Labour's mayoral candidate Marvin Rees pledges Commonwealth bid

“Oh gosh! I know there might be a case to be made for aiming for the Commonwealth Games to provide an incentive to get arenas and infrastructure built but I must say, as a serious idea for Bristol, it has neither head nor legs with Bristol's track record in getting things done. Anyway, the Govn', of whichever party was in power, would back Cardiff, before they backed Bristol. Are you sure that was sugar that went on your Kornflakes this morning Marv'?”

“Another day, and another idea from the Rees boy. He thinks coming up with ideas like this will win him votes. Don't think so, old boy. I, and lots of other people, can see through this. He doesn't even suggest what venues will host which sports. My vote is going elsewhere.”

“Chill out folks it's Friday....you miserable bunch!!!”

“I would rather we attempted to bid for the Commonwealth games than another failed European Green Capital bid.”

“Why not move to Bath then?”

“I cannot think of another British city less suited to hold the Commonwealth Games.

We don't have the facilities to hold the World Tiddlywinks Championships, let alone something of the scale of the CGs. It's bonkers.

We have the worst sporting infrastructure of any city above 200,000 population in the country (and our total urban area polulation approaches 600,000). We also have the worst public transport.

Where's the money going to come from to build the stadia, velodrome, swimming pool etc etc?

Surely a bid should include facilities and transport? Seriously, Bath could put a better bid together, with the University of Bath facilities and that city has a population of 90k!

All this demonstrates is how far behind other UK and European cities Bristol has fallen. It's embrarassing.”

“Amazing that some Bristolians thought he was a serious contender for the post of Mayor.

Now he has clearly shown how out of touch with Bristol he really is. Rather than trying to fly a "populist" kite that can be so easily shot down - as shown by the many previous comments - he needed to show exactly how he would solve Bristol's current issues, where the money would come from, and how quickly things could actually be achieved. Seeing "Pie in the Sky" is not a good enough reason to vote for someone!

Or is he now bidding for a second term as Mayor, feeling it was already sown up for this one...”

“Hmm why wasn't this in Marvin's manifesto? Yet another pie-in-the-sky idea dreamt up to clutch at straws. Look at how London was basically shut for the Olympics. OK the Commonwealth Games aren't on such a scale but there is no way Bristol could cope. There are no facilities, no way of getting about, no accommodation for athletes. Or maybe we just offer the cycle lanes for runners and cyclists with a tape on Park Street as finishing line. Get the basics in first, which all the parties have failed on since the 1970s.”

“Its a great idea, but this is Bristol, where nothing actually gets approved apart from student accomodation, bus and cycle lanes and generally anything that brings the city to a grinding halt, It would take 50 years to approve a Commonwealth Games stadium, before all the protests and town green applications had been overcome, can you imagine our transport network trying to cope with all the athletes, perhaps we should make our bid for the 2074 or 2078 Commonwealth Games, we maybe ready then, but only maybe.”

“I'm afraid this is just another bout of attempted populism from Marvin Rees.”