When parliamentarians paid more attention to their expenses than holding the government to account.
When the media failed to distance itself from politicians.
When politicians struck deals with the corporate sector.
When the regulator watch-dogs failed to bark.
When the bankers became gamblers.
When the accountants tore up their rule books.
When the police were suborned by elements of the press
And when the search for profit over-rode ethics and integrity in all these areas, then our country was left leaderless in many of those areas where the peoples’ voice was customarily influenced by the establishment. Now, in spite of this tsunami of scandals, the 2012 Olympics has broken the mould.
In the lead-up to the Olympics the media views were predominantly negative. Why were we spending billions in the middle of a recession? The Zil lanes were a throw back to the Soviet Union; security was excessive; dislocation of local sites unreasonable; concentration of commercialism to a few global brands sanctioned monopolism. All these aspects were ventilated without positive balance regarding the progress of the preparations.
Come the opening ceremony and there was a hiatus in the reaction of the usual leaders of opinion and it was only when the voice of the public thrust itself to the fore was the imagination and ingenuity of the ceremony acknowledged. The usual opinion formers, whatever they thought, were quick to follow. More doubt and hesitation followed when gold medals were initially slow to come.
The harvest of medal success for Great Britain will be the legacy of these games and the people have made it so, although the credit will go elsewhere. But let it go where it may, what we have achieved as a people here, we can continue in other spheres; shackled as we are with a discredited, lame duck establishment, we can keep our great country and its best values going until a new, reformed establishment emerges that is worthy of the people it will represent.
5th AUGUST 2012
It was not to be. The launch pad of the 2012 Olympics changed nothing and the Oligarchy Establishment of the UK learned nothing from it. No change followed and it was a case of ploughing on to the cliff’s edge. Now, floundering as we are as a country; leaderless, divided; betrayed by an inept political class and no clear future discernible, shadow boxing with our European partners, we are stumbling towards an abyss with the on-looking World bemused, mocking or pitiful we await the end game of our Brexit folly.
7 April 2019