We are all going bonkers. Or so you would imagine, when you listen to the way people talk about each other Their ex-boyfriend is "nuts" Their best friend is totally "out there" The guy next-door-but-one is a "complete loony" The woman on the bus has "lost her marbles" You don't have to be mad to work here, but it helps. Spain has also had its Olympic day recently, while France has not only hosted the World Cup but is going through one of its temperamental and political crises at present.Now it is our chance Britain is a sports-obsessed, under-achieving nation. Besides, the United States straddles the world so unattractively now that it should have the grace, on this occasion, to make way for another country.
Of our rivals, America seems to have had the Olympics every eight years or so; the invocation of 11 September by Mayor Bloomberg is about as cynical as it is despairing. "Make Britain Proud", the slogan used to cajole Londoners into supporting the bid may have uncomfortable echoes of Robert Maxwell's notorious "I'm Backing Britain" campaign, but it strikes the right note.Sport has great redemptive powers. Much of the ambivalence towards the idea that we might actually run the Olympics rather well (and it might be an idea to get Bob Geldof on board right now) has been caused by a fear of eventual crashing disappointment.We have been in contention, off and on the pitch, at too many great sporting events, only to see the prize go to Germany, America, France or Australia, to allow ourselves the optimism of the would-be victor.Of course, we deserve to win. The sourness and cynicism that have eaten their way into the national soul are partly a result of too often coming second, of being the plucky loser in the world's great competitions. The chance to run a successful Olympic games will accelerate the process. When last year a large football crowd in Spain, one of our Olympic rivals, made monkey noises whenever a black player was on the ball, we were able, for the first time in living memory, to adopt a position of moral superiority. Thanks to the habit of British football clubs buying foreign stars, on occasion dispensing with English players altogether, crowds have become less insular, more internationally minded.There are, in fact, the first signs that, as a nation, we are beginning to recover from a serious crisis of confidence.
The Dome may have been an embarrassment, but it was relatively private one. The indecisiveness and over-spending that have marked projects like Wembley Stadium and the new Scottish parliament have at least not exposed us to international ridicule.But what will happen if the Tube fails to work properly? Could some ghastly return to the days of strikes and labour unrest sabotage the new arena? Worst of all, will our now-famous yob culture introduce guests to some the less attractive aspects of British life - litter, swearing, defecating attack-dogs, sexual activity on the High Street on Saturday nights, youths mooning out of car windows, and so on?It is these fears which explain why London had the lowest support among its own citizens for their own city's bid We have lost faith in our own society. And that is largely why we need and deserve to host the Olympics more than any of our rivals.Britain has become so habituated to feeling embarrassed about some of its citizens that it has failed to notice that, in spite of the occasional flare-ups, hooliganism in these islands is on the wane. In spite of our cheery world leader of a Prime Minister, national self-esteem is shaky and fragile.