This five-ring circus is only for those in love with white elephants | Andrew Rawnsley | Comment is free | The Observer

This five-ring circus is only for those in love with white elephants | Andrew Rawnsley | Comment is free | The Observer: I will now resume my silence on the subject before I am detained by the Olympic thought-police. I acknowledge that the Games will bring some transient thrills to those who watch them and more lasting satisfaction to successful competitors. I wish the best to our medal hopefuls to whom we now look to salvage some national pride. People who claim to be expert say that the United Kingdom has a very good chance of coming fourth in the medal league table. That would be impressive for a nation of 60-odd million people inhabiting some wet rocks in the north-east Atlantic. For all the blunders during the build-up, I have a hunch that the actual event will be largely successful. I hope so. Even an Olympiphobe doesn't want to give to the French the satisfaction of being able to crow that they would have done it so much better.