Boris Johnson rightly said yesterday that the Olympic Games had been an extraordinary event that Londoners would remember for the rest of their lives. The entire nation has been transfixed for a fortnight by a sporting occasion that proved glorious; but as they fade into memory, the question remains whether the Games will have any effect greater than spectacle.
They can and they should. The Olympic spirit and the role of government in fostering it have wider significance than merely temporary relief from a double-dip recession in the UK and a sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone. The Games were not just a jamboree, but an instance of how the State can advance a large and complex project that could not have arisen spontaneously. The