers, taking part in sport is generally discouraged unless as an occasional hobby and the Indian poor have too much to worry about trying to survive to spend a great deal of time on leisure and games
I don't know why I never noticed that of course we don't even have an alternate Pentathlon anymore besides the Modern Pentathlon. Given it has different events than the Heptathlon and Decathlon, they should bring back Ancient Pentathlon as an option.
I suppose for trademark reasons unless it was run by the IOC you could not do an actual modern Olympiad composed of just the events from the ancient games, but I think it would be a neat idea.
Bring back the hoplitodromos!
Ah yes, read about that one the other day - and since it was traditionally the only event not competed in the nude, it would be acceptable in today's prudish times.
Indeed, plus running 400m in several kg of armour is a huge test!
One striking thing in the medal table is the failure of Islamic nations.
Islam = 23% of humanity.
The highest achieving Muslim nation is Iran at 25th, followed by Indonesia at 42nd. Indonesia has a population of 250m.
Islam really is the most desperate human cul de sac in all ways, sporting to scientific, cultural to technological. It is intrinsically stagnant.
India is the highest scoring Hindu-majority nation - 64th, with 1 silver (badminton) and 1 bronze (weightlifting)!!!
India's Olympics performances are unbelievably dismal
One of the problems - to my mind - seems to be a middle class that, as soon as they get rich, or at least affluent, immediately gets fat.
But with a population of one billion plus there must be plenty of hardy hillsmen and woodsmen and lissom teenage girl-gymnast types who would do India proud, if they develop the culture and the attitude.
You know I was born in India, though I've lived in Blighty since I was a baby, but I agree with every word!
To be fair, India did (for the first time) send over 100 atheletes to the games (124), compared with 7 (SEVEN) each for Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Thoroughly enjoying this round of horse riding in Modern Penthalon. Looks bloody dangerous.
Why does they say "modern pentathlon" but not "modern heptathlon" or "modern decathlon"?
There wasn't an ancient decathlon or heptaphlon. More so in the second instance as the Olympics were male only.
Reading up, it appears that the ancient pentathlon was in part inspired by events that demonstrated skills that would be useful in battle. So the "modern pentathlon" was essentially produced on the same principle, but updating for "modern" warfare.
In some ways the Decathlon and Heptathlon are essentially "ancient", as they are largely expansions of the ancient pentathlon.
Thoroughly enjoying this round of horse riding in Modern Penthalon. Looks bloody dangerous.
Why does they say "modern pentathlon" but not "modern heptathlon" or "modern decathlon"?
There wasn't an ancient decathlon or heptaphlon. More so in the second instance as the Olympics were male only.
Reading up, it appears that the ancient pentathlon was in part inspired by events that demonstrated skills that would be useful in battle. So the "modern pentathlon" was essentially produced on the same principle, but updating for "modern" warfare.
I think it needs updating again then with events on community engagement in occupied areas, going on patrol in full kit in desert heat, that sort of thing.
Thoroughly enjoying this round of horse riding in Modern Penthalon. Looks bloody dangerous.
Why does they say "modern pentathlon" but not "modern heptathlon" or "modern decathlon"?
There wasn't an ancient decathlon or heptaphlon. More so in the second instance as the Olympics were male only.
Reading up, it appears that the ancient pentathlon was in part inspired by events that demonstrated skills that would be useful in battle. So the "modern pentathlon" was essentially produced on the same principle, but updating for "modern" warfare.
In some ways the Decathlon and Heptathlon are essentially "ancient", as they are largely expansions of the ancient pentathlon.
Perhaps they should do an ultra modern version involving PlayStation
One striking thing in the medal table is the failure of Islamic nations.
Islam = 23% of humanity.
The highest achieving Muslim nation is Iran at 25th, followed by Indonesia at 42nd. Indonesia has a population of 250m.
Islam really is the most desperate human cul de sac in all ways, sporting to scientific, cultural to technological. It is intrinsically stagnant.
India is the highest scoring Hindu-majority nation - 64th, with 1 silver (badminton) and 1 bronze (weightlifting)!!!
India's Olympics performances are unbelievably dismal
One of the problems - to my mind - seems to be a middle class that, as soon as they get rich, or at least affluent, immediately gets fat.
But with a population of one billion plus there must be plenty of hardy hillsmen and woodsmen and lissom teenage girl-gymnast types who would do India proud, if they develop the culture and the attitude.
The Indian middle classes all want their children to be doctors and lawyers and engineers, taking part in sport is generally discouraged unless as an occasional hobby and the Indian poor have too much to worry about trying to survive to spend a great deal of time on leisure and games
Which is also a perfectly rational world view. Like the Indian middle classes, I too have very little interest in whether one person can run, jump or swim fractionally faster or higher than somebody else. There's nothing wrong with doing sport oneself to keep fit, of course, and I appreciate the social aspects, but I do struggle to share the obsessive interest and pride in the performance of strangers. I'll be glad when the circus is over and we can get back to discussing interesting topics. YMMV, of course!
One striking thing in the medal table is the failure of Islamic nations.
Islam = 23% of humanity.
The highest achieving Muslim nation is Iran at 25th, followed by Indonesia at 42nd. Indonesia has a population of 250m.
Islam really is the most desperate human cul de sac in all ways, sporting to scientific, cultural to technological. It is intrinsically stagnant.
India is the highest scoring Hindu-majority nation - 64th, with 1 silver (badminton) and 1 bronze (weightlifting)!!!
India's Olympics performances are unbelievably dismal
One of the problems - to my mind - seems to be a middle class that, as soon as they get rich, or at least affluent, immediately gets fat.
But with a population of one billion plus there must be plenty of hardy hillsmen and woodsmen and lissom teenage girl-gymnast types who would do India proud, if they develop the culture and the attitude.
