Olympics

Well, we're on holiday on the Isle of Wight and, as you might guess, the weather is not good! So I'm in the local library. The holiday has given us time to watch a fair amount of Olympics and hasn't it been fantastic? Well done Great Britain! (I hate "Team GB")

I was watching the women's beach volleyball, actually because I enjoy volleyball, although no-one believes me. My wife pointed out that the Brazilian team had "BRA" across their tops. She wondered what the team from Nicaragua had on their briefs.

But back to the medals. Or at least that grating misuse of English, turning medal into a verb, which it isn't (except, perhaps, in America). You win a medal in a sport, you don't medal in it. That is something different and spelt meddle.

This doesn't, of course, detract from our athletes, congratulations to all of them! Even those who haven't won any medals, because they had to be brilliant to qualify for the team in the first place. It's interesting and heart-warming to hear so many of them saying how much they owe to their parents. At a time when we hear so much of gangs and knife crime, it's a timely reminder that there are an enormous number of good families out there, with kids not getting in to trouble. And just a few of them go on to win medals at the Olympics.