I do not agree with Maria Williams who believes that the support shown for the NHS in the Olympic opening ceremony would have caused David Cameron to squirm. After all, the Conservative Party is committed to increase spending on the NHS when the Labour Party is not. What disturbs me, however, is her view that it is perfectly acceptable to spend large sums of public money on an event which she clearly believes supported a particular political agenda (so long, no doubt, as it is one of which she approves).

She exults in her (erroneous) view that the elected leader of our country was embarrassed in front of a world audience. I do not for a moment believe that this was Danny Boyle’s intention, but if she believes this was the result, then she is condemning the event as a failure. Not all the participating athletes or the viewing public share her political viewpoint. If she is correct, then the ceremony, one of the purposes of which must have been to unite the nation, would have been political and divisive. I fear she cannot understand that the Olympic Games, of all international events, should not be used for narrow partisan ends.

Martyn Morgan, Oakfield Road, Newport