The Indian middle classes all want their children to be doctors and lawyers and engineers,
Don't all our middle classes want that too? You'd still think with such a large pool to select from a few outliers could arise even with less of a sporty culture than ours.
Just the legging it from the enemy, whilst picking them off with your trusty revolver, event left.
Well it appears to be laser tag now....
Seems cheating - maintaining your weapon, keeping powder dry and all that should be important. In fact, they should have to compete all the events with a pistol and sword on their person, as they could hardly discard them if escaping territory.
One striking thing in the medal table is the failure of Islamic nations.
Islam = 23% of humanity.
The highest achieving Muslim nation is Iran at 25th, followed by Indonesia at 42nd. Indonesia has a population of 250m.
Islam really is the most desperate human cul de sac in all ways, sporting to scientific, cultural to technological. It is intrinsically stagnant.
Twasn't ever thus, of course.
Of course! I've been to Cordoba
It's very sad, what has happened to Islam - to my mind.
Catholicism in the old days really wasn't much better. All credit to Henry VIII and Lizzie I and various Germans for inventing a variant that basically involves pretending, whilst letting people get on with their lives. Just a shame that Cromwell and then a shedload of Americans started to take it all too seriously.
Just the legging it from the enemy, whilst picking them off with your trusty revolver, event left.
Well it appears to be laser tag now....
Seems cheating - maintaining your weapon, keeping powder dry and all that should be important. In fact, they should have to compete all the events with a pistol and sword on their person, as they could hardly discard them if escaping territory.
Full military dress should be a basic requirement.
Just the legging it from the enemy, whilst picking them off with your trusty revolver, event left.
Well it appears to be laser tag now....
Seems cheating - maintaining your weapon, keeping powder dry and all that should be important. In fact, they should have to compete all the events with a pistol and sword on their person, as they could hardly discard them if escaping territory.
Should do it with the seven barrel Nock volley gun.
One striking thing in the medal table is the failure of Islamic nations.
Islam = 23% of humanity.
The highest achieving Muslim nation is Iran at 25th, followed by Indonesia at 42nd. Indonesia has a population of 250m.
Islam really is the most desperate human cul de sac in all ways, sporting to scientific, cultural to technological. It is intrinsically stagnant.
India is the highest scoring Hindu-majority nation - 64th, with 1 silver (badminton) and 1 bronze (weightlifting)!!!
India's Olympics performances are unbelievably dismal
One of the problems - to my mind - seems to be a middle class that, as soon as they get rich, or at least affluent, immediately gets fat.
But with a population of one billion plus there must be plenty of hardy hillsmen and woodsmen and lissom teenage girl-gymnast types who would do India proud, if they develop the culture and the attitude.
The Indian middle classes all want their children to be doctors and lawyers and engineers,
Don't all our middle classes want that too? You'd still think with such a large pool to select from a few outliers could arise even with less of a sporty culture than ours.
The British middle classes are much more accepting of children who have a talent in rugby, athletics, golf, tennis etc and are willing to support them to pursue it professionally. There are good Indian cricketers but that success has not come through to other sports
Just the legging it from the enemy, whilst picking them off with your trusty revolver, event left.
Well it appears to be laser tag now....
Seems cheating - maintaining your weapon, keeping powder dry and all that should be important. In fact, they should have to compete all the events with a pistol and sword on their person, as they could hardly discard them if escaping territory.
Full military dress should be a basic requirement.
A true officer and gentleman would manage the whole series of events without even dirtying his uniform. Time penalties for every scruff.
One striking thing in the medal table is the failure of Islamic nations.
Islam = 23% of humanity.
The highest achieving Muslim nation is Iran at 25th, followed by Indonesia at 42nd. Indonesia has a population of 250m.
Islam really is the most desperate human cul de sac in all ways, sporting to scientific, cultural to technological. It is intrinsically stagnant.
Twasn't ever thus, of course.
Of course! I've been to Cordoba
It's very sad, what has happened to Islam - to my mind.
Catholicism in the old days really wasn't much better. All credit to Henry VIII and Lizzie I and various Germans for inventing a variant that basically involves pretending, whilst letting people get on with their lives. Just a shame that Cromwell and then a shedload of Americans started to take it all too seriously.
Just rereading Antonia Fraser's 'Our Chief of Men'. Cromwell wasn't exactly a party animal. Still, a bloody good soldier for all his faults.
Just the legging it from the enemy, whilst picking them off with your trusty revolver, event left.
Well it appears to be laser tag now....
Seems cheating - maintaining your weapon, keeping powder dry and all that should be important. In fact, they should have to compete all the events with a pistol and sword on their person, as they could hardly discard them if escaping territory.
Full military dress should be a basic requirement.
A true officer and gentleman would manage the whole series of events without even dirtying his uniform. Time penalties for every scruff.
That's a bit harsh. Just let the chaps take a batman to tidy things up after each event.
so an avreage 3 bedroom house for sale on my street is on sale for £500,000.
HALF A MILLION ! (an hour or so on the tube from central London). My dad came here from Pakistan earning £1.50/hour and now he's a bus driver and owns outright a house worth HALF A MILION Fucking pounds! This is insane. May must build more council houses. 100.000's. Brexit building infrasructure project. Then she would win London easily against Corbyn Lol.
One striking thing in the medal table is the failure of Islamic nations.
Islam = 23% of humanity.
The highest achieving Muslim nation is Iran at 25th, followed by Indonesia at 42nd. Indonesia has a population of 250m.
Islam really is the most desperate human cul de sac in all ways, sporting to scientific, cultural to technological. It is intrinsically stagnant.
India is the highest scoring Hindu-majority nation - 64th, with 1 silver (badminton) and 1 bronze (weightlifting)!!!
