The success of London's Olympics has so far been stunning, not just for the althletes or Team GB and the enormously enthusiastic spectators but for the UK rising to the occasion and delivering something many , in particular the ever-carping media and even more carping BBC believed it never could. The feeling of fun, the efforts of the 70,000 McDonalds trained volunteers, the transport and logistics seen and unseen have been magnificent. Above all, rising above the appalling weather of most of the summer, the economic gloom (would you like your recession double or triple?), Britain has delivered a message it is still very much in business and that given the right leadership, drive to get things done and high profile stage: "Yes we can".
This is in blinding contrast to the acccustomed drip feed, starting in some classrooms and thereafter reinforced by burocracy ,dumbing down , political correctness,over regulation, EU directives ,labour "agreements" and disincentives of all kinds of "No you can't".
It has also made competing and winning respectable. It has shown that untiring endeavour against all kinds of odds, the endurance of personal pain and sacrifices and utter commitment to an aim can achieve success and is worth going for. Also it is no use blaming anyone else for unlevel playing fields, perceived injustices, family backgrounds, traumatic youth,- the only way is to forget all that and get on with it. Your life is your own and you don't need to call in the counsellors.
All this came as a surprise to many pundits .The largely London metrocentric miserabalist media are much happier with "the cuts", "It'll never work", "It's unfair" headlines. Their judgement of national and regional mood has long been poor. Like politicians and some diplomats, they don't sit and listen in the right places. They tend to talk amongst themselves and those of like minds in a somewhere out of this world social bubble. Many of them were caught seriously off guard by popular enthusiasm for the Royal Jubilee and couldn't understand it until almost too late. The admiration for the incredible devotion to duty displayed by the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh standing for over two hours on a rain drenched barge and its reciprocation by even more drenched spectators . Add the admiration for the perseverance on that day's finale by the Royal College of Music's Chamber Choir of frozen drowned rats and there was every reason for a rethink about how the Olympics should be handled.
The media should be grateful for the right royal warning but even then they continued in largely downbeat vein until, a few days before the Games began they appeared to realise that they risked being starkly out of step with the real national mood . They suddenly changed foot, willingly or unwillingly ,and adopted an upbeat, fun, enthralled even ,approach. The BBC's commentators have been so sucessful that now their Director General has told them to cool the patriotism.
A huge Olympic bonus has come from an unexpected quarter. The absence from our screens of politicians and politics. Only the ebullient Boris Johnson has made an impression. There have been occasional glimpses of others, especially Dave who always looks as if he's wearing a suit even when he isn't, and Ashen Nick who has only appeared only once (see below for the success that wasn't). Of New Old Labour the Eds and the rest have been absent, maybe abroad, who cares? Too much about competition, winning, doing it by the sweat of peoples' own brows and even fun for socialist fundamentalists. They have to feel (your but seldom their own ) pain, struggle but of course never win as that would be elitist. Therein lies their lack of appeal and why what they sell doesn't work.
But it's worse for them than that. London 2012 has been all about getting it done (even at the expense of having to expensively and unnecessarily buy off the slab faced union heavies), delivering, doing things NOW. It's been about positivism ,being upbeat, overcoming problems on the hoof and sweeping obstacles out of the way, not about needing further discussions, having an enquiry ,doing nothing, obstructing, preaching. Only Boris, seen as the political face of the Olympics has come out a winner . That, despite being lambasted as an Etonian toff, sometimes looking like a buffoon, is because instead of being grey and dull and from another planet he seems to many from the top of society to the bottom to be very much of this one. He is fun, speaks "human", and off the cuff, can engage easily and unpatronisingly with anyone, doesn't mind making mistakes and is unconventional. Whether or not he would make a good Prime Minister is another matter but he would at least start by being a popular one.
This raises the bar for the coming political season starting with the "Conferences" in September to Olympian levels. It was ironic that in the middle of this festival of "Go for it", "Get it done", Clegg chose to solemnly announce that his party would give the Tories an illiberal retaliatory black eye for being unable to deliver House of Lords reform, something about 2% of the country regard as a priority. On the same day Ms. Mensch announced that she would be quitting as an MP only 2 years into her 5 year term, thereby ditching those who voted for her and leaving her party with an almost unwinnable by-election. So much for Olympian spirit by both of them. They probably expected big headlines as if anyone cared. They got them for a few short hours and then slipped off the screens again and out of sight. Most people just didn't give a damn. That's where they both have helped the interest in and status and respect of politics and politicians to come to.
The message to Dave, Nick and Ed therefore is that they have by default allowed the summers' big events to highlight them and their programmes as dull, pedestrian, unimaginitave, lacking in "Can do" and " Now!" None of them has a " Man,-or even Person,- of the People" image. It may be too late for any of them to do anything about it .That being the case ,their parties have to find new ways out of the post Blair/Brown mess with fresh leaders, new bounce and sense of connecting with the electorate. For a start the furrowed brows, studied seriousness, indignation and greyness have to go. That's just where Boris, surrounded by an energetic and able team to actually do the biz could burst upon the stage. It's probably the Conservatives' and even the country's only hope. For Nick and friends in wind powered, Europe-hugging la la land there is no hope and for the Eds and their Olympics-ransoming union paymasters let's pray there's none either.
