London 2012 opening ceremony... boredom at its best

The Opening ceremony of the 30th Olympiad brings back to me the memories of the opening of the Games in Beijing. The comparisons are non-existent as the two ceremonies are incomparable. China made the event a technological/special effects show, London made the usual self-praise to whatever was and no longer is, managing to close in 90 minutes the history and switch (thank God) to the music industry and the NHS for the remaining couple of hours. In Italy we would have never thought of using the NHS as something to promote the country: we are hyper critical about it, despite the fact that the Italian Health System is much better than the UK one under a few point of view. However, all due respect to some centre of excellencies, I found rather incomprehensive to show to the world something that in other countries work well (France, Germany, Austria, Belgium) while in the UK has given more than one occasion to be criticized. Just for those who don’t know until a few years ago the NHS used to send patience to foreign countries for urgent operations after the waiting list topped years of waiting. The music part was the one I enjoyed most, except for the closing by Paul Macca. When I saw him I thought “Oh my God, here we go with Hey Jude again”. Boring, old and tiring. Britain has got much better to offer. I loved the Mr. Bean appearance as I found amusing the Elizabeth Bond Girl. According to some Brits I know, the ceremony was too British, hence foreigners would not appreciate it. My opinion is the exact opposite, if you are British or you lived long enough in this country and with these people, you cannot possibly appreciate it. Britain has got much more to offer than Paul McCartney and a confusing show about the origins of the country. Beijing 2008 closed on a boring small show with Boris Johnson’s suit just out of a tumble dryer and a few jumping youngsters coming out of a double decker bus and this was an omen to what this ceremony would have been: the belly button at the centre of the universe.