India's Olympics performances are unbelievably dismal
One of the problems - to my mind - seems to be a middle class that, as soon as they get rich, or at least affluent, immediately gets fat.
But with a population of one billion plus there must be plenty of hardy hillsmen and woodsmen and lissom teenage girl-gymnast types who would do India proud, if they develop the culture and the attitude.
The Indian middle classes all want their children to be doctors and lawyers and engineers,
Don't all our middle classes want that too? You'd still think with such a large pool to select from a few outliers could arise even with less of a sporty culture than ours.
China and India, basically, have the same population.
One striking thing in the medal table is the failure of Islamic nations.
Islam = 23% of humanity.
The highest achieving Muslim nation is Iran at 25th, followed by Indonesia at 42nd. Indonesia has a population of 250m.
Islam really is the most desperate human cul de sac in all ways, sporting to scientific, cultural to technological. It is intrinsically stagnant.
India is the highest scoring Hindu-majority nation - 64th, with 1 silver (badminton) and 1 bronze (weightlifting)!!!
India's Olympics performances are unbelievably dismal
One of the problems - to my mind - seems to be a middle class that, as soon as they get rich, or at least affluent, immediately gets fat.
But with a population of one billion plus there must be plenty of hardy hillsmen and woodsmen and lissom teenage girl-gymnast types who would do India proud, if they develop the culture and the attitude.
The Indian middle classes all want their children to be doctors and lawyers and engineers, taking part in sport is generally discouraged unless as an occasional hobby and the Indian poor have too much to worry about trying to survive to spend a great deal of time on leisure and games
Which is also a perfectly rational world view. Like the Indian middle classes, I too have very little interest in whether one person can run, jump or swim fractionally faster or higher than somebody else. There's nothing wrong with doing sport oneself to keep fit, of course, and I appreciate the social aspects, but I do struggle to share the obsessive interest and pride in the performance of strangers. I'll be glad when the circus is over and we can get back to discussing interesting topics. YMMV, of course!
It is interesting that the sport which India is best at, cricket, also now has plenty of money to be made at the top level thanks to the Indian Premier League which perhaps makes it a more acceptable choice for pushy Indian parents
Just the legging it from the enemy, whilst picking them off with your trusty revolver, event left.
Well it appears to be laser tag now....
Seems cheating - maintaining your weapon, keeping powder dry and all that should be important. In fact, they should have to compete all the events with a pistol and sword on their person, as they could hardly discard them if escaping territory.
Full military dress should be a basic requirement.
A true officer and gentleman would manage the whole series of events without even dirtying his uniform. Time penalties for every scruff.
That's a bit harsh. Just let the chaps take a batman to tidy things up after each event.
The batman gave their life to help the officer escape captivity and make a break for freedom. The officer will ensure he will be mentioned in dispatches, under his own citation for a VC.
so an avreage 3 bedroom house for sale on my street is on sale for £500,000.
HALF A MILLION ! (an hour or so on the tube from central London). My dad came here from Pakistan earning £1.50/hour and now he's a bus driver and owns outright a house worth HALF A MILION Fucking pounds! This is insane. May must build more council houses. 100.000's. Brexit building infrasructure project. Then she would win London easily against Corbyn Lol.
That is all.......
I'm sure there's a terribly complicated reason it hasn't been done, but it is needed.
so an avreage 3 bedroom house for sale on my street is on sale for £500,000.
HALF A MILLION ! (an hour or so on the tube from central London). My dad came here from Pakistan earning £1.50/hour and now he's a bus driver and owns outright a house worth HALF A MILION Fucking pounds! This is insane. May must build more council houses. 100.000's. Brexit building infrasructure project. Then she would win London easily against Corbyn Lol.
That is all.......
A Pakistani bus drivers son you say with a keen interest in politics....now where have I heard that story before? You aren't thinking of standing for parliament are you?
so an avreage 3 bedroom house for sale on my street is on sale for £500,000.
HALF A MILLION ! (an hour or so on the tube from central London). My dad came here from Pakistan earning £1.50/hour and now he's a bus driver and owns outright a house worth HALF A MILION Fucking pounds! This is insane. May must build more council houses. 100.000's. Brexit building infrasructure project. Then she would win London easily against Corbyn Lol.
That is all.......
Quite. In my life I've done about as well as any London cabbie who bought his council house in the '70s. It's mental.
One striking thing in the medal table is the failure of Islamic nations.
Islam = 23% of humanity.
The highest achieving Muslim nation is Iran at 25th, followed by Indonesia at 42nd. Indonesia has a population of 250m.
Islam really is the most desperate human cul de sac in all ways, sporting to scientific, cultural to technological. It is intrinsically stagnant.
India is the highest scoring Hindu-majority nation - 64th, with 1 silver (badminton) and 1 bronze (weightlifting)!!!
India's Olympics performances are unbelievably dismal
One of the problems - to my mind - seems to be a middle class that, as soon as they get rich, or at least affluent, immediately gets fat.
But with a population of one billion plus there must be plenty of hardy hillsmen and woodsmen and lissom teenage girl-gymnast types who would do India proud, if they develop the culture and the attitude.
The Indian middle classes all want their children to be doctors and lawyers and engineers,
Don't all our middle classes want that too? You'd still think with such a large pool to select from a few outliers could arise even with less of a sporty culture than ours.
The British middle classes are much more accepting of children who have a talent in rugby, athletics, golf, tennis etc and are willing to support them to pursue it professionally. There are good Indian cricketers but that success has not come through to other sports
Our basic 'secret' appears to be using national lottery money to enable our top athletes to get £30k a year so they can train full time without having to worry about making a living. In the old days under the old Olympic 'amateur' rules this might have been seen as a bit dodgy, but now the rules have been relaxed and professionals like Andy Murray et al are allowed to take part, it seems there's no problem. And it works out quite nicely for the government having the funding at semi-arms-length via the lottery, so that it is immune from austerity and all the government cuts.
