Patriotism

Follow @JohnPlatinumG Team GB won seven of the ten gold medals available in the velodrome at this year's London Olympics. What an outstanding achievement! Well done the men's team sprint, Jason Kenny, Sir Chris Hoy, Vicky Pendleton, women's team pursuit and Laura Trott (Trotty). It is not all about winning. I spare a thought for Jess Varnish who will not be getting her gold for four years, but whose day will come. What an incredible indoor team. Add this to the great sporting success of Bradley Wiggins in the time trial and British cycling is truly on the map. And again spare a thought for Mark Cavendish, who, partly because of gamesmanship from the German and Australian teams, failed to get an expected gold in the road race.

My crest rose with pride to see these superb athletes raise the profile of British cycling. When my country succeeds in anything but waging war it makes me so happy I search diligently for the right superlative. As Sir Walter Scott wrote 'Breathes there a man with soul so dead, who never to himself hath said, this is my own, my native land'.

But patriotism can be taken to extreme, and when it comes to waging war Horace was so wrong in what Wilfred Owen referred to as that 'old lie'. It is not good and honourable to die for your country. It is foolish. Nobody should take any pride when their country wages war, especially when it is to steal oil. We should steep ourselves in shame. I know I do.

Governments should take a look at the spirit of the Olympic games and the way people of all nationalities embrace the competitiveness without wanting to kill one another or steal their possessions. Look at the way Mo Farah has excelled in talented events formerly the domain of those who possess the African long-distance running gene. Again it has made me proud to be British. Well done Mo!

There is something not quite right however when athletes are encouraged to mime to an eighteenth century dirge which contains the line 'send her victorious'. I would dearly love a new national anthem in the spirit of the Olympics the words of which embrace all cultures and nationalities. The cyclists did us proud as a nation. They competed at the highest level and got the highest results. They spoke with their legs and legged it with their spokes. They did not have to mouth to this patriotic nonsense, and they did not. That kind of business is more what you expect from the horse-people and Eton rowers. Our cyclists did not make an issue of not miming. But Piers Morgan did. Texting Bradley Wiggins he got one of the most classic rebuffs I have ever seen.

Piers Morgan, who as editor of the Daily Mirror did a fine job in opposing the Iraq war, and though he was unable to prevent this catastrophic blight on Britain's reputation for honesty and fair-play, at least he tried. So what happened to Piers over the years? Now he spends much of his life in the US, the country that got us into those disastrous and expensive wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and elsewhere. On twitter Morgan wrote:

'I was very disappointed @bradwiggins didn't sing the anthem either. Show some respect to our monarch please!'

Bradley Wiggins replied:

'@piersmorgan I was disappointed when you did not go to jail for insider dealing and phone-hacking, but you know, each to his own'. How classic! Brad Wiggins (Wiggo) I have no idea who could surpass you as sports personality of the year. You'll be getting my vote for sure.

A king, a king, my horsedom for a king

Follow @JohnPlatinumG Romania, on my first visit in 2000, was quaintly backward in one sense, but moving swiftly into the 21st century in another. Surprisingly the main roads had, by and large, quite smooth surfaces, until reaching the outskirts of Bucharest, where they deteriorated dramatically, with potholes popping down everywhere. En route the quaintness was emphasised by vehicles we very rarely see in England, like horse-drawn carts and steam-cars, which chugged along at a steady pace. For rural communities these were practical vehicles, having a circular saw mounted to the rear. When the vehicle was stationary the saw could be engaged for cutting wood into manageable sizes.

Travelling by bike there were few vehicles in my 7000 kilometre journey that I ever got to overtake apart from the mammalian and mechanical chuggers, and a few locals on their village rattle-bikes. Eleven years on and the roads, even in Bucharest, get better, as does the infrastructure in general. Supermarkets are springing up in all the towns while small businesses are closing down unable to compete.

Towards the end of October 2011, on my latest visit, national television was inundated with birthday celebrations for the 90 year-old, formerly-deposed exile, King Michael I, who was forced to abdicate in 1947. The February issue of The Oldie contains a Nick Thorpe interview with the ageing former monarch, whose country fought on the side of the Nazis until it became imprudent to do so any longer. Then came Communism.

The second communist leader, Nicolae Ceausescu, was executed together with his wife, following a kangaroo trial, on Christmas Day, 1989. At the time it was the only country in Europe without a national debt. There is something of a dichotomy in the way the Communist Party of Romania allowed King Michael I to freely leave his kingdom, with all the possessions he wished to take with him, and the way that capitalist, and Christian, Romania siezed the opportunity to swiftly execute Ceausescu without a proper trial. Conspiracy theorists might think it wreaks of western involvement. In fact, the overthrow was orchestrated, from a western city, Timișoara, by a priest of Hungarian extraction, László Tőkés. During Ceausescu's 22 years at the helm times were hard for a predominantly peasant country, so hard, that on one of my visits when I was preparing a meal using lentils I was accused of eating 'peasant food' of the former communist country from the days when few could afford meat.

While towns are becoming more westernised, and prosperous, Romania's national debt is now matching that of other western economies, and people in the villages are suffering, much as they did under Ceausescu. Many prefer the Ceausescu years when everybody had jobs. While celebrations for the birthday of King Michael were given prime-time coverage these were clearly organised by those with an interest to see that communism never returns. As long as western countries can keep adding to their debts there seems little likelihood of a return to communism. The horses are going. The steam-cars are all but gone. There will be no return to monarchy. But one day the reaper will be looking for his harvest.