I have never pretended to political correctness, so I can happily abhor the sanctimonious politically correct bullshit that made the British contribution to the Olympic closing ceremony so appalling. The most dull dancing imaginable, completely unsuited in scale to the ceremony, and mismatching the Royal Ballet with (wait for it) a South London Hip-Hop ensemble and a dance group featuring able and disabled dancers. The quality produced was risible – it would not have graced a county fair, let alone the Olympics.
The PR bullshit said we were “honouring diversity”. No, we were honouring mediocrity, and then apparently honouring Hello magazine by introducing Leona Lewis and David Beckham. I think I should run in the 100 metres in 2012, thus honouring diversity by vastly increasing our representation of overweight and unhealthy middle-aged men.
Absolutely,
The dance troup were dire. More zoo animals than 'Zoo Nation' and who was the idiot that thought an squirming mass of flesh representing the crush that occurs when a bus arrives represents the best of London?
Honestly, did they have to publicise to the world that we are now as ill-mannered, in-considerate and overcrowded as other parts of the globe?
No doubt this choreographer is related to the numbskull who managed to get the Myra Hindley image in the Travel London publicity video.
By the way did you catch the BBC post Olympics party and some band showcasing the Clash's 'London Calling'
Here's the chorus:
The ice age is coming, the sun is zooming in,
Engines stop running and the wheat is growing thin,
A nuclear error, but I have no fear,
London is drowning-and I live by the river.
The whole song is of a similar ilke. Great song but hardly one to celebrate the coming of the Olympics or put London in a good light. I do wonder if our celebrity luvvies have a single brain cell between them.
Of course it could be that as a result of educational dumbing down these poor kids only understood the word 'London' and not the rest……
I do disagree on one point Leona Lewis along with Jimmy Page was the one real highlight of the show.
No matter how she became famous one thing is true she has an amazing voice.
I only hope for the opening ceremony Brown's promise of a rock show unequalled comes off. Over the last forty years we have had rock musicians to match the world and if these are showcased it will be one hell of a show.
As for Beckham, I agree the most over-rated over-hyped sportsman probably in history.
Yes, I agree about the pathology extant in the UK of "honouring mediocrity" and have raged in my writing about this for years. For example, the seemingly unending obsession with hip-hop, breakdancing and bhangra – forms which really had their day 10, 20, 25 years ago – is simply a strategic excuse on the part of both ignorant funders and complacent, patriarchal 'community leaders' for the crippling internalisation of a ghetto-ising mediocrity and for a complete absence of artistic and political courage. Liberal whites dare not say anything along these lines for fear of being branded racist. And people like me are treated as crazies and are not listened to, anyway – our voices are turned to the lowest possible volume on the receptor dial. This is why, in 'Psychoraag' (a novel of which no-one will have heard), I had the radio presenter protagonist completely eschew these hackneyed and unimaginative forms. But outside of academia, that book was virtually censored – the English way, by polite ommision – right out of the cultural discourse. And so, the mind-numbing beat goes on… and on…