Yesterday saw a stramash at the annual Boat Race between elite universities Cambridge and Oxford, on the River Thames in London. A well educated, Oz-born protester-of-some-description, Trenton Oldfield, somehow managed to swim in the way of the boats, causing the contest to be restarted. Apparently, he writes a blog in which he advocates this type of behaviour for the London Olympics, although I am not too sure as to why.
This has led to BOA (British Olympic Association) chairman, Colin Moynihan, today noting of how this incident justifies the unprecedented - police state - security arrangements which are to put in place for the event : "In many respects that is the biggest ask of the Games: you are not just talking about the competitions, you are talking about the pre-Games training camps, athletes will come well in advance based around the country, you've got the torch relay coming up, the public need to be protected".
Obviously though, once the public become accustomed to the constricted level of security - akin to something out of Orwell's 1984 - it will be duplicated elsewhere: from deviancy comes the norm. This is the pattern for the future.
Meanwhile, in Rome last night, we saw another cloaked, and fish hatted, individual, talking of light and of how "mankind is groping in the dark" and "unable to distinguish good from evil". He never mentioned the Olympics directly though.
cheers
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