Sheer genius

I've never seen so many smiling policemen.

I think it's difficult to overestimate the impact of The Sultan's Elephant.  For me, it was easily the most uplifting event I've ever witnessed in London.  It was a privilege to be part of a spectacle that had so many people entranced.

It unified Londoners.  I can't think of any other event that has ever brought together such a range of ages, classes, races and nationalities.  To wander through central London, surrounded by waves of emotionally-charged people, enthralled by the sight of this extra-ordinary visitor, was truly memorable.

The policeman were smiling, the kids were gasping, the 'suits' were bunking off work, the tourists were happily mystified, and everyone was reminded of a child-like wonder that is so absent from our adult lives.

It was also a subtley subversive event.  There was no advertising.  There was no sale of TV rights.  There was no Coca Cola sponsorship.  There was no strict start or end time.  There were no ticket sales.  There was no merchandising.  There were no executive boxes.  There were no courtesy cars.  It broke nearly every rule of modern 'event management'.

It was wonderfully anti-consumerist.  In the context of the current lively debate about economic growth failing to deliver increased happiness, the Sultan's Elephant stunningly demonstrated the systemic failure of our conventional measures of 'development'.

I imagine London's GDP took a bit of a hit at the weekend.  Bus revenues down, taxi fares down, John Lewis' tills not ringing quite so loudly.  But the utterly immeasurable wonder, awe, anticipation, excitement and joy of the elephant's millions of spectators was boosted in a way that no 'metric of success' will ever capture.