The joy of the nudge Olympics

BY ANY measure Britain has shown the world—and its own sceptical population—that the country can stage a brilliant Olympics. As the games draw to a close on August 12th, David Cameron, the prime minister, will be delighted that the predicted “feel good factor” of hosting the event did indeed emerge. Even the sun has (mostly) shone.

In fact most Olympics work pretty well. But each host achieves that end by different means. In 2008 China staged a command-and-control games, shunting dissidents and other undesirables out of Beijing, ordering locals not to drive and even launching 1,100 cloud-seeding missiles before the opening ceremony to make it rain somewhere other than over the main stadium.