Here's what you missed part 2

So on to the next section that we here in the states didn't fully understand. Our lack of understand might have more to do with us vs. NBC. It's about England's National Health Service (NHS). First I just want to say something to the people complaining about how England was trying to shove their politics down our throats. Really?!?!? Are you really that simple. That while Danny Boyle was in his planning meeting trying to think of idea's that represented England he was like "Oh let's do one on the NHS cause it will piss off the Americans." I'm pretty sure our political issues didn't even cross his mind. Just like you have no idea what their Parliament is arguing about right this second, I can assure you that the English people care about that much with what our Senate is doing. 


Back on to the subject at hand. The segment in question was called, " The second star to the right and on till morning." which for you less read among us is a quote from the book Peter Pan. Peter Pan was written by Scottish novelist and playwright J.M. Barrie. Remember this as I'll come back to it later. The segment was about the English love of the NHS and about the imagination inside all children . To give it some context (without any political interjection by this writer) the NHS  is the umbrella term for the type of health care system used in the United Kingdom(UK).  It's funded by income taxes and covers all citizens, residents and even visitors (under some circumstances) of the UK. It was started in 1948 as the UK was recovering from World War 2.  The British cherish the NHS and that love was put on display in the Opening Ceremony. The scene was hundreds of beds with children being rolled around by nurses in historical nurses uniforms.  There was also a moment with actual nurses and children from the Great Ormond Street Hospital. The Great Ormond Street Hospital is a children's hospital in London and it has a long and rich history of pediatric care dating back to 1852. It's a charitable hospital which relies on the NHS to cover the cost of day to day operations and donations which allow it to be on the cutting edge of children's medicine .  It's also well known for receiving the rights from J.M. Barrie for Peter Pan in 1929 which has given the children's hospital a large amount of funding. That's how those two subjects are tied together for the purposes of the Olympics.  The segment goes on to explore the vast history of English children's literature with everything from Mary Poppins, the Queen of Hearts to even He who shall not be named of Harry Potter fame. 


Now with this added context maybe it was less about politics and more about Britain being British. 




P.S. So if you want my personal feelings about the NHS and how it relates to us as a county then you could watch this.