I thought after the demeaning of honours finished with Mr. Blair leaving the scene. How wrong. Most of these athletes have been paid to produce these results. Why not a knighthood for the ecological operator of the year who lmanaged to lift a bin a bin weighing 1Kg?
Why no knighthoods or dames for all those carers, some of whom are just young children, who are saving the state millions looking after their sick relatives?
Why no knighthoods for our soldiers. Those on the front line not the pen pushers in blighty? Medals by all means but not Knighthoods or Dames.

- John, Switzerland, 22/8/2008 16:05

My husband is appalled that Mr Brown is shaking hands with vandals who roll up and down on top of taxi tops and who pour bottles of water on polite Chinese officials. They are nothing but yobbish sports people and should not be honoured.

- Disgusted Brit, in France, 22/8/2008 16:10

Creepy Brown grabbing every photo opportunity he can. Chris Hoy is a winner Gordon Brown is a loser and cannot change whatever he does to try and fool the public.

- Russell, Aberdeen Scotland, 22/8/2008 16:16

I thought they did have honours already; a gold medal and lucrative deals afterwards. What is the point of giving the same (or greater) honour to someone who has cycled so many kilometres as to someone who has devoted a lifetime of service to the community, for example? Unless, of course, the government thinks it can make money out of it?

- Marcher baron, Welsh Marches, 22/8/2008 16:18

Yes the People are proud of them.
But Brown' Comment is just another bit of SPin to take the spotlight off him!
We the people want him to earn his money for a change and either get out of town so some one can do the job, or, just get out of town!

- Colin, East of England, 22/8/2008 16:24

I just wish that Gordon "I'm getting on with the job" Brown would stop telling us what the nation wants ! ! He knows damn well what we want -- No 1 - a referendum on the EU
But will he give us what the nation wants ? Wllie Eckerslike !
He is now just trying to cash in on our athlete's achievments and if it were not for the Olympics he would now be back at No. 10 trying to sort out the mess that he had his gang have made.

- gordon, evesham worcester, 22/8/2008 16:39

A knighthood ? for winning a gold medal in a "sitting down" sport. Goodness knows what we would give one of our athletes if he won the mens 100 metres ! (which you wont, of course!)

- mike, usa ex pat, 22/8/2008 16:57

My husband is appalled that Mr Brown is shaking hands with vandals who roll up and down on top of taxi tops and who pour bottles of water on polite Chinese officials. They are nothing but yobbish sports people and should not be honoured.

- Disgusted Brit, in France, 22/8/2008 16:10

A knighthood ? for winning a gold medal in a "sitting down" sport. Goodness knows what we would give one of our athletes if he won the mens 100 metres ! (which you wont, of course!)

- mike, usa ex pat, 22/8/2008 16:57

Who's willing to bet that if anyone outside the Labour Party had suggested this Mailites would be all for the idea?

=

The BBC forums were so busy moderators had to close them down to make space for new debates.

Two hundred comments on the corporation's website were censored because they were obscene.

I watched this in a bar in Portugal and the place was in uproar at our 8 mins of fame,with comments of "nenhuma maravilha você pode viver aqui (no wonder you came to live here)"
Like someone said the UK will never be able to compete with the chinese,as they only work 41/2 days a week,take numerous coffee breaks,moan about human rights and political correctness,and by the end of the week cannot even stand in a straight line.
Just about spot on i think......Then to top it off someone gets stabbed to death at the ceremony in London,good start eh?

- Gaz, Alentejo,Portugal, 27/8/2008 11:07

im sorry but how sad do you have to be to ring up the bbc to complain about something like this

- sarah, wakefield uk, 27/8/2008 8:31

Come on, people! Did we really expect anything tasteful? After all, this is Nu Labour's Britain we live in. We've sold any tradition we've ever had down the river years ago for the sake of appeasing every socialists PC whim and we've taken it lying down.

- G Burman, London, 27/8/2008 8:36

Boris is good, a typical funny englishman. He is just what we want.

But whats Beckham doing there?

- Roy Hutchison, LONDON UK, 27/8/2008 9:10

What a whinging bunch we have become. My initial reaction to the superb venue the Chinese have provided was also,"follow that London". But then seeing the handover party, not so much the party itself, but the superb views across our Captitals skyline, the History & Culture contained therein, our great Palaces, historically, the birthplace of modern western civilisation, and of democracy itself, I felt we have so muh as a free nation to show the world, be proud of & invite them to see.
As for Boris, we should also be proud of him. Unlike most of our politicians,he is far more open & honest, & says what he thinks, not just seeking media approval & soundbites. If he is typical of a Conservative politician (government), & with our great Capital, we truely have much too look forward to - & be proud of.

- R.Page, Scunthorpe, UK, 27/8/2008 9:34

One fair voice:

This couple are my new heroes. I agree 100% with what they're doing.

I couldn't give a 4X about any Olympic nonsense - it will not benefit me one jot and I am completely uninterested in all of it.

I wish them the very best of luck and they have my full support throughout their campaign.

- J.S., London, England

Join the protest. They can't jail everyone.

- Andrew Milner, Yokohama, Japan

Don't pay I'm not paying either This money which is a waste in my opinion should come from the lottery.

- David, UK

Good luck to them, I only hope more Londoner's will join them in their refusal to pay this stealth-tax.

- Les, Southport, England

Good for them I totally agree now I've been inspired to take a similar stand I'm going to find out what part of my council tax goes towards funding the public library and poncey 'Arts' programs as I have no use for either I will refuse to pay that part of my council tax !

- BIG DAVE, ESSEX

Could this be the start of a modern day REVOLUTION in Briton, AT LAST !!!!!

- roy, essex

I might not pay the bit of my tax that goes towards the arts because I'm more of a sports fan... Silly people, take em away...if not to prison at least to a mental institution

- Simon, York

WHatever happened to a sense of community - I understand their point, but for the sake of 33 quid its ultimately going to spent for the benefit of Londoners on investment , which they will get the benefit from.
SOme people just love gettig on their soap box.
At their age they should know better then to get their blood pressusr up over 33 quid. If they end up in hospital due to the stress people should get a tax refund equal to the cost of their treatment, because I didn't ask for them to by such idiots, just like they want to underpay because they don't want the Olympics in the UK.

- Kat&LaneysDad, NZ

What a pathetic couple, what moaners.

- William Metcalfe, Basildon, UK

I think we should deal with these lawbreakers very severely. They are setting a very bad example for our young people!

- Jack Weems, Southampton, England

I think we should deal with these lawbreakers very severely. They are setting a very bad example for our young people!

- Jack Weems, Southampton, England, 3/9/2008 8:20