The horrible possibility of good news
So the London Olympics is to sport a largely privately funded artwork that is in danger of being both interesting, aesthetically pleasing, and fun. The announcement of the Anish Kapoor tower and the revelation that it will be largely paid for by the Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal raises an alarming new question over the 2012 Olympics.
Is there a lurking danger that the Olympics are becoming – perish the thought – a good news story? The unveiling of Kapoor’s intriguing tower coincides with the discovery that businesses across the UK – from a concrete company in Northern Ireland to a stationery company in the Northern England, and a Scottish company handling an aquatic sports contract – are all benefiting nation-wide from the £9bn expenditure of public moneys on the London games.
Throughout the media, the award of the Olympics to London has frequently been regarded as a bad news story. Late, over budget, unnecessary, lacking legacy, and an East London white elephant – are only a few of the London Olympic headlines.
But as the Olympic site continues on budget and on time, providing an increasingly handsome phoenix rising from the blighted wastes of an area Empire deserted decades ago, a slow discovery is dawning. The awful prospect that the games may prove a rip-roaring success is beginning to look a real possibility.
But don’t worry. If the site, the staging, and the long term legacy are beginning to look dangerously close to good news, there is still the chance that we shall be able to speculate that they will prove a UK sporting failure.
What is it about the Brits that we look so hard for bad news? The ‘Britain is bust’; ‘Britain has lost the plot’, school of journalism, delivers a cascade of attitudes which reside in the goods yard of locking people up; banning eerie substances; and condemning every endeavour for public good.
I have long regarded the intrusion into public peoples’ private lives; the hysteria surrounding a tiny handful of notorious crimes; and the wholesale damnation of entire religious belief groups, as part of what lowers Britain’s belief in the decency of the people amongst whom we all live.
It’s well articulated today by the Parole Board Chief David Latham’s statement that we area ‘risk averse society’
The figures for voluntary sector participation; for the reality that UKPLC remains the sixth or seventh biggest manufacturing centre in the world; the fifth or sixth biggest economy in the world; and one of the most globally desired countries in which to live; tell a story.
It’s a story that rarely features in the mass media. So, dare we consider the possibility that the UK might be in the midst of building the best all-round Olympic operation in a generation? Don’t bet on it!