It is now just over a year ago since I first wrote for the Guardian Northerner on how we could best excite the north about the Olympics. With polling then showing that those of us up north seemed distinctly unimpressed it was clear that the 'legacy games' as they are now dubbed had much work to do to ensure that the legacy was felt outside the capital.

With that in mind, the torch relay, which this week completed its passage through the north was an important moment, the biggest opportunity so far for our three regions to connect with the games. It was, as Martin Wainwright has written, the best opportunity so far to bring England's regions into 'London's loop'.

In the light of this, the publication of a report this week by the theological think tank Theos and the Sports Think Tank looking at how to reclaim sport "for the common good" was timely, containing as it does polling for it by ComRes on attitudes to the Olympics.

Ed Jacobs | The Guardian Northerner

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