The ExCeL centre is the land that God forgot
Welcome to the end of the earth. Welcome to the land God forgot..
I am in the ExCeL centre. But worry not, the ExCeL centre excels at nothing. It has the shared misfortune with 20 of the world’s most powerful leaders of being the place that this summit is being held.
Even in the best of times, this is a dump, a warehouse in which absurdly large events are staged. Devoid of character, nestling the City airport, it is stuck in the middle of a place that appears never to have seen a shop, never to have seen a pint pulled, never to have seen a baby born, let alone a body buried.
It is the waste tip of east London. And presumably now that the Olympic site has been cleared, basks alone as a gateway to nowhere.
Travelling in here on the security-strewn media buses, I wondered how a Mexican or a Brazilian, or indeed a German or a Frenchman would view this taste of England. Imagine if your only glimpse of Europe was this ghastly pile of metal and concrete. You would think that development meant some voyage into outer Hades.
The thought that there are 3,000 hacks here, sending postcards home, telling mum and dad they have been to Blighty and tasted of the forbidden fruits of the ExCeL centre, fills me with a real fear that this will become emblematic of Britain’s cascade through the economic meltdown.
I am hoping that my view of the otherwise charming ExCeL centre has not been coloured by the fact that it took me two and a half hours and a £110 black cab ride to get here in the small hours of the morning.
There are those who ask: where the hell is it? Rest assured, it is beyond anywhere you have ever been or would ever want to go. I asked the COI man who was organising this event, and he told me that with the shortness of notice, the scale of the operation, the nature of the threat, this was, alas, the only place in Britain that this summit could be staged.
People seem to have forgotten that in the only days the whole idea of these meetings was to gather in private, away from the maelstrom, have serious talks, and then let us know what had been concluded.
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[...] News’s estimable Jon Snow on the psychogeographic-significance of the G20 summit being held in the Excel centre in London’s Docklands. “Even in the best of times, this is a dump, a warehouse in which [...]
Jon, at least you are there for a G20 summit. The only time I went to the Excel centre was for a management course…
The location and surrounding area seems like a media savy move by Labour to not have pictures in media outlets showing these world leaders in amazing surroundings in such a time of doom and gloom. For that purpose the ExCel centre is as doomy and gloomy as you can get outside of holding in a town hall in tottenham.
Hi, I am more concerned with the news that has been overlooked during the frenzy of this rather pointless summit, which has as you so correctly state been staged nowhere and is going nowhere!!. But in the meantime what of domestic politics, we have our current Home Secretary coyly apologising for the fact that her husband watches porno movies at our expense, but overlooks the main point, there were surf movies on her list for which we did pay, what I would like as a voter is an explanation of why an elected representative should imagine that her families home entertainment which does not relate in any way to either her constituancy or parliamentary business should be our concern or our cost ? any chance of following that one up, or does this corruption just disappear into the woodwork while we are disatracted by bread and circuses?
Jonh! You have been ripped off! £100 taxi ride! no way!
Good point about ‘what will people think’ if this is their first taste of Britain. I thought the same looking around Google Street View when it launched recently. Cities that were photographed in the sun look much better than those that were covered on gloomy grey days. How much of an impact will that have on tourism?
Do they sell Excel building T-shirts there? The “I went to Excel and all I got was this lousy T-shirt”- type? Can just picture the T-shirt clad delegates, posing for their last photo-op…
[...] The ExCeL centre is the land that God forgot · Jon Snow on the wasteland that is ExCeL: "People seem to have forgotten that in the only [sic] days the whole idea of these meetings was to gather in private, away from the maelstrom, have serious talks, and then let us know what had been concluded." [...]
I’m sure they could have found a table for 20 at Gleneagles if anyone in London had
asked Alex Salmond to put in a word? Or
they could have gone to Iceland …………!
Jon Snow is lucky that he does not have to live in this “wasteland” that time forgot, many other decent people do. The exhibition centre is based in one of the most deprived communities in the UK where levels of employments are high and aspirations low. It is a shame that the hundreds of journalists, politicians and even the protesters didn’t take the time out to look at the wider picture of how the global recession is impacting on people in Custom House and Canning Town.
What are you on about? The ExCel Centre is GORGEOUS. Big skies, rippling water. OK – maybe a couple of hanging baskets…