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WHEN London unexpectedly beat Paris in the competition to hold the 2012 Olympic games, crowds cheered, the stock market soared and politicians congratulated themselves. But Britain is a nation of self-deprecating cynics. Even on the day of the successful bid in 2005, some commentators were carping about the cost of the games and the likelihood of disruption and transport problems. A rather good BBC sitcom, “Twenty Twelve”, pokes fun at bureaucratic absurdities and snafus: in the final episode, aired on July 24th, the Olympic Deliverance Commission realises that the opening ceremony’s fireworks will trigger the surface-to-air missiles that guard the site. The solution? Virtual fireworks.