Your Letters
15:28 UK time, Monday, 26 July 2010
As a competitor in the last truly amateur Olympics, 1956 Australia, I appreciate Baron Coubertin's admonition (How to stage the Olympics on a shoestring). I had to provide an affidavit that waived receiving my wages for the duration of the games. I tried my best fully aware that for every winner, there has to be a loser. Unfortunately, the aberration of Adam Smith's capitalism into the US version, absent any moral or ethical code, changed the goal of the games from: faster, higher, stronger to an entertainment and marketing tool.
Optimist, Princeville HI USA
Fascinating reading about how the Olympics was done on a shoestring budget in 1948, because money was so tight then. Aren't we lucky that we live in different times when the government has so much money they don't know what to do with it and will have no trouble at all lavishing every expense on the 2012 Olympics.
Adam, London, UK
I actually quite like Thursdays (America, are you happy?). For me the worst day of the week is Tuesday. With a Monday you are still on a bit of a buzz after the weekend, and catch up with colleagues about your activities over the previous couple of days. Get to Wednesday and you know you're halfway through the week. On a Thursday the weekend is in sight - just one more day. And obviously Friday is winding down. A Tuesday, though, is about as far away from a weekend as one can be.
Basil Long, Nottingham
US bear takes short ride in car and leaves it wrecked - because of course if it had been an English bear the car would have been parked properly
Francesca, Milton Keynes
Nice try Susie (Friday's letters) but even if Monitor confesses to a crush on Zac Efron, it still won't tell us what gender he/she/it is!
Harvey Mayne, Frankfurt, Germany
Thank you, thank you! I scored 2 out of 7 in the weekly quiz (my lowest ever) and was rewarded with "the ignorance of youth". As I'm 57, could we please have more such judgements?
Peter, Swindon, UK
Is it just me, or does the new female presenter of the One show look scarily like Christine Bleakley? I thought the wrong picture had been put on the home page at first!
Lauren Knowles, Grimsby
I particularly liked this week's winning captions (Caption Competition, Friday); a tricky photo brought out some great responses. May I propose a one-off increase in the prizes awarded? Maybe a medium-sized portion of kudos?
George, Barbados
Poor old Cheggers (Letters, Friday)... did he not read Thursday's letters?
Dick Savage, Plzen, Czech Republic
The 
