WE don’t choose our family or our colleagues. So I consider myself lucky to have a lovely family (except when they drive me nuts) and to work on the Examiner where my fellow reporters and subs are a dedicated, hardworking and generally genial lot.

We don’t always agree with each other’s point of view and some days there’s a lot of lively banter flying around the newsroom; it’s all part and parcel of working in a big open plan office with a lively bunch of people.

But this week my geniality has been stretched to breaking point. I have felt compelled to put pen to paper, or finger to keyboard to be more accurate, to take issue with my likeable and misguided colleague Barry Gibson. Barry usually has his finger on the pulse and his predictions of who will win what council seat in the local elections are pretty spot on.

But I’m afraid he was completely off the mark in his Wednesday column when he referred to the Olympics as “this absurd jamboree”! He then spent the next two columns running down the greatest show on earth and the £9.3 billion is it costing the country.

Admittedly, I also fell out of love (temporarily) with the Olympics a few months back when I couldn’t get any tickets. But that was only until a friend in Australia applied and got, with apparent ease, two extra tickets for the 800m final.

OK, so the ticket allocation could have been better organised by a five-year-old, the Olympic lane is causing huge tailbacks, the security arrangements are a shambles and the North Koreans aren’t speaking to us. But given the scale of the event, it would have been unrealistic to think there wouldn’t be any teething problems.

I love Britain, but am not so keen on the British characteristic of being all too willing to shoot down in flames anyone who sticks their head above the parapet.

It was a bold move to bid for the Olympics, particularly at a time of economic hardship, but we beat the others countries to get it, so why not make the most of it and celebrate? The doom mongers of the national Press and other whingers are completely missing the point.

There are some things that mean more than money and the Olympics is one of them.

The Games and the run-up to them are inspiring and motivating to more than just the athletes taking part. Although, anyone who has ever put one foot in front of another at more than walking pace, picked up a ball or taken part in any sport will appreciate the dedication needed to reach Olympic level, the pinnacle of human physical achievement.

Sport transcends boundaries and the Olympics are the jewel in the crown. There’s no need to wait and see what “the legacy” will be, it’s already happening.

The benefits of the Games are too numerous to mention, but here are just a few for Barry: Over five million people turned out to see the Olympic torch, what other event can you say that about?

A considerable part of the money has been spent on regenerating London’s East End. After the Games are over, the Olympic Village will provide 5,000 badly-needed homes, the area’s transport infrastructure has been transformed from a Victorian to a 21st-century network, the state-of-the-art architecture has completely revitalised what was an extremely ugly and run-down area. And the sports stadia will be used by young and old for decades.

Hundreds of thousands of children have been involved in Olympic projects with their schools.

Speak to their teachers and you will hear them refer to the young people as inspired, animated, motivated, interested and excited. What was the last thing to inspire a whole generation of young people? Team GB is here and it’s infinitely bigger than 542 elite athletes.

Last but not least, The London Olympics (and the Queen) have reclaimed the Union Flag from the National Front and I for one will be waving mine like crazy - and probably crying my eyes out with the emotion of it all – in the Olympic Stadium a week on Thursday.