Yakking for Argyll

Can’t quite get it that China delivered a breathtaking opening ceremony, can we? We nit-pick to lessen their achievement, maybe to reduce the inevitable gap between this and the kitsch we’re sure to go for in 2012. Let’s hear it for massed Morris dancers. So - the footprints in the sky were computer generated, not real fireworks. That gave us at least two days of whingeing. Then we got overheated because the little girl singing the anthem to China turned out to be miming to another child’s voice. We could hardly cope with the shock of a value system which gave priority to the potency of image - this from a culture which takes it for granted that stage stars often don’t cut it against more photogenic rivals for the equivalent film role. There’s nothing more diminishing then meanness of spirit. China had the vision, the stamina, the discipline, the heart for a massive challenge and the will to deliver. That’s what took our breath away - sheer epic scale, nailed. We’re just not there.