In July–August 2012, national euphoria around the success of the London Olympics proved that the UK is potentially a Big Society. A huge army of volunteers made millions of overseas visitors welcome all over the land; others supplied security and assistance at the Games venues themselves; citizens greeted each other in the streets and on public transport as fraternal comrades; and the whole nation united in celebration of the dedication and achievement of a small group of our fellow countrymen and women.

This proved that the idea of the Big Society, first canvassed by David Cameron (2009) in the lead-up to the 2010 general election, is not purely wishful thinking. People will help each other, volunteers will co-operate effectively with organised groups, big businesses and public services, and the experience of this will improve national well-being. But all this will only happen under very specific conditions, and through very skilled overall direction.

The Olympics were not perfectly organised, and the failures were significant. The most notable was the collapse of a contract for security staff with the largest employer in the private sector, G4S. In the end, police and soldiers filled the gap, but not before the whole world had learned about the company's shameful efforts to cut corners in its recruitment programme (last-minute and utterly slipshod) in its attempt to make money from the prestigious contract. It was the decision to outsource what would traditionally be the province of our state defence and security services, in order to save public funds, and not any inadequacy in the co-ordination of volunteers and voluntary organisations, which let the whole show down.

All this parallels the history of the Coalition Government's attempt to operationalise its notion of the Big Society through public policy. Using the rationale of the fiscal deficit and the austerity imperative, the new regime has cut public services and increased contracting-out since it came to power.

Meanwhile, the crisis in social care rumbled on through the Olympics period. As the Winterbourne View defendants went on trial and new scandals in the sector filled the media, the government dithered about whether to accept the Dilnot Commission's recommendations on funding.