IAN HERBERT AT THE STADE DE FRANCE: The stadium illuminated by such brilliance these past weeks was cast into darkness as the Olympics closing ceremony's theatrical element began last night. There was something very poignant about that. These Games are over and there is, once again, no counterpoint to the infernal gloom of the daily news narrative. Raids are awaited imminently on Palestinian lands where Hamas fighters are said to be sheltering. Britain, shaken by days of rioting, is holding its breath. No-one pretends that sport shifts that narrative, though for a few weeks there have been a few shards of light. Even the British Olympic Association's chief executive Andy Anson - not a man for vague pronouncements - posited the notion here yesterday that the British athletes' achievements can actually help salve the divides back at home.
