Did the Tory media in the UK freak out over the NHS/working-class tributes in the opening ceremony?

[Ken Burch]

Yeah, that was two fingers raised upwards to Mitt...but it was also pretty clearly anti-Cameron and anti-bourgie in many respects(and pro-multicultural in a time when you've got an anti-multiculti government).

I know Boris won in May, but this looks like the kind of event "Red Ken" would have wanted. Good on Danny Boyle for that.

[dipsydoodle]

1. No

.

[mr blur]

2. Don't think so. nt

[Prophet 451]

3. Not really n/t

[T_i_B]

4. I haven't checked if the Daily Fail has done owt stupid

Unsuprisingly, the 2 RW commentators who've whined the most are Toby Young and James Delingpole.

However, it's Tory MP Aidan Burley who's made the biggest fool of himself. Tweeting that the opening ceremony was "leftie multicultural crap" when you've been sacked by Cameron for attening Nazi-themed stag parties was an incredibly stupid thing to do.

Not only that but his suggestions of Shakespeare & Rolling Stones are pretty shit compared to James Bond & The Queen jumping out of a helicopter.

[Ken Burch]

5. Burley's probably not long for the political world

His constituency, Cannock Chase, is normally a safe Labour seat and Burley took it in 2010 on a freakishly large swing(I'm guessing they selected him as the Tory candidate there because they felt sure he'd never actually WIN).

Hopefully, these comments have ensured his defeat at the next election.

[LeftishBrit]

7. Not always safe Labour

Just been checking it; Burley's predecessor Tony Wright was Labour and seemed generally to get elected by comfortable majorities. But for much of the Thatcher years, the MP for Cannock Chase was the hard-right Thatcherite Gerald Howarth (Howarth lost his seat to Wright in 1992, but then got another safer seat so we're still enduring him in Parliament!)

But I agree that Burley is doing everything possible to ensure a short political career, including getting into trouble in France for his involvement in a Nazi-themed stag party, for which he ordered the Nazi uniforms!

[non sociopath skin]

8. I'd guess that Tories gifted with a greater neuron count than Burley, Young and Beanpole .....

.... thought it better to stay stum rather than rock the Olympian boat.

As with the "Let's get Mitt" trend, this shows that, however stinky-poo our right-wing politicians are, there's clear blue water between them and those inflicted upon our American cousins.

Had anyone been suicidal enough to include anything to the left of Herbert Hoover in a similar American Sportfest, the Koch brothers would have been ordering the demo buses three minutes into it ....

The Skin

[LeftishBrit]

6. Not really, but the disgusting Tory MP Aidan Burley made a complete arse of himself about it.

[Ken Burch]

9. I read Burley's tweets

I love the stupidity of his denouciation of the multicultural presence at one point, followed by his demand for more Stones music(the Stones being performers of American blues-based rock-and-roll, one the most sweeping examples of musical multiculturalsm in history).

What was he on about with the demand for "red arrows", btw?

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. The Red Arrows are the RAF's display team

They did a flyover at the start. Which, when the live audience is in an arena, is pretty much all they can do. Plus it got dark, and I don't think night-time aerial displays are done much.

[Ken Burch]

11. At night-time, an aerial display would look more like a bombing run.

And Londoners saw quite enough of those at one point, IIRC.
(In the U.S. military, for whatever it's worth, the equivalent precision flying units are the Thunderbirds(U.S. Air Force) and the Blue Angels(Navy).

The Canadian Forces have a unit called the Snowbirds that does the same thing(they've performed here in Juneau at various times).

I probably would have figured it out if he'd capitalized the "R" and the "A".

[T_i_B]

12. I have to say.....

....that as outstanding as the opening ceremony was, the closing ceremony was pretty rubbish.

[LeftishBrit]

13. Thought it was very well done as a spectacle

The music - well, some excellent (I'll forgive them a lot because they included Ray Davies and 'Waterloo Sunset', one of my favourite songs); some rather crap (never been a fan of the Spice Girls).

[non sociopath skin]

14. Luckily, I didn't watch it ...

... as - Mr. Davies excepted - it seems to have been an anthology of the music I've liked least over the past half-century.

I liked the comment of the Guardian blogger who mused how amazing it was that two weeks ago the world thought we were great at music and crap at sport and now ....

The Skin

[Ken Burch]

15. Was the closing ceremony directed by a different person

than the opening ceremony?

[T_i_B]

16. Opening ceremony: Danny Boyle - Closing ceremony: Kim Gavin

Not an easy task following on from the opening ceremony I admit but all the same.....

[Ken Burch]

17. That may explain the difference.

who IS Kim Gavin, for benefit of those of us who are Brit-culture-impaired?

[T_i_B]

18. I'd never heard of him myself before attempting to answer your question!

As opposed to Danny Boyle, who has had a very good career as a film director and is a huge name to hire for an opening ceremony. Here's some links.

http://kimgavin.com/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-19094398