91Èȱ¬

Why such focus on the negative? I'm not sure if you have a vendetta against boris, London, or both.

London doesn't have to put on any screens. The fact that it is, and they are not just in central, eg. Trafalgar, Leicester Sq, Waterloo etc shows a greater spread of coverage. If Boris placed the sites in Zone 4 or outwards, the amount of people they would cater for wouldn't be worth it. Even if more screens were commissioned, the extra cost, not to mention including staffing, would draw strong criticism in that domain too.

Victoria Park is East London, Potters Field will be the epicentre of South London, and Jubilee Gardens connects central. Forgive me for assuming that "non Londoners" know how to use google maps.

Why needlessly look for the negatives, when in reality, the 2012 Summer Olympics should be nothing but a celebration. Unimpressed by this.

Mr Warner, I accuse you of criticising the Olympics far too much.

That feels better.

I think that you are right. Four wide angle TV screens for 102,500 is not enough for 7 million Londoners. I think that your anti Boris theme is a bit rich. You suggest that he is a cheap skate for using a venue that is not new and already exists to do just what he is going to use it for. Sounds pretty good common sense to me. If he was to suggest that a new venue should be built just to house a five thousand inch flat screen, you in the Boris Bashing Corporation (91Èȱ¬) would be onto to him like a hyena after a dead parrot. Leave the poor man alone he is taking a responsible attitude to the use of existing facilities.

Your report was not the eye opener it might have been to your viewers from your perspective. The Olympics, after all is about feats of human endeavour but all we saw on your report was a man hanging around mens toilets. I hope that you don't make a habit of it! Please could we have some coverage on what's happening at the sailing venue in Dorset. I know it's not in "London" per se, but it's still part of the "London Olympics". What's happening to the canoeing venues, have they manage to build any downhill streams in Hertfordshire yet? The Olympics, Mr Warner is more than a stadium in London next to a swimming pool that resembles a dead halibut. A wider perspective required from your viewing public please. Otherwise we might call you a Zone One Correspondent, and we wouldn't want to do that would we?

There are a number of reasons I agree with this post, but there are some points I'd like to make.

I'm not sure putting big screens in the areas at the end of Underground lines is the right way to go about things. London's 7 million inhabitants generally have TV screens at home and the town centres of, say, Croydon, Harrow and Romford are familiar and rather unexciting places for them, not to mention lacking in large public spaces. Why bother going to them? I think most people (well.. certainly I) would rather travel to central London to be amongst the famous sights, to welcome tourists and be a part of what we all feel is London rather than just our local area.

Admittedly, that's just conjecture and certainly I would say that more screens are needed. The additional cost could surely be offset or at least made worthwhile by the increased number of entrepreneurs, food stalls etc around them.

Oh, also, Hyde Park is a total no-brainer. Not having a screen there would be a stupid, unbelievably idiotic move. However, why not Finsbury or Kennington Park as well?

I can hardly see Potter's field being an epicenter for South London, as it's right by city hall. Perhaps the mayor would like to see the big screen from his office...

One of the major problems is knowing where to put these big screens for the 'free' events.

Big screens in public areas have been successful in the past - the marvellous screen in Liverpool City Centre for example. Channel 4 also hosted hugely successful 'cricket in the park' events when they had the test coverage.

As it will be a massive lottery to be at the games live, I feel that providing a big municipal area where the games can be experienced can only help in creating the buzz that these Olympics are expected to produce.

I was lucky enough to be at the Vancouver Games and I was underwhelmed by the Fan Zones downtown, (although I never made it to Richmond). I remember thinking that it would be something that London would do much better, but now these plans have been announced I'm not so sure.

The LiveCity site in Vancouver was little more than a collection of soulless corporate 'pavilions', where you could queue up to find out about the latest mobile phone. I'm sure there will be a (contractual) element of this too in London. Not very 'Woodstock', but that's not Boris's fault.

They had big big screens but what coverage I saw there during the day often seemed like an afterthought - on delay, parochial and uncoordinated.

The summer games are so much bigger, London is so much bigger, that the Games would really benefit from a thought-through programme of live coverage on these screens, with the emphasis on the sport and not the sponsors. We also need to cater for local fans of other countries and all the thousands of visitors by showing all the great stories of the Games, not just the GB athletes.

I'm not sure these limited sites will live up to those expectations.

In the end though, such will be the interest that these live sites will be deemed a success if it's sunny and a waste of money if it rains for two weeks.

I think people are placing too much emphasis and importance on these four official "fan zones" that Boris has announced. The reason people remember the atmospheres in Vancouver and, before that, Sydney was due to the entirely unplanned and spontaneous outpouring of enthusiasm that the cities' inhabitants greeted the Games. Sure, these official concerts and big screen will be very visually pleasing for TV and for showing to the world, but the real litmus test for the overall success of London 2012 will be the mood in bars, restaurants around central London and public squares like Covent Garden and Trafalgar Square. If these places are awash with tv screens showing Olympic events, then the rest will take care of itself.

I agree with you Mr Warner, but perhaps the Mayor wanted to test the waters before making an enormous announcement which went tits up?

Better to be modest and then see the need for more than make grand announcements which fizzle out eh?

How about Greenwich Park? The Borough of Hillingdon has huge amounts of green fields around its swimming pool/athletics track/cricket club/ski slope complex - could easily do one there. How about around Crystal Palace? Streatham Common? The Northwick Park area?

Those are just places I know.

Any more you had in mind??