2012 London Olympic Games
News & Comment
Olympic Winners Will Have To Pay VAT on Their Medals
April 1st The British Government through its Custom & Revenues office (the Inland Revenue) has ruled that any athleles recieving a silver or gold medal in the London Olympics will have to pay VAT at 20& of the predominant precious metal value within the medal they recieve. Winners of bronze medals which are predominantly made of less valuable alloys will not be liable to this tax.
The medals for this years Olympics have been made as set out in the Olympic Charter which requires gold and silver medals must each to be made of 92.5 percent pure silver and with the gold medal gilded by a minimum of six grams of gold. When the Briitish Olympics purchased the gold and silver required for this years medals the indivual price of the metals was $212 for a silver medal and $440 for a gold..
All athletes winning gold or silver medal will be presented with their medals at the medal ceremony but silver and gold medalists will have to hand them back when they step down fom the rostrum VAT on the medal is paid. The VAT will be $42,4 for a silver medal and $88.0 for a gold. Credit card and debit card facilities will be availble at the foot of rostrum for those athletes wishing to make an immediate payment,. Cash payments will not be accepted due to security consideratins. Winning medalists will have up to 31st December 2012 to pay the levy after which the medals smelted.
Olympc Mascots May Be Made By Staff Paid 26p Per Hour
Unwanted Tickets To Be Bought Back By LOCOG
Is The Olympic Logo Racist ?
Ok many things have been said about the design of the logo for the London Olympics to us it looks like to a fragmented map of the London Underground system after having been torn up by a frustrated commuter on the Hammersmith and City Line – whilst to others it would not be out of place in a trendy modern art exhibition. at the Tate Modern – but whatever it artistic merits or shortcomings the charge that it is intended to be racist is not tenable.
The charge made by Mohammad Aliabadi, head of Iran’s national Olympic committee, who in a letter letter to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) suggests the design incorporates the word ‘zion’ which he perceives a ;revolting act’.as Zion is a place in Jerusalem thought to be the place where the Jewish religion began and in contemporary terms is read as a a synonym for the state of Israel. The basis of this allegation is shown on this youtube video. His letter also states that “Unfortunately, we all are witnessing that the upcoming Olympics face a serious challenge, definitely spawned out of some people’s racist spirit. The claim has so enraged some of his fellow countrymen that there are calls for Iran and other Arab countries to boycott the games.
The London Olympics Committee supported by the IOC dismiss this claim saying that design made up of four jagged figures merely represents the year 2012.
Historically the Olympic Games were a platform to resolve disputes between communities (see our history page) and in modern times there are strong arguments to suggest that the games and sport in general can be a medium to bridge the negatives of prejudice and hate that sadly divide this world. Alienating an entire nation or union of nations to the extent that they boycott the games destroys these founding principles of the games and undermines the competitiveness of the games. This was highlighted by the boycott of the 1980 Games in Moscow by sixty five countries a protest which was then subsequently replicated by 15 pro Soviet states who boycotted the Los Angeles Games in 1984.
In fact bearing in the mind that the reason for the mass boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games was the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan you could describe the London bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games as somewhere between brave and reckless given Britain’s invasion of the same country and then Iraq. These invasions and the subsequent attacks on Islamic culture and societies have won the UK few friends outside the boardrooms of Texas Oil companies
Since the games were awarded to London and the logo was ‘created’ (and that’s a very generous adjective) many formerly strong economies across the world have floundered and the financial viability of the London games is more questionable than ever. For thIs reason and bearing in mind the Afghanistan and Iraq war factors Britain does not need to further alienate any Arab country.
It is just not tenable to suggest that the London Games Organising Committee would commission or sanction a logo that would offend the Arab world and risk boycotts from there-in. Such behaviour would be immoral, go against the founding principle of the games and be economic suicide.
Iran must understand this logo is not racist and that the UK is not using the games as a vehicle for promoting the aspirations or politics of Israel’s Government. Iran should also realise that probably the majority of people in this country are not comfortable with the situation that exists in the occupied countries whether it is the isolation of Palestinians or the cessation of the freeze on the building of Israeli settlements.
London and England welcomes competitors and spectators to the games from every country in the world – their culture race or religion is irrelevant because whether they are friends and foe they share one over -riding powerful bond the love of the sports they compete in. or are watching. Finding shared bonds is the first step to the peaceful co-existence the majority of us mortals yearn. Few of us want to be shot thats for sure.
