General Chat

Hi Colin!!! you been sleeping it off since NYE!!! never expected this thread to raise it's head again.

Ann X

Whirley

I am aware what the debate is about, but GOS & Other things have been mentioned & none are also to do with fireworks.

I never said the firework money was being donated to GOH

I was making a point that it already recieves funding like other hospitals do, but how do we not know if it already has had a huge donation from somewhere, no one would notice anyway as money seems to go on running & maintenance costs rather than new items one would expect to come from a donation.

I hear, Boris, the Mayor of London is going to make the 2009 Fireworks a ticket event.

Well now, that is a good idea. Let those that want to enjoy/watch such an event pay for it out of their own pockets.

I quite like fireworks but not that amount at that cost.....and I worry about all the pets in the neighbourhood awwww.............

Then there's the environment........

and the homeless........

Bring back Andy Stewart!!!

"Donald, where's yer troosers?"

"There was a soldier, a Scottish soldier ......."


Those were the days!!

great to see all these different points of view - that's what a good debate is all about

Well, I can certainly see a number of different views here.

But, for what it's worth I think the tourism boost London gets from New year is very, very important especially at a time when the tourism industry is likely to be one of the hardest hit.

However, for every year that I can remember people have flocked to the capital and rammed themselves into Trafalgar Square and along the Embankment and every year has been claimed as even better for the tourist industry.

And that was before the fireworks started!

So, isn't that even better? Tourism generated income, and still got the £1.6m in the bank - sounds like win/win to me!

I'm sure I'll be shot down in flames, but having been to London a few times for New Year (in my younger days, I might add......) the thrill is in the moment, not in a few minutes of fireworks.......

Mildred the debate is abt the money used for the fireworks in London. I have not seen/read anywhere that any proceeds from the display etc etc has been donated to GOSH/other charities. I may be wrong of course and no doubt you will tell me if I am. Happy New Year to you:)

Just to add:

Great Ormond Street, needs to raise £170million in five years to re-develop two-thirds of the hospital site. & we've just spent 1.6 mil on fireworks....yep, that's what I call getting our priorities right..

Just read through and there are a lot of good points made here. One of the main ones being Mildred's when she says the fireworks were probably bought before the credit crunch hit.

So, in retrospect, and agreeing with TW and others, although at first glance they seemed a waste (although they looked spectacular and i enjoyed them!) they probably gave employment to many, gave tourism a boost, gave Londoners a lift and per person didn't cost a huge sum.

The olympics I am not so sure about, none of the countries who have staged them in recent times have come out of it well off.

There were a couple of really big displays around us in private gardens, i can only think that several families may have clubbed together to buy them. Anyway, they gave us some pleasure for nothing so my thanks to them. strange, although i do think they are a waste of money, I do enjoy looking at them (If I have not paid for them).

Ann
glos xx

The point is, how do we know that no money has been spent in hospitals such as GOS.

I bet lots of cash has been ploughed in, but because its not on items we can visualize, like sparkling new equipment, new wards & departments we assume nothing has been done & no money spent.

As you all know it costs millions to just run hospitals & maintain the equipment they already have.


Bit like the running of a home but on a much inflated scale...money comes in, & goes out, with often nothing to show for it.

Agree with Uggers and Mildred. The money that gets wasted on 'unwanted presents' 'too much food which has to be thrown'
'fags that go up in smoke' ' booze that just ends up down the loo - or worse!' Just as much money wasted here!! Organised fireworks much better than thousands of little piddly private displays - often where someone gets hurt.

LW

Hi there Whirley - Happy New Year to you!!!

I would have got a real kick out of spending that amount of money had I been told it had gone to build a shelter for the homeless, vital equipment for a children's hospital - things like that - the fireworks are just a memory now, but if spent on something permaent that too would generate employment

Happy New Year Ann and all.

Personally, I would have preferred the money was spent elsewhere in London, on say Great Ormond Street Hospital for example. Just my opinion.

I will agree, 1.6 million is an obscene amount to be spent on keeping up with the Joneses in Aus...and thats what that is all about...'Anything you can do we can do better'.

However, as someone else said, in spite of the cost of crowd management and the cleanup afterwards, plenty of money was made by those there such as the catering etc etc. Someone made a good start to the new year with a boost to their living. In other words there's good and bad on both sides. Yes I know that would have been achieved with or without the fireworks, because traditionally people have always flocked to London to see in the New Year anyway.

As for the Olympics. I think its a brilliant thing that its finally back in London in 2012. Yes I know that yet again the cost is obscene and rising higher and higher...of course its rising, everything is rising. But think about the guaranteed employment for the next four years for the builders and craftsmen. Think about the badly needed regeneration of the area, and the facilities it will bring once the Olympics are over. Would you really want to deny the right to those who have the skills and talent to excel at their sport? Again, there is good and bad about the whole thing, but I for one am looking forward to the Olympics for the tourism and business it will inevitable bring to our capital city, hopefully for years to come.

Before coming to a decision about this I think I'd need to know more facts about who actually paid for the fireworks, when the money was paid and where it all went.

I think sometimes it's easy to assume that money spent on frivolities has somehow been wasted but the actual money wasn't burned. It was simply redistributed.

Presumably the people who got paid were those employed to make the fireworks, transport the fireworks, sell them, arrange the display, set up the display and clear up afterwards. These may be people who'd be without a job otherwise and who will then go out and respend the money in the economy.

As long as money keeps being moved around in an economy it isn't wasted. It is only useless if burnt or stored under a mattress!

Some time ago I read a website about spending no money whatsoever at Christmas. The site owners praised themselves for doing everything for nothing and somehow felt this was virtuous. But a huge number of people are employed in providing for Christmas in one way or another and without it so many would be out of work and unable to support themselves.

This could be seen as a similar situation.

The less we spend and the more we cut back generally the slower our economy is going to get.

Sue

~~~~waves~~~~ back to Hayley and to you too :-))

and everyone else on this thread....

Super grumpy Sue

x

To be honest I think it was money well spent. It was a wonderful display and was a great advertisement for the U.K.

In the scheme of things £1.6 million is a piffling amount. I have just spent 4 weeks in hospital and believe me the waste of money and resources in the Health Service has to be seen to be believed.

Jean x.

Well I think that London are just trying to keep up with the Jones over in Sydney...~~~~ waves to Sue happy new year love xx

The money spent is not the issue. The extra staff needed to police the event, man the casualty departments, private security firms, clean up of the streets afterwards all have to be paid for somehow.

I personally couldn't care less what was spent as long as it is paid for out of London's Council Tax bills and not from treasury funds.

You can be sure that the Met will be moaning about the salary costs in their next quarterly review along with the local hospital trusts and transport systems audit boards.

Sue

It so nice to see 2 sides of a debate...

The food we eat at christimas and the cigs I smoke all year are brought by me, the amount of money I spend on pressies for the family is brought by me/us and we have the choice of the amount we can or cannot spend, we choose to do that. As taxpayers we have no say in how much tax we pay or where that money is spent. I still think that £1.6 million pounds can be spent better else where rather in just one night.

I just thought - "during the war" - I'm beginning to sound a bit like Uncle Albert off Only Fools and Horses!!!!