The organisers see this mural as a Bayeux tapestry for the new century and it is an admirable ambition. The dome is a showcase of Britain in a subtler way, too. You cannot walk through it without reflecting on the vitality of British talent and genius, manifested in everything from the lavatories designed by Richard Rogers to the computer animation produced by the wizards who created Walking With Dinosaurs. The whole show can even claim to offer us that glimpse of the future its cre ators promised. The rainwater running off the vast roof is recycled and used to flush those Rogers WCs.
Electricity is generated by, among other things, processed sewage.
And the whole thing, New Labourites say brightly, is a public-private partnership. Put together, the dome is the way of the future. He does not. I think they will. And, given the way the odds were stacked against it from the beginning, that will count as quite an achievement.