One striking thing in the medal table is the failure of Islamic nations.
Islam = 23% of humanity.
The highest achieving Muslim nation is Iran at 25th, followed by Indonesia at 42nd. Indonesia has a population of 250m.
Islam really is the most desperate human cul de sac in all ways, sporting to scientific, cultural to technological. It is intrinsically stagnant.
Twasn't ever thus, of course.
Of course! I've been to Cordoba
It's very sad, what has happened to Islam - to my mind.
Catholicism in the old days really wasn't much better. All credit to Henry VIII and Lizzie I and various Germans for inventing a variant that basically involves pretending, whilst letting people get on with their lives. Just a shame that Cromwell and then a shedload of Americans started to take it all too seriously.
Just rereading Antonia Fraser's 'Our Chief of Men'. Cromwell wasn't exactly a party animal. Still, a bloody good soldier for all his faults.
Compared to some of the time, he was more tolerant. Odd times. I've always liked the Hyde quote on him as (in his eyes) being worthy of damnation but still possessing virtues which have caused men in all ages to be celebrated.
One striking thing in the medal table is the failure of Islamic nations.
Islam = 23% of humanity.
The highest achieving Muslim nation is Iran at 25th, followed by Indonesia at 42nd. Indonesia has a population of 250m.
Islam really is the most desperate human cul de sac in all ways, sporting to scientific, cultural to technological. It is intrinsically stagnant.
India is the highest scoring Hindu-majority nation - 64th, with 1 silver (badminton) and 1 bronze (weightlifting)!!!
India's Olympics performances are unbelievably dismal
One of the problems - to my mind - seems to be a middle class that, as soon as they get rich, or at least affluent, immediately gets fat.
But with a population of one billion plus there must be plenty of hardy hillsmen and woodsmen and lissom teenage girl-gymnast types who would do India proud, if they develop the culture and the attitude.
The Indian middle classes all want their children to be doctors and lawyers and engineers,
Don't all our middle classes want that too? You'd still think with such a large pool to select from a few outliers could arise even with less of a sporty culture than ours.
Except our middle classes who are doctors, lawyers and engineers. Seems they spend most of their time trying to persuade their kids to do something else with the lives. In our case, with dismal results. The brat wants to be a surgeon.
We shouldn't be surprised we have a Team GB going well in this posho multi-eventing...apparently we even have a high performance training centre for this at the University of Bath, that includes even a dedicated combined 400m circuit / electronic shooting range.
The blurb says basically one of the best facilities in the world for this.
One striking thing in the medal table is the failure of Islamic nations.
Islam = 23% of humanity.
The highest achieving Muslim nation is Iran at 25th, followed by Indonesia at 42nd. Indonesia has a population of 250m.
Islam really is the most desperate human cul de sac in all ways, sporting to scientific, cultural to technological. It is intrinsically stagnant.
India is the highest scoring Hindu-majority nation - 64th, with 1 silver (badminton) and 1 bronze (weightlifting)!!!
India's Olympics performances are unbelievably dismal
One of the problems - to my mind - seems to be a middle class that, as soon as they get rich, or at least affluent, immediately gets fat.
But with a population of one billion plus there must be plenty of hardy hillsmen and woodsmen and lissom teenage girl-gymnast types who would do India proud, if they develop the culture and the attitude.
The Indian middle classes all want their children to be doctors and lawyers and engineers,
Don't all our middle classes want that too? You'd still think with such a large pool to select from a few outliers could arise even with less of a sporty culture than ours.
The British middle classes are much more accepting of children who have a talent in rugby, athletics, golf, tennis etc and are willing to support them to pursue it professionally. There are good Indian cricketers but that success has not come through to other sports
Our basic 'secret' appears to be using national lottery money to enable our top athletes to get £30k a year so they can train full time without having to worry about making a living. In the old days under the old Olympic 'amateur' rules this might have been seen as a bit dodgy, but now the rules have been relaxed and professionals like Andy Murray et al are allowed to take part, it seems there's no problem. And it works out quite nicely for the government having the funding at semi-arms-length via the lottery, so that it is immune from austerity and all the government cuts.
And since that support is provided (to some sports more than others, granted) and we have other ways of rewarding winners, we don't even need to incentivize with monetary reward.
so an avreage 3 bedroom house for sale on my street is on sale for £500,000.
HALF A MILLION ! (an hour or so on the tube from central London). My dad came here from Pakistan earning £1.50/hour and now he's a bus driver and owns outright a house worth HALF A MILION Fucking pounds! This is insane. May must build more council houses. 100.000's. Brexit building infrasructure project. Then she would win London easily against Corbyn Lol.
That is all.......
A Pakistani bus drivers son you say with a keen interest in politics....now where have I heard that story before? You aren't thinking of standing for parliament are you?
One striking thing in the medal table is the failure of Islamic nations.
Islam = 23% of humanity.
The highest achieving Muslim nation is Iran at 25th, followed by Indonesia at 42nd. Indonesia has a population of 250m.
Islam really is the most desperate human cul de sac in all ways, sporting to scientific, cultural to technological. It is intrinsically stagnant.
Twasn't ever thus, of course.
Of course! I've been to Cordoba
It's very sad, what has happened to Islam - to my mind.
Catholicism in the old days really wasn't much better. All credit to Henry VIII and Lizzie I and various Germans for inventing a variant that basically involves pretending, whilst letting people get on with their lives. Just a shame that Cromwell and then a shedload of Americans started to take it all too seriously.
Just rereading Antonia Fraser's 'Our Chief of Men'. Cromwell wasn't exactly a party animal. Still, a bloody good soldier for all his faults.
