So, as you will or will not have read, U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, just before his big visit to London, executed the blinding diplomatic maneuver of slagging off London's epic seven-year preparations for the 2012 Olympic Games. Specifically, he said:

This made a little more sense to me when I realised he was trying to prop up his sad little history as Olympic organiser. Clever.
I really wanted to vote Libertarian anyway.
Judging from the rousing success of the brilliant, clever, triumphant, warm, funny, awe-inspiring Danny Boyle Opening Ceremonies last night by the way, Mitt turns out to be exactly as clever as he looked. If you didn't get to see it live, by the way, see it when you can! Amazing. And a useful reminder of the enormously outsize contribution of Britain to human progress including little things like the Industrial Revolution (which alone accounts for most of our progress as a species), abolition of the international slave trade, women's suffrage, and this amusing world wide web thingy… And not to forget Harry Potter, James Bond, Peter Pan, the Lord of the Rings, the Beatles, Shakespeare, Dickens, and on and on and on…
But right now the men's cycle roadrace is going by outside. More tomorrow!
…Okay, I cannot resist throwing this in. (Particularly if you haven't seen the Opening Ceremony yet, check this out!) Truly awesome. HM the ole gal is really a good sport, isn't she? And it was midway through here, on the flyover through central London, with the Churchill statue waving, that I Facebooked my "God I love it here" comment.
Update! Watching the men's cycling on BBC video now. Go Team GB and Cavendish! The gold is ours to lose… Now, as long as they have this on down the pub but in case not, I'll bring an iPad!
