Leader: Time to stand proud as Olympic Games start at last
So, here we go. Time for the talking to stop, the cynical back-biting to cease, and Mitt Romney and his fellow detractors to prepare to eat their unjustified, unflattering words.
So, here we go. Time for the talking to stop, the cynical back-biting to cease, and Mitt Romney and his fellow detractors to prepare to eat their unjustified, unflattering words.
Because the greatest show on earth officially kicks off today, and Great Britain is pulling out all the stops to prove that the Olympic Games are in the safest of hands.
David Beckham, James Bond, Roger Bannister, The Beatles, baked beans (anything patriotic which begins with the letter B, it seems!) will be unleashed at the Olympic stadium tonight as Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle lays out his celebratory £27 million vision of our proud nation.
The seven-year road to tonight’s glittering ceremony has been a long and often arduous one. No-one will ever forget the terrible London bombings, for example, which came just 24 hours after the city was awarded the games. The victims remain in all our thoughts.
Britain has also had to face the challenge of laying on a Hollywood-style showpiece against a backdrop of recession, austerity, banking turmoil and economic unrest. Not to mention the G4S security shambles.
And there are those north of the Watford gap who still insist the Olympics are just a London event, with little benefit to the wider nation.
But cast your mind back to the huge crowds which turned out to greet the Olympic flame on its two visits to Shropshire a few weeks ago, and a far different picture is painted. We are eager, and all too delighted, to join the party.
This morning, there was more proof of this as Shropshire communities got involved in a huge bell-ringing celebration, joining Big Ben’s special chimes signalling the start of the games.
It is all a reminder that the Olympics stand for more than just sporting excellence. They are a beacon of optimism which, over the course of the coming fortnight, will doubtless remind us many times that, however tough times may be, there are reasons to smile and cheer.
Even the battle-hardened union leaders have – albeit belatedly – realised that making a political statement by striking on the eve of the games was so opposed to the current mood that it would be counter-productive.
What a pity several members of the Great Britain men’s football team could not be bothered to keep the Olympic feelgood factor spreading last night by singing the national anthem ahead of their underwhelming opening match.
But let us, for once, be a glass half full nation, rather than the cautious pessimists many other countries view us to be.
Seven years of planning, building and dreaming are over, and the time has come for Britain to stand tall and proud.
An estimated one billion people around the world will be tuning in this evening for a spectacular show. For Britain, this is a once in a lifetime shop window.
Let us hope that all our memories from the next two weeks are golden . . . and that Shropshire’s Olympic and Paralympic competitors get the chance to shine, and do our county proud.
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