I have a lot of admiration for Cromwell; what he did was radical and ground-breaking for its time, he had no precedents to follow, and whilst his attempts to give the revolution constitutional legitimacy failed to outlive him, arguably he laid seeds that enabled Britain to become dominant after the second revolution when we imported a new king from Holland. He also laid the foundations for lots of lasting features of Britishness including our local government. It was just a shame he was such a religious nut, and the less said about his trip to Ireland the better.
Talking about countries not doing well...South Africa..1 Gold (will be 2 after this evening), 9 medals in total...they have a long tradition of being bloody good at sport.
so an avreage 3 bedroom house for sale on my street is on sale for £500,000.
HALF A MILLION ! (an hour or so on the tube from central London). My dad came here from Pakistan earning £1.50/hour and now he's a bus driver and owns outright a house worth HALF A MILION Fucking pounds! This is insane. May must build more council houses. 100.000's. Brexit building infrasructure project. Then she would win London easily against Corbyn Lol.
That is all.......
A Pakistani bus drivers son you say with a keen interest in politics....now where have I heard that story before? You aren't thinking of standing for parliament are you?
While thinking Corbyn is not up to the job, and accepting his heart really did not seem into the Remain campaign and that must have had some effect, I do think it a bit much to suggest he is to blame for Brexit defeat, when his opponents whole case is predicated on that he is incapable of reaching out and convincing people of things, outside his core.
Sorry Mike I thought that you had backed that complete and obvious loser Owen Smith because of the extent of your palpable and repeated anti-Corbyn bias.
I am sure that when TK first hit the olympics it was dominated by far eastern countries where the martial art originated. It seems they quickly lost their advantage?
After being very critical of Khan for his apparent proximity to Islamists, I am slowly warming to him. He's not a great orator or anything but - e.g. - standing up for gay rights - going on the Pride March - given his background, took great big cullions.
Given that we are where we are with multiculturalism, the best hope for us all is a London mayor like Sadiq Khan.
Khan of course beat Jowell with Labour members convincingly so what he says has weight, this is a clear boost for Smith
so an avreage 3 bedroom house for sale on my street is on sale for £500,000.
HALF A MILLION ! (an hour or so on the tube from central London). My dad came here from Pakistan earning £1.50/hour and now he's a bus driver and owns outright a house worth HALF A MILION Fucking pounds! This is insane. May must build more council houses. 100.000's. Brexit building infrasructure project. Then she would win London easily against Corbyn Lol.
That is all.......
A Pakistani bus drivers son you say with a keen interest in politics....now where have I heard that story before? You aren't thinking of standing for parliament are you?
I have a lot of admiration for Cromwell; what he did was radical and ground-breaking for its time, he had no precedents to follow, and whilst his attempts to give the revolution constitutional legitimacy failed to outlive him, arguably he laid seeds that enabled Britain to become dominant after the second revolution when we imported a new king from Holland. He also laid the foundations for lots of lasting features of Britishness including our local government. It was just a shame he was such a religious nut, and the less said about his trip to Ireland the better.
One striking thing in the medal table is the failure of Islamic nations.
Islam = 23% of humanity.
The highest achieving Muslim nation is Iran at 25th, followed by Indonesia at 42nd. Indonesia has a population of 250m.
Islam really is the most desperate human cul de sac in all ways, sporting to scientific, cultural to technological. It is intrinsically stagnant.
India is the highest scoring Hindu-majority nation - 64th, with 1 silver (badminton) and 1 bronze (weightlifting)!!!
India's Olympics performances are unbelievably dismal
One of the problems - to my mind - seems to be a middle class that, as soon as they get rich, or at least affluent, immediately gets fat.
But with a population of one billion plus there must be plenty of hardy hillsmen and woodsmen and lissom teenage girl-gymnast types who would do India proud, if they develop the culture and the attitude.
The Indian middle classes all want their children to be doctors and lawyers and engineers,
Don't all our middle classes want that too? You'd still think with such a large pool to select from a few outliers could arise even with less of a sporty culture than ours.
China and India, basically, have the same population.
China has 60+ medals, India only 2 - TWO....
Until 1968 m it was either India or Pakistan who used to win the Hockey. Plus a few wrestling medals. But India / Pakistan lost out when science came into it.
After being very critical of Khan for his apparent proximity to Islamists, I am slowly warming to him. He's not a great orator or anything but - e.g. - standing up for gay rights - going on the Pride March - given his background, took great big cullions.
Given that we are where we are with multiculturalism, the best hope for us all is a London mayor like Sadiq Khan.
One striking thing in the medal table is the failure of Islamic nations.
Islam = 23% of humanity.
The highest achieving Muslim nation is Iran at 25th, followed by Indonesia at 42nd. Indonesia has a population of 250m.
Islam really is the most desperate human cul de sac in all ways, sporting to scientific, cultural to technological. It is intrinsically stagnant.
Twasn't ever thus, of course.
Of course! I've been to Cordoba
It's very sad, what has happened to Islam - to my mind.
Catholicism in the old days really wasn't much better. All credit to Henry VIII and Lizzie I and various Germans for inventing a variant that basically involves pretending, whilst letting people get on with their lives. Just a shame that Cromwell and then a shedload of Americans started to take it all too seriously.
Just rereading Antonia Fraser's 'Our Chief of Men'. Cromwell wasn't exactly a party animal. Still, a bloody good soldier for all his faults.
I have a lot of admiration for Cromwell; what he did was radical and ground-breaking for its time, he had no precedents to follow, and whilst his attempts to give the revolution constitutional legitimacy failed to outlive him, arguably he laid seeds that enabled Britain to become dominant after the second revolution when we imported a new king from Holland. He also laid the foundations for lots of lasting features of Britishness including our local government. It was just a shame he was such a religious nut, and the less said about his trip to Ireland the better.
