Recent content by Orwell

You may well be right in a technical sense. I don't know much about the legal ownership of the Park. I do know that King George IV opened the Park to the public, all year round, in 1820. It appears to be run as a public park. LOCOG applied to Greenwich Council for planning permission to use it...

The point is that the main lawns were occupied and destroyed last year: http://www.flickr.com/photos/save_greenwich_park/7240171092/in/set-72157629418402501 and have been again this year. Even the venue manager, Jeremy Edwards, thinks that work may not be able to begin until March next...

Well at least we agree on something. This is not what I said. There are lots of good reasons not to have the Olympics in London. But setting them out would take us some way from the point at hand, namely the equestrian events in Greenwich Park. You agreed that this was not necessary or even...

Life is dangerous. Why make it more dangerous for no good reason? Holding the Olympics in London will make life potentially much more dangerous, as it will increase the threat of terrorism. There was no need to hold the equestrian events in Greenwich Park. It was not even desirable from an...

If you want to inspire city kids why not just put them on a coach and take them down to Windsor for the day? Why squander a £60 million Olympic windfall? Why deprive city children (and the disabled, and pensioners, and park-footballers, and dog walkers, etc., etc.) of the most heavily used lawns...

I remember seeing a drawing somewhere (I don't think that it is part of the current planning application) which suggested that the horses would gallop up a ramp onto the arena platform, across the northern edge of it, and down a ramp to the exit. I'm sure that they could put a jump in if they...

Sorry to be a pedant, but in the diagram I referred to in my past post the course is shown as entering the arena through the Prestige Hospitality Tent. It enters on the rhs of the tent (as indicated by the yellow arrowhead) passes through it and continues to the arena (as indicated by the...

No doubt the 50,000 ticket holders for the cross-country are looking forward to it. But Badminton regularly caters for 100,000. So at least 50,000 will miss out because of the decision to use Greenwich Park. Imagine that these are young people who are very keen on the sport, i.e. its future. If...

The requirements for the Modern Pentathlon are very modest: To allow these to determine where the Olympic equestrian events are sited seems to me to be allowing the tail to wag the dog. Moreover, I suspect that the claim that using Greenwich Park is cost effective is now not moot but...

Again, I find that personalising the debate in this way is distasteful. It looks like mudslinging. It also detracts from the force of any arguments that you may make. Play the ball, not the man (or in this case the woman). This seems to be a re-assertion of the "Miss Jean Brodie" argument...

It seems to me that your comments on Rachel Mawhood in your last two posts are a, somewhat shabby, attempt to discredit her. I don't agree with everything that she says or does, but I respect her for standing up so valiantly and doggedly for what she believes is right. It seems curious to me...

I presume that you mean that the premise ("There is no need to hold the Olympic equestrian events in the Park") does not entail the conclusion ("so there is no justification for doing so"). If so, then you have a point. I am "guilty" of not spelling out an argument that I made at length on an...

I replied to this point on another thread (http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=499368&page=2, post number 16). It is true that the Park won't be open to the general public, but this is easily offset by the amount of space required to stage the event (the stadium, the press...

Presumably you are referring to the Operational Plan and the Transport Plan? I am assuming that these documents are the same as those submitted to Greenwich Council. The Transport Plan assumes 68,000 people in the Park on Cross-country day (excluding the "Olympic Family" which may include...

The course shown on the Gatcombe Park video looks pretty tame in comparison with Greenwich: http://www.gatcombe-horse.co.uk/media_gallery.php Greenwich Park is small and has unavoidable steep escarpments, there is also little opportunity to gallop. So less experienced riders and weaker...