Boris on the Olympics
July 31st, 2012 at 8:48 am by David FarrarLondon Mayor Boris Johnson has written 20 reasons why the Olympics have been great so far. They include:
We have just stunned the world with what was the best opening ceremony ever produced – and by quite a margin. Danny Boyle’s filmic mixture of Blake, Dickens, Tolkien, JK Rowling etc etc has confirmed London’s status as the global capital of art and culture. Right-wing critics should be reassured that the meaning of the Mary Poppins-Dementors clash has been widely misunderstood. I am told by one figure close to proceedings that the bellicose nanny figure was intended by Danny Boyle to stand for Mrs Thatcher in her struggles with the NUM and other militant trade unionists. So that’s all right, then, eh!
Heh
We certainly didn’t spend the Beijing-style sums on fireworks – since the Chinese blew roughly the sam e amount as the British defence budget – but we unquestionably had the same global éclat.
Fireworks are great, but you need more than that. Not to say China didn’t do a great ceremony also.
As I write these words there are semi-naked women playing beach volleyball in the middle of the Horse Guards Parade immortalised by Canaletto. They are glistening like wet otters and the water is plashing off the brims of the spectators’ sou’westers. The whole thing is magnificent and bonkers.
Wet otters. I love it. I think the last sentence applies equally to Boris. I do hope he becomes PM one day – the world would be a far more interestign place.
Tags: Boris Johnson, Olympics
July 31st, 2012 at 9:00 am
Boris fails to point out that the weather was so cold, that the womens beach volley ball plays actually covered up their bikini’ed bodies while playing!
And given their attire, or lack there-of is pretty much the only reason they were included in the games, makes this olympics a failure.
It is the one sport where the womens version receives more viewers than the mens version – happy to be corrected.
Other fact – Equestrian is the only sport in the Olympics where women and men compete together as equals.
Vote:July 31st, 2012 at 9:30 am
How did the NHS manage to get their name put in the middle of the Olympic opening? I think that will go down as one of the great mysteries.
The NHS is now untouchable: good luck to any politician who suggests cutting even a single pound of Their funding.
Vote:July 31st, 2012 at 9:46 am
“The London Olympics Opening Ceremony: Multicultural Potemkin Village For England’s New Ruling Class”
http://www.vdare.com/articles/the-london-olympics-opening-ceremony-multicultural-potemkin-village-for-england-s-new-rulin
Vote:July 31st, 2012 at 10:35 am
You would think that with the ruling elite ratcheting up the class war to a level unseen since before WWII, with their beloved ‘austerity’ regime, the Nazi style militarisation of the police force and the steady dismantling of decades of hard fought civil liberties, that a gibbering upper-class twit like Boris Johnson would be hidden from view. That this clown is allowed to regularly spout his inane observations to an international audience only reinforces the premise that the overlords are hitting levels of social disconnect not reached since Marie Antoinette suggested everyone eat cake.
Go Boris!
Vote:July 31st, 2012 at 10:35 am
I actually thought the opening ceremony was a tacky pastiche. It had its moments (eg the glowing iron rings and the petalled flame) but most of it made me cringe.
Vote:July 31st, 2012 at 10:36 am
Boris obviously watched a different opening ceremony to me, it was very disjointed, very hard to watch on TV & frankly annoyingly long, I way preferred the Chinese one. The UK has some amazing creative talent, a shame they didn’t use it.
Vote:July 31st, 2012 at 10:37 am
Cheers andyscrase, great article!
Vote:July 31st, 2012 at 10:54 am
Have to laugh at the celebration of the NHS in the Olympics opening. The NHS is in such a bad way that it is slowly crumbling from the inside. Using a hospital in England is to quite literally take your life in your hands! While the British will privately acknowledge that there are real problems, they will react viciously to any outside criticism, no matter how correct it is.
Reading the UK papers, I see that the British Labour Party was delighted with the opening ceremony, calling it their best party political ever!
Vote:July 31st, 2012 at 11:07 am
Having dickhead celebrities and Harry Potter shit does not an Olympic Ceremony make. But to be honest, I didn’t watch it.
I’m finding it a bit hard to get into these Olympics, with the only free coverage on Prime TV being 576i and highly compressed.
Vote:July 31st, 2012 at 11:14 am
i thought the ceremony was freakin great. they even had a sex pistols bit
tristan – sucks to be you! my 8 channels in HD are glorious. Hell even prime has an hd channel
Vote:July 31st, 2012 at 11:19 am
ben
The left in Britain are loving it. Boyle has put the ’36 Games to shame with the amount of political/social symbolism thrown into this.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/jul/28/olympics-2012-danny-boyle?newsfeed=true
Vote:July 31st, 2012 at 11:39 am
The Chinese olympic opening ceremony was in a more viewable times zone, totally different culture-wise, more over-the-top in a glamorous way.
This one was not helped by having to sit up all night to watch (I didn’t). It’s just another big sports fest.
Oh for the days when TVNZ sent its own camera team and we got decent coverage of our own.
I’m only interested in the eventing anyway. And the rowing. And the cycling.
Vote:July 31st, 2012 at 11:46 am
Just replace NHS with WFF, pounds with dollars, and the sentence is still true for NZ.
Vote:July 31st, 2012 at 12:51 pm
Yoza, is it difficult living in the 1930s?
Vote:July 31st, 2012 at 1:05 pm
Wonderful Opening.
Vote:Makes me proud of the Mother of the Empire.
July 31st, 2012 at 2:52 pm
I thought the symbolism of the lighting of the Olympic Cauldron in the London Opening Ceremony was quite amusing with seven random youth “the hope of tomorrow” used. On television it looked like a combination of black shirts and Hitler youth attending a book burning ceremony, a real “Triumph of the Will”.
Overall I give Danny Boyle a solid 2/10 for the Opening Ceremony. Those two points are for NOT including Adolf Hitler somewhere in the ceremony. Surprise we didn’t see Karl Marx enter the stadium on a flying pig. (The pig representing Capitalism and Karl Marx representing mans struggle and success over it through State sponsored Socialism). Ingsoc forever right Danny Boyle?
Vote:July 31st, 2012 at 3:08 pm
the opening ceremony was very strange.
Best bit was mr. bean and the queen parachuting.
Rest of it was a bit jumbly and messy for my taste.
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