TEAM GB’S GLORIOUS GAMES DID THE NATION PROUD AND PUT SNEERING LEFT IN ITS PLACE

THE reaction here of the extraordinary triumphs of our athletes and competitors in Rio has been not a single mood but a raft of different responses. So now that the Olympiad is over, let me pay tribute to a few.

Many of those excelling needed financial help to reach the pinnacles they obtained. This funding came mostly from the National Lottery whose original impulse – against a lot of opposition at the time – came from John Major, then the prime minister. So to all those that bought a ticket but never won a fortune – well, you are winning now as all golds, silvers and bronzes come home. So thank you for your quids.

The Games also told us old-timers a lot about the young generation, so often criticised by lofty pundits in their armchairs. Our nation’s young do not only stare at iPhones all day or rabbit away endlessly on their mobiles. They also compete, test themselves, and win.

It was good to see the red-whiteand-blue going up on that podium over and over again as we cope with rising prices, terrorism and coppers dressed like Darth Vader.

But for me the real ecstasy was to see the spittle-flecked rage of the Britain-knocking Left-wing pseudo-intellectuals, the UK-despising luvvies, forever sneering over us through the media.

They didn’t know where to put themselves for chagrin as the nation cheered the boys and girls in Brazil. After Brexit they have been united in preaching the dreary litany that “this country is over”. May I remind them all of John Paul Jones’ reply: “Gentlemen, we have not yet begun to fight.”