who's feeling very olympic today???

[Factamondo]

so the spanish with their history of inquisisitions n chucking of helpless donkeys from bell towers are spot on!

[Factamondo]

looked like a school play , to me

agreed the nhs baton twirling was cringeworthy to say the least...where were the old people dying in agony in corridoors and 'health tourists' blagging a free operation!

[will]

so the spanish with their history of inquisisitions n chucking of helpless donkeys from bell towers are spot on!

What an extraordinary response. Shame on you.

Why not try to enjoy the plaudits for the inventiveness, slickness and good humour of the ceremony? It reflects well on our country, and you should be proud.

[Michael229]

agreed the nhs baton twirling was cringeworthy to say the least...where were the old people dying in agony in corridoors and 'health tourists' blagging a free operation!

The NHS is a system which is admired by the rest of the world. Sure, it doesn't always get it right but it saves the lives of millions a year. You should show more respect to the very hard working doctors and other health professionals for their achievements.

[TBLOCKRANGER]

The NHS is a system which is admired by the rest of the world. Sure, it doesn't always get it right but it saves the lives of millions a year. You should show more respect to the very hard working doctors and other health professionals for their achievements.

Agree, I know many family and friends who wouldn't still be here if it wasn't for the NHS including babies.

[jmelanie]

I found the choice of music to be very strange (I usually associate Nimrod with funerals). The history should have been more authentic and was not very well researched (or was deliberately not correct).

[will]

The NHS is a system which is admired by the rest of the world. Sure, it doesn't always get it right but it saves the lives of millions a year. You should show more respect to the very hard working doctors and other health professionals for their achievements.

Well said. It's easy to highlight mistakes when you're talking about such a huge institution (like that poor fella who died of thirst in Tooting recently) but that is grossly unfair on the many millions who have been comforted and saved by the NHS. I for one will never forget the kindness and professionalism they showed to my mother in the last few difficult months of her life. God bless 'em.

[DeepcutHoop]

I found the choice of music to be very strange (I usually associate Nimrod with funerals). The history should have been more authentic and was not very well researched (or was deliberately not correct).

You mean that chimneys don't just grow out of the ground, and industrialists may have been unlikely to bust some moves?

[Shania]

Nice comeback

Yepp, I think so myself as well.

[Shania]

The opening ceremony was utterly brilliant, and designed to tell the world about our incredible achievements as a nation, rising from an agrarian society to the forging of the Olympic rings, and all stops in between.

The misery-loving whiners who are calling it "left wing" are a bit sad, frankly. It's our history, warts and all. Superbly designed and executed by Danny Boyle, one of our most talented film makers. He was born into a very poor working class family in Manchester and shows a lot of the class snobs contributing to this thread what can be achieved with talent and application. He should be an inspiration to you guys.

The Spanish newspaper, El Mundo, got it, as did most of the rest of the world if you read foreign newspapers. El Mundo said, after the ceremony: "Despite all their mistakes, it has become clear that without the UK our lives would not be the same".

Bingo. That was the entire purpose of it.

Arise Sir Danny!

Well said!


May I say the opening ceremony is you best acheivement so far?

[vblockranger]

did they have a 3D representation of us sinking the Belgrano? how about some actors dressed up as old people left to die in hospital corridors? Hoodie hooligans looting?

[vblockranger]

in fact Boyle should have got a hoodie to light the Olympic torch with a petrol bomb :-)

[Bluehoop]

Well said. It's easy to highlight mistakes when you're talking about such a huge institution (like that poor fella who died of thirst in Tooting recently) but that is grossly unfair on the many millions who have been comforted and saved by the NHS. I for one will never forget the kindness and professionalism they showed to my mother in the last few difficult months of her life. God bless 'em.

Every day over one million people are treated successfully by National Health Service (NHS) acute, ambulance and mental health trusts. Accepting that the majority of people believe we now live in a US style claims compensation culture, less than 0.05% of the people treated have cause to prosecute for negligence and we still successfully oppose more than 50% of those claims.

Agreed, if only one person suffers it does not make it right and it certainly isn't "fair" on those affected by negligence. However, invariably, there are extenuating circumstances and of course the truth is that to err is human. My point? Merely to agree with Will's sentiments and to say that for every bad news story that can be (and is) publicised, there are literally millions of good news ones that never are.

[QPR Richard]

It all depends of course which NHS you're talking about. There's four of them, one for each home nation. Each with their own budget and each with different priorities.

Because of something called the Barnett Formula, the spend per head is a lot lower in England than elsewhere. It explains why there's prescription charges in England but nowhere else. It also explains why there's a range of cancer drugs available in Scotland that aren't available in England. There have been many stories over the years where people have had to sell their houses to pay for cancer drugs that are freely available elsewhere in the union.

I don't knock the work done by doctors and nurses in any way. I knock the way the NHS in England is funded by the British.

[LoftusRoadLad]

Cheat or not ? She swam the final 50m of the race faster than the winner of the men's event did.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/brendanoneill2/100173641/the-nasty-finger-pointing-at-chinese-super-swimmer-ye-shiwen-goes-against-the-olympic-spirit/