War was brutal and terrible all over, particularly when religious factors come into play. Such is life.
Interestingly I recall at least one debate from the Protectorate Parliaments on raising of charges from Ireland, where various MPs did impress that too much a burden was being placed on the conquered ireland and it would be counter productive.
Though I like this bit taken out of context:
Major Morgan: We have three beasts to destroy, that lay burdens upon us:
1st, is a public Tory, on whose head we lay 200l., and 40l. upon a private Tory's
so an avreage 3 bedroom house for sale on my street is on sale for £500,000.
HALF A MILLION ! (an hour or so on the tube from central London). My dad came here from Pakistan earning £1.50/hour and now he's a bus driver and owns outright a house worth HALF A MILION Fucking pounds! This is insane. May must build more council houses. 100.000's. Brexit building infrasructure project. Then she would win London easily against Corbyn Lol.
That is all.......
A Pakistani bus drivers son you say with a keen interest in politics....now where have I heard that story before? You aren't thinking of standing for parliament are you?
One striking thing in the medal table is the failure of Islamic nations.
Islam = 23% of humanity.
The highest achieving Muslim nation is Iran at 25th, followed by Indonesia at 42nd. Indonesia has a population of 250m.
Islam really is the most desperate human cul de sac in all ways, sporting to scientific, cultural to technological. It is intrinsically stagnant.
India is the highest scoring Hindu-majority nation - 64th, with 1 silver (badminton) and 1 bronze (weightlifting)!!!
India's Olympics performances are unbelievably dismal
One of the problems - to my mind - seems to be a middle class that, as soon as they get rich, or at least affluent, immediately gets fat.
But with a population of one billion plus there must be plenty of hardy hillsmen and woodsmen and lissom teenage girl-gymnast types who would do India proud, if they develop the culture and the attitude.
The Indian middle classes all want their children to be doctors and lawyers and engineers,
Don't all our middle classes want that too? You'd still think with such a large pool to select from a few outliers could arise even with less of a sporty culture than ours.
The British middle classes are much more accepting of children who have a talent in rugby, athletics, golf, tennis etc and are willing to support them to pursue it professionally. There are good Indian cricketers but that success has not come through to other sports
Our basic 'secret' appears to be using national lottery money to enable our top athletes to get £30k a year so they can train full time without having to worry about making a living. In the old days under the old Olympic 'amateur' rules this might have been seen as a bit dodgy, but now the rules have been relaxed and professionals like Andy Murray et al are allowed to take part, it seems there's no problem. And it works out quite nicely for the government having the funding at semi-arms-length via the lottery, so that it is immune from austerity and all the government cuts.
Indeed, giving Olympic athletes a slightly above average income means they can afford to train full time and funding it by lottery avoids the government having to raise direct taxes
One striking thing in the medal table is the failure of Islamic nations.
Islam = 23% of humanity.
The highest achieving Muslim nation is Iran at 25th, followed by Indonesia at 42nd. Indonesia has a population of 250m.
Islam really is the most desperate human cul de sac in all ways, sporting to scientific, cultural to technological. It is intrinsically stagnant.
India is the highest scoring Hindu-majority nation - 64th, with 1 silver (badminton) and 1 bronze (weightlifting)!!!
India's Olympics performances are unbelievably dismal
One of the problems - to my mind - seems to be a middle class that, as soon as they get rich, or at least affluent, immediately gets fat.
But with a population of one billion plus there must be plenty of hardy hillsmen and woodsmen and lissom teenage girl-gymnast types who would do India proud, if they develop the culture and the attitude.
The Indian middle classes all want their children to be doctors and lawyers and engineers,
Don't all our middle classes want that too? You'd still think with such a large pool to select from a few outliers could arise even with less of a sporty culture than ours.
Except our middle classes who are doctors, lawyers and engineers. Seems they spend most of their time trying to persuade their kids to do something else with the lives. In our case, with dismal results. The brat wants to be a surgeon.
so an avreage 3 bedroom house for sale on my street is on sale for £500,000.
HALF A MILLION ! (an hour or so on the tube from central London). My dad came here from Pakistan earning £1.50/hour and now he's a bus driver and owns outright a house worth HALF A MILION Fucking pounds! This is insane. May must build more council houses. 100.000's. Brexit building infrasructure project. Then she would win London easily against Corbyn Lol.
That is all.......
A Pakistani bus drivers son you say with a keen interest in politics....now where have I heard that story before? You aren't thinking of standing for parliament are you?
One striking thing in the medal table is the failure of Islamic nations.
Islam = 23% of humanity.
The highest achieving Muslim nation is Iran at 25th, followed by Indonesia at 42nd. Indonesia has a population of 250m.
Islam really is the most desperate human cul de sac in all ways, sporting to scientific, cultural to technological. It is intrinsically stagnant.
Twasn't ever thus, of course.
Of course! I've been to Cordoba
It's very sad, what has happened to Islam - to my mind.
Catholicism in the old days really wasn't much better. All credit to Henry VIII and Lizzie I and various Germans for inventing a variant that basically involves pretending, whilst letting people get on with their lives. Just a shame that Cromwell and then a shedload of Americans started to take it all too seriously.
Just rereading Antonia Fraser's 'Our Chief of Men'. Cromwell wasn't exactly a party animal. Still, a bloody good soldier for all his faults.
I have a lot of admiration for Cromwell; what he did was radical and ground-breaking for its time, he had no precedents to follow, and whilst his attempts to give the revolution constitutional legitimacy failed to outlive him, arguably he laid seeds that enabled Britain to become dominant after the second revolution when we imported a new king from Holland. He also laid the foundations for lots of lasting features of Britishness including our local government. It was just a shame he was such a religious nut, and the less said about his trip to Ireland the better.
