The opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics, was in any ways a great success. It summarised Britain very well, with its eccentricity and history. It has done a great deal to lift the spirits, and can be seen in the context of other recent events, such as the Queen’s Jubilee and the Royal Wedding.
It cleverly ticked many of the boxes of what one would think of regarding Britain- the Queen, James Bond, Mr Bean, the Beetles, David Beckham . In that sense it was a caricature, yet our sense of humour does often rely on laughing at our idiosyncrasies.

Yet it was Britain and the World seen from a very left wing viewpoint, which presumably represented the organisers’ world view. The Industrial Revolution scene seemed to show the workers labouring under the eye of top hatted “capitalists”. The National Health Service was the centrepiece of another scene, which is a contentious political hot potato in today’ s austerity, when the country finds it simply cannot afford the public health service anymore. The “Palestinian” Olympic team was featured in a significant TV view, in addition to their entry with the other teams (anti Zionism is an integral part of the European left worldview). The Israeli TV entry could hardly have been given less TV space. The woman in the Saudi team, showing the V for Victory sign with her fingers, was given a significantly long TV exposure (it was the first time that Saudi has had women athletes at the Olympics).

Lastly, I was uneasy with the scene showing the Queen supposedly parachuting into the Arena. I do wonder if the Queen made the correct decision in taking part in that James Bond scene? It was completely out of character, and many might think it demeaned her position as Queen.

Nevertheless, no one can deny that the Opening Ceremony and the Olympics in general, are an enormous boost to Britain and home morale at this time.

Cheers and better luck next time London.