permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lflj@intrex.net>]

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7339580.stm>
Page last updated at 22:35 GMT, Wednesday, 9 April 2008 23:35 UK
PM not attending Olympics opening
Gordon Brown, Tessa Jowell and Denise Lewis
Mr Brown received the Olympic torch at Downing Street on Sunday

Prime Minister Gordon Brown will not attend the opening ceremony of the 
Beijing Olympics, Downing Street says.

However, he will be at the closing ceremony when the Olympic baton will be 
passed to London.

A spokeswoman said Mr Brown had never planned to attend the opening ceremony 
and was not boycotting the Games.

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said he had assumed Mr Brown would attend, and that Number 10 should have made the 
situation clear in the first place.

He told BBC Radio 4's The World Tonight: "Chancellor Merkel in Germany and President Sarkozy in France saying quite 
specifically that they might not go to the opening ceremony shows that the debate has always been about the opening 
ceremony.

"So now suddenly to be asked to believe by Number 10 that they never really intended to go in the first place either 
smacks of a rather odd way of going about things or just downright incompetence."
        
Gordon Brown has not performed an Olympic U turn but, thanks to his and his team's cack handedness, it looks to the 
world as if he has
BBC political editor Nick Robinson

Nick Robinson's blog

The Olympics minister Tessa Jowell will represent the UK at the opening in 
Beijing in August.

Mr Brown - who has been under pressure to boycott the Olympics over China's human rights record - has never specifically 
said he will attend the opening ceremony.

And BBC political correspondent Carole Walker said Downing Street felt it 
would not make sense for him to go to China twice.

However he has talked of attending plural "ceremonies".

On 27 March, at a press conference during France's President Sarkozy's visit, he said: "We will not be boycotting the 
Olympic Games; Britain will be attending the Olympic Games ceremonies.

"At the same time, the president has said that the Dalai Lama has not called for a 
boycott of the Olympic Games."

At his Downing Street news conference on 1 April, Mr Brown said: "I think President Sarkozy said himself that he 
expected Britain, because we are going to host the next Olympics, to be present at the Olympic ceremonies and I will 
certainly be there."

Serious disruption

BBC sports editor Mihir Bose said Mr Brown's decision not to attend the opening ceremony was in keeping with his 
attitude to China's Olympics - that he has to do his duty without being seen as a supporter.

The UK needs to be represented at the closing ceremony because London takes 
over from Beijing as the next Olympic city.

He said Mr Brown was not alone in agonising over how to respond to the 
worldwide protests surrounding the 2008 Games.

The International Olympic Committee, which has gathered in the Chinese capital, is also wrestling with its strategy, our 
correspondent added.

The Olympic torch has arrived in San Francisco under tight security for the 
sixth leg of its round-the-world relay.

Scuffle as Konnie Huq holds the torch
The torch's visit to London was disrupted by anti-China protesters
Confusion marked the start of the only North American leg of the relay, as its route was diverted to avoid thousands of 
protesters.

Crowds of pro-Tibetan and pro-Beijing demonstrators are on the streets, 
prompting fears of violence.

Shortly before the relay began, police said the route would be cut. Then the 
lit torch was carried away from crowds.

Protests have already caused serious disruption to legs of the relay in London and Paris. In Paris, the torch had to be 
extinguished three times, while in London there were 37 arrests.

Mr Brown attracted controversy for receiving the Olympic torch outside 10 
Downing Street, although he did not hold it.

Most demonstrators are protesting over a security crackdown in Tibet after 
anti-Chinese unrest.

Tibetan exile groups say Chinese security forces killed dozens of protesters. Beijing says about 19 people were killed 
in rioting.