The Olympics are now well and truly with us and, in spite of all the fears and reservations of many, I think it is going pretty well so far, subject to Team GB notching up a few gold medals, of course.

I thought that the much anticipated opening ceremony was a great success and showed a lot of imagination and flair by the director, Danny Boyle, and the thousands of mainly amateur participants who worked tirelessly all night to make it work as spectacularly as it did. It showed a lot of what this country was and is about and the criticisms that it was too leftie or politically correct are unfair.

Of course, much more could have been made of our Imperial past but it probably would have been a little distasteful bearing in mind that at one time or another we were at war with most of the countries taking part! Yes, we could have had a scene involving the archers of Agincourt, the sailors of Trafalgar or even a re-enactment of Rorke’s Drift but I don’t think it would have gone down very well!

The whole spectacle was a credit to all involved and, like many others I’m sure, it certainly made me feel proud to be British.

Finally, I  wonder why the British team is called Team GB and not Team UK.  Great Britain is the name of the larger of the British Isles and by implication a reference to Great Britain alone misses out Northern Ireland which is located on a different island. The correct title of our country, as a whole, is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and, since team GB contains some Northern Irish athletes, it should naturally be called Team UK. I hope the Northern Irish aren’t too miffed by this!