I think the Chinese government are a bunch of geriatric murderers running a slave economy. No athlete with an ounce of common decency should set foot in their wretched country. But that's just me, I don't expect others to agree, especially members of the 'keep sport out of politics' brigade (who are large in number and repeat their slogan 25 times before breakfast).

However, it seems Tibetan exiles and friends have kicked up such a stink that opinion may be shifting. Would you like to see a boycott?

LOL Archbishop Desmond Tutu, an old friend of the Dalai Lama, has just called for a boycott of the opening ceremony.





* So I said to her: 'Put your clothes back on!' *




For the 'keep sport out of politics' brigade...

My instinct is to say "yes", because of the human rights issues. However, I can also see the benefit in not alienating the largest country in the world, but rather using this as an opportunity to facilitate better relations with China. I'm going to go with "yes", because I would personally boycott, but I certainly wouldn't blame people for saying "no".

Rob

I feel sorry for athletes who've trained for years and now face this dilemma. But they deserve to have microphones shoved under their noses and asked why they support the biggest slave economy in the history of humanity. Just because they run round a track doesn't mean they?re immune from morality.

I went with undecided. Mostly due to not knowing enough of what's happening to make an educated decision at the moment.

I agree Annakey. More and more everyday I'm hearing about things that the Chinese government are doing that make it bad not only for their own people, but for the rest of the world too. Did you know that they are building (and opening) one new coal powered power plant every week? Talk about pollution...

The main villain in this is the Olympic Committee. What did they think they were doing encouraging the world's athletes to suck up to a pariah state?

I can imagine the whole thing collapsing and the games being cancelled. Watching BBC News 24 yesterday - the debacle in San Francisco when the flame hid in a shed - the presenters were openly laughing at China. I couldn?t believe what I was seeing. The Chinese gov won't like it one bit. You know how sensitive Chinese people are about 'face.'

Then the lovely Joanna Lumley came on (a national treasure if ever there was one) talking for the Free Tibet Campaign. She laid into the Chinese government, calling them 'slave drivers' 'murderers' 'cultural imperialists'. The News anchors had trouble not cheering. You could see them twinkling at her.

I now hear Sebastian Coe (former Tory MP, a Baron, a KBE, and an Olympic gold medalist) was caught calling the Chinese flame bodyguards "Thugs." lozl







Free Tibet

You realise this thread will enrage google.ca robots? Currently there's no problem but wait till they report back to their masters.

Should we batten down the hatches?

Let the cards fall where they may. The truth will set them free (not that they would be willing to admit the truth).