The opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics featured a tribute to London's pioneering Great Ormond Hospital for Children. Nurses dressed in Victorian-era nursing garb and doctors apparently in contemporary medical scrubs danced the swing, while children 'patients' frolicked on giant period-style iron hospital beds. Many of the adults were volunteers from the National Health Service workforce.

The most controversial aspect of ceremony director Danny Boyle's homage to British medicine was when the acronym of the National Health Service appeared in giant letters in the centre of the stadium. Supporters of the NHS angry about the government's latest round of cuts were quick to use the image to their advantage:

Conservative Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, and Prime Minister David Cameron's reaction, allegedly to this celebration of the NHS, says it all:

Reaction from the world of social media was mixed. Many commentators, predictably including those from the left side of politics, were positive about Boyle's political statement, while others found it not appropriate for an Olympic opening ceremony. Some commentators from outside the UK were simply nonplussed, not knowing what the NHS was or its political overtones.