The last few days have seen a gripping struggle between England and Australia to win the most medals at the Commonwealth Games. For most of the time the BBC and some other media outlets have ignored this big story of the games, and have ignored many of the medal winners England has produced on main bulletins.
I am glad for Scotland, the organisers, that their team has done well and so far is fifth in overall medals won and fourth in golds. There are many individual performances in that result which produce justifiable pride.
In the main battle for top slot, Australia have been dominant in the pool, winning 57 medals overall including 19 golds, to England’s 28 medals with 10 golds. More surprisingly Australia has also had a big victory in cycling, with 7 golds and 24 medals to England’s 5 golds and 11 medals in total.
England has had many successes. In terms of numbers of medals, it has been particularly strong in Athletics where so far it has won 11 more medals than Australia, in gymnastics, where it has 15 more medals, in Judo, with 9 more, and in shooting with 7 more.
Well done England.
Total medals won
England 149
Australia 126
Canada 76
India 55
Scotland 51
August 2, 2014
Thank you for identifying and drawing attention to this, many of us have commented that the BBC in particular was indeed playing down English successes and over-reporting others. It’s just part of the British Establishment’s dislike of England and the English, but we are not going away.
England first – well done England and the English.
August 2, 2014
Does it have to be on just about every TV channel we am forced to pay for? Sport is fun as it always was….and thats about as far as it goes. Its now serious money and Brazil was not a good outcome at all…..money seriously wasted on those not hungry.
Sport is a dead easy OB session that fits in with the BBC strategy of doing very little. Note the credits at the end of their programmes. No credit to them usually!
Its just the money….again!
August 2, 2014
Not really interested I tend to think people should pay for their own hobbies be they reading,chess, running, tennis, sex, cricket or tiddly winks. Once governments get involved it turns into something rather unpleasant – usually government propaganda sponsored by fast food and drinks giants and the likes.
August 2, 2014
I suppose the Australians punch above their weights perhaps due to having one of the few sensible PPE grads as PM.
August 2, 2014
You don’t honestly expect the BBC to acknowledge England surely? They are just a mouthpiece of the rotten Westminster parliament and it’s policy of denying the existence of England.
August 2, 2014
Well done England.I had a fantastic viewing day to day watching the 11 day of the games. Table tennis ,squash and badminton which are all of my past pursuits . These sports are not shown enough on TV and yet they are great participator sports which many can relate to .
August 3, 2014
I have not been watching any of the ‘Bread and Circus acts’ on offer this year. And as for Christmas – Bah humbug 😉
I did catch though something that did bring a smile to what is sometimes (stop laughing at the back) miserable face. And that is, the anthem they played when one of the English contestants won a medal.
I shall say no more. 🙂
August 3, 2014
No surprise there, for just like British political establishment that finds no place for English representation, the BBC aspires to copy them.
Odd that for while the BBC makes it its mission to give ‘communities’ who have no voice ( as they see it) representation, something I heard a BBC controller boast about it being her mission to address, this clearly doesn’t extent to England. May be with the BBC having no voice isn’t key , but being one of the preferred minorities that is, and England and the English being viewed as being the lowest of the low, we just don’t rate as a people who should be represented. This we can see from the way the BBC is structured, for there is a BBC Scotland, a BBC Wales, a BBC Northern Ireland, there is even an apartheid BBC Asian Network where all visible diversity ( as they say) has been removed, but one BBC there isn’t is a BBC England.
I did try to tackle the BBC over their lack of English representation, but didn’t get very far , my argument fell on deaf ears of the lady who was tasked with representing England. Her job title was listed as Diversity and English Regions, which pretty much sums up the BBC’s view of England, a place of regions that is an after thought that comes after diversity.
With nationality now a top political issue the BBC has institutionally taken sides, which is why when they were cheering on Scotland , Wales and NI medal prospects and ignoring England’s top of the table tussle with Australia , they ran a news piece which gave voice to some local Labour politicians agenda for autonomy for Yorkshire and Humber as an answer to the West Lothian Question. The English Question is not going to be asked, because the BBC ins’t institutionally set up to question the politicians about it. So we move seamlessly from a British state to English regionalisation without anybody getting to ask, what about an English parliament.
With the BBC you don’t have to seek out institutionally racist opinions where England is concerned, its there in black and white in their corporate structure.
August 3, 2014
But ITV and Sky are no better; we just pay for our denigration in a different way.
August 4, 2014
Though England has five times the population of the rest in the Uk, the English medal haul at the Games had only a two to one advantage over the rest. What were the media outlets to do, not the report the facts? Actually, the Isle of Man had the best performance at medals per head of population of the Uk teams, closely followed by Wales then Scotland, Northern Ireland, and in fifth, England.
August 5, 2014
You don’t need a clearer example of the England, what England? than in the Today program broadcast this morning, where we got the British established parties offering Scotland tax raising powers, but no question about the constitutional effects this has on the rest of the country, they then go seamlessly onto talking about some Northern body Osborne is trying to create.
If Scotland gets all these tax raising powers will any of the British MP’s squatting in English constituency seats stir themselves and challenge the constitutional obscenity of this, where Scots get to set their own tax rates then meddle in the level English people get. When Scots get all this fiscal independence, can a Scottish MP be a Chancellor?