Let The Phoenix Rise

There was much to admire about the Olympic Closing Ceremony but much that irritated too. It was too long and in parts self indulgent. It was a pity that in his first song George Michael sang flat. Did you guess who the hologram figure was? No neither did I. My daughter told me it was Freddie Mercury of Queen who died of aids. The words of Lennon's Imagine confirmed my view of the leftie bias of the show as did the words of one of Jessie J's songs but a lot of men could forgive her anything and her voice wasn't bad either. Whereas the words of these two songs were of a misguided philosophy the word Freedom in one song emblazoned around the stadium struck me as a deserved poke in the of those present from dictatorships and other autocrat run countries. The lighting and other visual and stage effects were brilliant and the extinguishment of the cauldron with the phoenix rising above were particularly moving. Did the phoenix represent this country or was it about something else? It should have been about the UK and in the context of the Games the incredible success of our athletes who in 1996 obtained 1 gold only. In all of this where were the Rolling Stones? They didn't feature in either the Opening or Closing Ceremonies or at the Diamond Jubilee and they are one of our greatest bands ever. Maybe I have missed the reason why but could it be because they will only perform for a fee? Charles Crawford has a good piece on the Closing Ceremony here and his reference to the EU is well made. John Mauldin whose Thoughts from the Frontline I subscribe to now believes that the euro crisis will lead to one of three disasters of equal significance. Either the euro will collapse or there will be some form of european union or the can will continue to be kicked down the road forever. I do not agree that these three disasters are of equal horror. You have to look at the one which will allow each country to heal itself again like the phoenix which means that the euro must be killed and each country go back to its own currency. It will certainly be painful but look at Iceland as the most recent example of how a bankrupt country can out itself back together again in only a remarkably short time. Three to five years.