Well done Rio on an Olympic opening ceremony that eclipsed London 2012…

Oh no… London is going to be insufferable about the Rio Olympics, isn’t it?  The sport and hosting at London 2012 were magnificent, of course, but in the years since the events of that summer have mushroomed in the middle class southern imagination. For the modern metropolitan, London 2012 and its aftermath was close to being a religious experience. The liturgy demands in particular that one must – must – bow down to Danny Boyle and the 2012 opening ceremony, even if you didn’t like it, which I didn’t, other than the Queen and Daniel Craig, who were great.

All of this means that the organisers of the Rio opening ceremony were on a hiding to nothing when it came to their event, in terms of public reaction in southern England. On social media there was an outpouring of sneering. Call that an opening ceremony? What a joke. Call yourselves the embodiment of diversity? We did that four years ago. We’re much better. Our fireworks were superior and around the world people still talk admiringly about Boyle’s NHS segment (they don’t, by the way.)

The criticism ends up coming off almost (what’s the word?) imperialist.

Actually, the Rio opening ceremony this weekend wasn’t too bad as these things go – and I cannot stand opening ceremonies – at least until there was an excess of eco nonsense. I’m not convinced it eclipsed London 2012, as I suggested in the headline above, but it was fun being accused of heresy on social media for suggesting, not entirely seriously, that it was superior to our own effort.

Even so, in Rio the projections and lighting were clever and the section at the start on the development of Brazil was marvellous. Then the supermodel Giselle did some ace walking. On a small budget, a country with serious problems did okay and had a good time. And it’s only an opening ceremony.

And that is the nub of it. Brazil, for all the hype a few years back about its supposed rise, is a struggling country in all sorts of trouble. Not only has its economy shrunk for five quarters in a row, pushing unemployment up above 11%. Political corruption is endemic and parts of the emerging middle class that had thought it had escaped poverty for good are being forced backwards by the grinding recession.

Yes, there have been extraordinary advances and improvements made as a result of globalisation and liberalised trade and modernisation. Life expectancy increased from 62 years in 1980 (at birth) to 74 in 2014. In 1980, according to the World Bank, annual GDP was $235bn. By 2002 it had grown to $508bn before growth exploded, rocketing GDP to $2.6trillion at the peak in 2011. It has since fallen back to $1.7trillion.

Urban and rural poverty still exists on an epic scale, but the efforts of a deeply corrupt populist political elite to eliminate poverty (while enriching themselves) have only succeeded in putting Brazil’s advance into reverse. It is a tragic tale.

In such circumstances, can’t we enjoy the show the Brazilians put on in difficult circumstances rather than boasting about our own wealth and supposed brilliance?

Of course London 2012 was glorious and we love the memories, but we really must, at some point, get over ourselves.