Editorial: A final tribute to athletes, volunteers and spectators alike

It was a fitting tribute to the spectacular success of the Olympics and Paralympics: a vast victory parade across central London from Mansion House to Buckingham Palace, complete with Red Arrows fly-past, no fewer than 800 athletes on 21 floats, and a roaringly jubilant crowd that was hundreds of thousands strong.

With that last hurrah, the glorious jamboree that was London 2012 has come to an end. And it was such a sensation that Britain will now advise other countries on how to host major sporting events. But the answer is a simple one: recruit 70,000 volunteers and get the whole population behind you.

As Sir Chris Hoy, six-times gold-medal cyclist, said of yesterday's parade: "This is for the public, because they've made the Games." For these four weeks, we were, for once, all in it together.