I have studiously avoided blogging about the Olympics. I can’t quite get excited. Tickets at £475 don’t make this an inclusive games at all. They make it a rather exclusive club. And I was unimpressed with some of the Nazi tactics around the ‘protection’ of the Olympic logos.

I was trying to avoid seeing the start of the Games. But it was on TV and so I watched for a while. I couldn’t imagine how they could stretch the ceremony out for three hours – then you remember the flag thing – all 204 countries parading… yawn.

If you did watch – and you are not in the UK, can I just make it clear that the Maypole, cricket playing folks – with horses ploughing the fields is not where I live. I don’t wear a top hat (well not to work anyway). Isambard Kingdom Brunel was a great bloke – but he’s been dead for 150 years. But I also noted he had an iPod – an early adopter indeed.

The Pearly Kings and Queens and the Chelsea Pensioners got a gig. Like they always do. You can always rely on them to turn out.

For some reason we had to advertise the NHS too – the £27m cost of the ceremony might have been better spent on on healthcare? I was expecting Andrew Lansley to come out and talk at us. Thank God for small mercies. I did think that there was some accuracy in the hospital beds all lined up – like in the corridors. Why did this feature at all?

Not sure why Jean Michelle Jarre got a night out. If the French had wanted this event they could have paid the alleged £24bn cost? At least the Sex Pistols featured – although it was Pretty Vacant, not God Save the Queen…

Now how can I avoid the TV stuff over the next few weeks?