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GB makes the case for Team GB

August 14, 2012 11:09 am

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The battle to claim the Olympics for the “Better Together” campaign has begun, with Gordon Brown saying:

“The Olympics it is pretty clear – we managed to do it in cycling with pooled resources – if you had just divided the money and put a tenth to Scotland and a tenth to Yorkshire, you could not have achieved the same results we did.”

Only one problem – there’s no Team GB for the Commonwealth Games, which take place in – you guessed it – Glasgow, in 2014…

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  • Chilbaldi

    Scotland are typically quite poor at the Commonwealths so perhaps not too much to worry about, short of Chris Hoy sweeping up in the Velodrome in his swansong.

    • derek

      Didn’t Scottish athletes contribute 13 gold medals to the Olympic team?

      • derek

        OK, 7 golds at least!!!!!!

        Sir Chris Hoy (track cycling), two goldsAndy Murray (tennis), one gold, one silverKatherine Grainger (rowing), goldHeather Stanning (rowing), goldScott Brash (team showjumping), goldTim Baillie (C2 canoe slalom), goldDavid Florence (C2 canoe slalom), silverLuke Patience (470 sailing), silverMichael Jamieson (swimming), silverDaniel Purvis (team gymnastics), bronzeLaura Bartlett & Emily Maguire (team hockey), bronze

      • John Ruddy

        Yes, but most of those were in team events with other team members coming from other parts of the UK.

        If there enough Scots good enough to fill those teams and win medals – they would have been in those teams.

        So in reality, the most medals a Team Scotland could have reasonably expected would be 3 – Andy Murray’s two and Michael Jamieson’s swimming medal. 

        The other downside is that Team GB may not have medalled if they couldnt replace the lost Scottish athletes. So we would both be worse off.

        • derek

          That’s a good point John.2014 will be a very busy year and just like London wanted to promote the city, the Scottish government will want to promote Scotland.Scottish television company are biding to buy the license for broadcasting from the BBC,(Edinburgh and Glasgow) if successful STV will go hell for leather in promoting the 2014 games as a Scottish theme.

          • treborc

            Are games all about medals then.

          • derek

            No, there all about the capitalist giant fighting for green bucks.At one point it used to be about the gathering of nations in peace and the celebration of human endurance and sport.Not any more sadly Trebroc, today a gold meda,l is like winning the Willie wonky chocolate bar prize, the winners will cash in for some serious tasty stuff.  

      • Chilbaldi

        Yes, and that’s where Gordon’s point is valid!

        Together we’re stronger and all that.

        To the list below – don’t forget Chris Hoy’s individual gold in the Keirin.

  • John Ruddy

    Isnt it great that one sentence out of an hour long speech gets all this attention. He did say other, much more important and interesting things about independence, you know….

  • jaime taurosangastre candelas

    Oh dear Peter, hours after you make a pertinent observation about me sneaking in negative references to Gordon Brown on LL irrespective of the topic in question, a dedicated article comes along.  And in this case, there’s a new observation of a whole band-wagon that the famously non-sporty PM (in a suit on a beach on his holiday – does anyone remember that) is trying to jump upon.

    But we’ll stick with the over-spending.  £257 billion, in the good years before the financial crisis he could not see coming, despite his prescience in selling gold to buy the unproven Euro, ending boom and bust, light touch banking regulation, and then having to save the world.

    • derek

      More impartial thoughts? One quickly is reminded of Cameron’s green stunt! sledge, dogs and a rather warm looking parker.Gordon was a mean rugby player and can relate to sport.   

    • Chilbaldi

      I don’t get the commons appearances point. I’m sure gordon is representing his constituents in Westminster governed matters more than adequately, and technically they didn’t elect him to pursue a Labour shadow cabinet career in London.

      Don’t forget that Gordon has less constituency work to do than an English MP, due to Holyrood.

      • Franwhi

        As have all the Scottish mp’s – they should be jobsized because we can’t afford to pay twice for representation. It’s not like we’re getting twice the service from elected members.  

    • Mr 0a

      “famously non-sporty PM”
      I am not a Brown fan, but to be fair he did lose the sight in one eye on the Rugby field. Following this, how sporty do you expect him to be?

      Given his non attendance in the commons I think it’s appalling he hasn’t resigned as other PMs have had the decency to do when they no longer wanted to appear there.

  • uglyfatbloke

    Before we get carried away we should remember that Gordon did screw up pretty well everything he touched…and as it happens he was always a pretty dreadful constituency MP, which was always excused by his wider responsibilities.  The last thing that the ‘No’ campaign needs now is GB coming to the fore, it ‘s bad enough having Darling and Cameron leading it… fortunately it looks like Lamont and the Davidson twins (Ian and Ruth) will be kept out of the way….especially since Ian Davidson’s tantrum on Newsnight. I’ve not been so embarrassed since Blair told us he was a ‘pretty straight kind of a guy’.

    • Wilson

      The Labour party led by Gordon Brown recieved more votes from Scots in May 2010 than the SNP led by Alec Salmond have recieved in any election. Gordon may not have had the smoothness to appeal to ‘middle england’ but he is widely respected and admired in Scotland.

  • Mr 0a

    Scotland is stronger with in the UK, the rest of the UK is about the same whether Scotland leaves or not. 

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