War was brutal and terrible all over, particularly when religious factors come into play. Such is life.
Interestingly I recall at least one debate from the Protectorate Parliaments on raising of charges from Ireland, where various MPs did impress that too much a burden was being placed on the conquered ireland and it would be counter productive.
Though I like this bit taken out of context:
Major Morgan: We have three beasts to destroy, that lay burdens upon us:
1st, is a public Tory, on whose head we lay 200l., and 40l. upon a private Tory's
And I see despite their professments otherwise, the Tories haven't changed:
Colonel Sankey: It would be really for your advantage to abate them for three or seven years. I think 5, or 6,000l. over-charge will be enough, and be a good refreshment to you. The highways are very chargeable to us there. The Tories cause taxes upon us. The wolves disperse and destroy our flocks
so an avreage 3 bedroom house for sale on my street is on sale for £500,000.
HALF A MILLION ! (an hour or so on the tube from central London). My dad came here from Pakistan earning £1.50/hour and now he's a bus driver and owns outright a house worth HALF A MILION Fucking pounds! This is insane. May must build more council houses. 100.000's. Brexit building infrasructure project. Then she would win London easily against Corbyn Lol.
That is all.......
Quite. In my life I've done about as well as any London cabbie who bought his council house in the '70s. It's mental.
One striking thing in the medal table is the failure of Islamic nations.
Islam = 23% of humanity.
The highest achieving Muslim nation is Iran at 25th, followed by Indonesia at 42nd. Indonesia has a population of 250m.
Islam really is the most desperate human cul de sac in all ways, sporting to scientific, cultural to technological. It is intrinsically stagnant.
India is the highest scoring Hindu-majority nation - 64th, with 1 silver (badminton) and 1 bronze (weightlifting)!!!
India's Olympics performances are unbelievably dismal
The Indian middle classes all want their children to be doctors and lawyers and engineers,
Don't all our middle classes want that too? You'd still think with such a large pool to select from a few outliers could arise even with less of a sporty culture than ours.
The British middle classes are much more accepting of children who have a talent in rugby, athletics, golf, tennis etc and are willing to support them to pursue it professionally. There are good Indian cricketers but that success has not come through to other sports
Our basic 'secret' appears to be using national lottery money to enable our top athletes to get £30k a year so they can train full time without having to worry about making a living. In the old days under the old Olympic 'amateur' rules this might have been seen as a bit dodgy, but now the rules have been relaxed and professionals like Andy Murray et al are allowed to take part, it seems there's no problem. And it works out quite nicely for the government having the funding at semi-arms-length via the lottery, so that it is immune from austerity and all the government cuts.
And since that support is provided (to some sports more than others, granted) and we have other ways of rewarding winners, we don't even need to incentivize with monetary reward.
It does however mean that we have a cadre of top sportsmen and women who are essentially publicly funded employees. Whether this is a good thing or a good use of public money is an interesting question (although I am certainly enjoying our success as much as the next Brit); it does seem to be picking up where the former communist countries left off. And I would imagine that our model will start to be copied by other countries jealous of our suddenly being able to punch above our weight in the sporting world. In time Olympic sport could go the way of politics (cf America) where money is all that matters. Which is a long way from Baron de C's original vision.
I am sure that when TK first hit the olympics it was dominated by far eastern countries where the martial art originated. It seems they quickly lost their advantage?
Definitely. It was introduced in 2000, after being a demo sport. The number of countries collecting medals has widened out massively since the first few appearances.
so an avreage 3 bedroom house for sale on my street is on sale for £500,000.
HALF A MILLION ! (an hour or so on the tube from central London). My dad came here from Pakistan earning £1.50/hour and now he's a bus driver and owns outright a house worth HALF A MILION Fucking pounds! This is insane. May must build more council houses. 100.000's. Brexit building infrasructure project. Then she would win London easily against Corbyn Lol.
That is all.......
My Mum and Dad got a 25 year mortgage to pay off the £7,000 they borrowed to buy the house in Dartmouth Park I grew up in. It's now worth around £2 million. And the mortgage was paid off in 1995, when houses in the street were going for around £400,000. We had a little party.
He's the most senior directly elected Labour politician, by a huge distance. He has an immovable power base in London: he can't be deselected like MPs. He has backstory and authenticity (more than Corbyn).
He is the one Labour politician able to take on Corbyn.
Khan is wagering that Corbyn will stumble and fall, and Corbyn's supporters will scatter in wild confusion...
I am sure that when TK first hit the olympics it was dominated by far eastern countries where the martial art originated. It seems they quickly lost their advantage?
Definitely. It was introduced in 2000, after being a demo sport. The number of countries collecting medals has widened out massively since the first few appearances.
GB v CHN right now!
It's quite reassuring that we aren't the only country to invent sports that other people are better at.
I am sure that when TK first hit the olympics it was dominated by far eastern countries where the martial art originated. It seems they quickly lost their advantage?
Definitely. It was introduced in 2000, after being a demo sport. The number of countries collecting medals has widened out massively since the first few appearances.
GB v CHN right now!
There seems to be a lot less perpetual hopping about at this weight than I saw with Jade Jones, who never stayed still for a moment.
One striking thing in the medal table is the failure of Islamic nations.
Islam = 23% of humanity.
The highest achieving Muslim nation is Iran at 25th, followed by Indonesia at 42nd. Indonesia has a population of 250m.
Islam really is the most desperate human cul de sac in all ways, sporting to scientific, cultural to technological. It is intrinsically stagnant.
India is the highest scoring Hindu-majority nation - 64th, with 1 silver (badminton) and 1 bronze (weightlifting)!!!
