The Olympic Legacy List has less to do with the Olympics than its name suggests. True, it is responsible for the long-term cultural programme in the 618-acre Olympic Park but, as one insider put it, the real work begins when the circus leaves town. The word on every Olympic panjandrum’s or British politician’s lips is legacy. There’s a lot that’s disingenuous about this. If regenerating the East End were all that mattered, a direct investment of £9 billion into infrastructure would have done very nicely, thank you. Still, just because the money could have gone further if it had been invested differently doesn’t mean that we have to gnash our teeth too much. After all, the Games are turning out to be quite fun and lots of people seem happy enough paying eye-watering sums on football season tickets, so why not spend some taxpayer’s money on athletics? And once the rubbish has all been swept away there will be a legacy.