OLYMPIC TRIUMPH OF FORM OVER CONTENT

The opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics was certainly a spectacle. Although I was hoping for something more Ken Russell and The Wicker Man to emerge from the Fields Full of Folk beneath the grassy mound, the transformation of these into Dark Satanic Mills instead was still impressive. Moreover, the heroine of the show for me was not Her Majesty's Bond Girl but the deaf drummer Dame Evelyn Glennie who led the summoning up of the infernal spirits of industrial revolution with Titan relish, stealing the limelight from Sir Kenneth Branagh's Isambard Kingdom Brunel with a positively awesome chthonic beat. Unfortunately, after that I thought the event rather lost its plot. Showcasing the National Health Service and Youth Culture was, I imagine, intended to highlight the role of these, along with the Queen and Our Green and Pleasant Land, in forging Britain's social cohesion. Nevertheless, despite the undoubted technical achievement of Danny Boyle's creation, I was left feeling that this culmination of the so-called Cultural Olympiad was still outdone by another Recent Event where form also triumphed over content: Last Year's Riots.