India's Olympics performances are unbelievably dismal
The Indian middle classes all want their children to be doctors and lawyers and engineers,
Don't all our middle classes want that too? You'd still think with such a large pool to select from a few outliers could arise even with less of a sporty culture than ours.
The British middle classes are much more accepting of children who have a talent in rugby, athletics, golf, tennis etc and are willing to support them to pursue it professionally. There are good Indian cricketers but that success has not come through to other sports
Our basic 'secret' appears to be using national lottery money to enable our top athletes to get £30k a year so they can train full time without having to worry about making a living. In the old days under the old Olympic 'amateur' rules this might have been seen as a bit dodgy, but now the rules have been relaxed and professionals like Andy Murray et al are allowed to take part, it seems there's no problem. And it works out quite nicely for the government having the funding at s via the lottery, so that it is immune from a .
And since that support is provided (to some sports more than others, granted) and we have other ways of rewarding winners, we don't even need to incentivize with monetary reward.
It does however mean that we have a cadre of top sportsmen and women who are essentially publicly funded employees. Whether this is a good thing or a good use of public money is an interesting question (although I am certainly enjoying our success as much as the next Brit); it does seem to be picking up where the former communist countries left off. And I would imagine that our model will start to be copied by other countries jealous of our suddenly being able to punch above our weight in the sporting world. In time Olympic sport could go the way of politics (cf America) where money is all that matters. Which is a long way from Baron de C's original vision.
He's the most senior directly elected Labour politician, by a huge distance. He has an immovable power base in London: he can't be deselected like MPs. He has backstory and authenticity (more than Corbyn).
He is the one Labour politician able to take on Corbyn.
Khan is wagering that Corbyn will stumble and fall, and Corbyn's supporters will scatter in wild confusion...
He can be deselected. He could not get Labour's nomination for mayor in 2020 - though that is unlikely as things stand.
More important, a large number of Labour members are based in London and Khan is very popular among them. This intervention could sway a few soft Corbynites and a lot of undecideds.
I am sure that when TK first hit the olympics it was dominated by far eastern countries where the martial art originated. It seems they quickly lost their advantage?
Definitely. It was introduced in 2000, after being a demo sport. The number of countries collecting medals has widened out massively since the first few appearances.
GB v CHN right now!
There seems to be a lot less perpetual hopping about at this weight than I saw with Jade Jones, who never stayed still for a moment.
Seriously trying some punches as well, which were so rare I didn't know they were allowed in the lower weights.
I am sure that when TK first hit the olympics it was dominated by far eastern countries where the martial art originated. It seems they quickly lost their advantage?
Definitely. It was introduced in 2000, after being a demo sport. The number of countries collecting medals has widened out massively since the first few appearances.
GB v CHN right now!
There seems to be a lot less perpetual hopping about at this weight than I saw with Jade Jones, who never stayed still for a moment.
I am sure that when TK first hit the olympics it was dominated by far eastern countries where the martial art originated. It seems they quickly lost their advantage?
Definitely. It was introduced in 2000, after being a demo sport. The number of countries collecting medals has widened out massively since the first few appearances.
GB v CHN right now!
There seems to be a lot less perpetual hopping about at this weight than I saw with Jade Jones, who never stayed still for a moment.
Goes to Golden point! COME ON THE SCOUSER!
Three rounds without a single score, other than penalties for holding, isn't that impressive. This golden point round could last for a long time....
GB now guaranteed to come second on the medal table.
You are Sion Simon
GB is still 3 golds ahead of China at the moment, even if China made a net gain of 3 golds in the next 24 hours GB would still come second as it has 4 more silvers, so not guaranteed but still likely
Comments
To be fair, India did (for the first time) send over 100 atheletes to the games (124), compared with 7 (SEVEN) each for Pakistan and Bangladesh.
In some ways the Decathlon and Heptathlon are essentially "ancient", as they are largely expansions of the ancient pentathlon.
State Sponsored Doping in 1st
Team GB 9s behind
This is after Team GB guy got a 10s penalty for using the wrong wire in the fencing.
HALF A MILLION ! (an hour or so on the tube from central London). My dad came here from Pakistan earning £1.50/hour and now he's a bus driver and owns outright a house worth HALF A MILION Fucking pounds! This is insane. May must build more council houses. 100.000's. Brexit building infrasructure project. Then she would win London easily against Corbyn Lol.
That is all.......
China has 60+ medals, India only 2 - TWO....
The blurb says basically one of the best facilities in the world for this.
......which probably means yes.......
Interestingly I recall at least one debate from the Protectorate Parliaments on raising of charges from Ireland, where various MPs did impress that too much a burden was being placed on the conquered ireland and it would be counter productive.
Though I like this bit taken out of context:
Major Morgan: We have three beasts to destroy, that lay burdens upon us:
1st, is a public Tory, on whose head we lay 200l., and 40l. upon a private Tory's
https://www.british-history.ac.uk/burton-diaries/vol2/pp207-219
Colonel Sankey: It would be really for your advantage to abate them for three or seven years. I think 5, or 6,000l. over-charge will be enough, and be a good refreshment to you. The highways are very chargeable to us there. The Tories cause taxes upon us. The wolves disperse and destroy our flocks
The fact that we have a good chance to come 2nd, beating China, is frankly amazing.
Enjoying every moment.
GB v CHN right now!
More important, a large number of Labour members are based in London and Khan is very popular among them. This intervention could sway a few soft Corbynites and a lot of undecideds.
Edit/ and punching never seems to score
The actual Sion Simon comparison is with the bloke who made the predictions the BBC had.
Liverpool = Corbynite Labour
And I reckon she should have had silver.
So bet on Farah not to win and medals for Cho and Choong.
Challenged - PHEW. Still 1-1.