Good show of diversity I thought, loved the bus!! Great to see British cyclists included in the show. Beaming Becks brought a cheer, the violinist Elspeth Hanson looked gorgeous, the cellist was a bit hidden but the little girl Tayyiba was relaxed and there weren't any blips. Roll on 2012!

J Ellerson, York, UK

Ms Lewis was miming, as was Page and the other singers. Tthe only 'live' performances for Britain were Beckham's kick & the dancers executing 3rd rate 'choreography'.
Still, we showed the world we are masters of pantomime.
Bring on 'yer loveable Cockneys' - NO!
Get Peter Ackroyd onside - NOW

Annie, Machynlleth, Wales

British display? The obligatory Black & Asian girl, but no Scots & their pipers! And the Welsh... and our Ulstermen! How disgraceful!

ian cheese, london, uk

I squirmed with embarrassment at the British display.

1. Routemasters have been scrapped in London.
2. I didn't even know who the white haired guitarist was, and a few million others probably didn't either.
3. There had to be the token black lead, and there she was L. Lewis who nobody listens to.

Tom Franklin, London, UK

Did not stay up to watch but happy for UK medals. Congratulations to aussies in china - for once we saw all proud of team achievments - bring out the teams not the indivisuals talk about the Nations and Cultures not the odd singer or mayor Good Luck Londons - still love you Jenny Australia

J A Heeks, Sydney, Australia

Finally, this disgraceful olympic charade is over.

m bajer, london, uk

Is the 'gargantuan' comment about the Beijing Opening and Closing ceremony a submission to the fact that the Beijing Olympics can't be topped? Secondly, Is GBR really a "small nation" when it has multiple countries representing? How about Hong Kong for example? Part of China but representing itself.

Phil, HK, China

Being Chinese, I was delighted with the Games.
The UK show was still interesting to the rest of the world watching & to be fair 8 mins was not alot of time to showcase a fab place like London.
What was important was the fact Team GB had an excellent Games & that's the performance that mattered.

K Lee, Shanghai, CHINA

The bus was a bit of a laugh, and lightened the show, but the ageing rocker accompanied by a talentless talentshow winner was dire. And could someone please explain what Beckham has to do with the Olympics. And as for hte dancers, no sign of British culture or History, but hoodies and yoofs.

Dee , Geneva, Switzerland

Congratulations - Damon Runyan has a worthy successor.

was totally bored by the Opening Ceremony; it showed that the Chinese were saying we are bigger than you, so don't mess with us. Human Rights won't figure - and they didn't.

But for London, Michael Parker should be asked to plan ceremonies.

Verite Reily Collins, London,

Embarrassing, disappointing, pathetic. Boris was boorish - he could at least have done up his jacket - and the whole thing was a shambles. After being forced to sit through the Ceremony waiting for the "Brit bit" , my family were in fact, quite kind: no criticisms - just a deathly silence.

L. Atkins, Milan, Italy

Simon might be interested to learn that T-Bone Burnett, famed for his collaborations with Mr Barnes' idol, Bob Dylan, on the Rolling Thunder Revue, is a keen Led Zeppelin fan who considers his project with Robert Plant and Alison Krauss to be the most exciting and rewarding of his career. Sorry,Bob.

Pat, Oxford, England

Beijing Olympics was spectacular in its own way; it’s about planning, coordination and people's hard work and stregth. They did their best in their own way. I am sure the London Olympics too will be spectacular in its own way. Why the comparison? Why the Sarcasm?

Joseph , Bangalore, India

Beijing demonstrated that its military has a huge dance troupe section, so does north Korea and they do it with far more participants and more often. All Beijing showed, was that it has spent the people's money on foreign stadium designers, foreign sound/lighting technology. Post party vacuum time!

stanzo, Singapore, Singapore

Congratulations, Pommies for beating us for once on gold medals. You tried to show humour at your display at the Closing Ceremony, but it was disappointing!!!!! No-one does pageantry like you do - I hope you will do it brilliantly in 2012, & show the Chinese you have as much history as they do.

Lyn Crough, Rye, Australia

The London part of the ceremony was just dire. With one of the dancers pretending to be wheelchair bound, it was clear that the Diversity Czars had drained it of any fun or excitement. Expected a great dance routine but they just scurried about in the gloom. Fold down bus was the sole highlight.

Janet, London,

Well done China.
This has been the best Olympics EVER.
Now it 'hands the baton over' to London
Seeing Boris Johnson strolling - hands in pockets - jacket unbuttoned - and generally scruffy, up against the others in their immaculate suits, was a clear sign of what is to come in 2012
SHAME

GJB, Slough, Berkshire

I'm Chinese and I agree with you about the lack of humor in the Games. We're "trying too hard" and really want to please. But that's not a crime. Humor isn't a chinese specialty so it's over to you Brits to give us a lovely time in 2012. And our 8-min at Athens was as cliche as any others.

KW, Hong Kong,

The grand finale at Beijing Olympics was an extravagant show of finese, ethnic culture and high tech wizardy of trapeze dancers, sky rocketing on tower.London brought out its landmark symbol of Red Double-deck,expanding into a rock show of Jimmy page, Beckham..with M.Chang,Placido at his best array

Sandy, New Delhi, India

The Beijing ceremony was spectacular alright, but was something that Egypt's pyramid builders or China's Great Wall slave drivers would have designed - mass ranks forming into mass images. London's bus was a breath of fresh air, and Leona Lewis sang superbly (far better than China's lip-synchers)

Dominic, London, U.K.

Yes this was an international embarrassment for anyone with any kind of link to Britain. We showed off a scruffy nervous looking mayor, then bragged that we have buses in London, before showing Londoners all trying to push on without lining up, and then reminded everyone that it will probably rain.

Marcus McAdam, Guangzhou, China

Beijing olympics now over, being one of the finest summer games with no drug stigmas, faux pas etc,not to miss the glitzy galore and hoopla of grand finale.Onus and challange lies with London, to beat with clock work precision, top notch medals tally ,bandobast,amidst recession and terrorist threats

sanjeev dheer, New Delhi, India

L Swinford: They were my exact thoughts!

Ed T, Melbourne, Australia

At first I found the red bus and umbrellas embarrassing. But then I realised it was a bit of a joke, and the focus on diversity was a welcome change from the cloned beauty look of the Chinese ceremony participants. But the fractured logo for 2012 is painful to look at. A Games in disorganisation?

Peter Wadeley, Singapore,

I agree with James in Glasgow. All very nice but how is Ms Lewis part of London culture - X factor, culture? No, I don't agree. The song went on far too long. It was a cringeworthy length. Why were such tallented dancers left wandreing around a bus stop? Organisation good, content poor.

jimmy, Chelmsford, Uk

So Britain was represented by an Asian school girl, a one hit wonder, an advert model who doesn't even live in Britain, and a very old rockstar. Surely we can do better than this?

Andrew, Leigh, UK

Jimmy Page played brilliantly - next time listen to five live - Ms Lewis, however had a superb attempt at slaughtering whole lotta love. I've no doubt she can sing - but not rock on the strength of this. Whoever thought it was a good idea needs a re-think. (and what did it have to do with London?)

James, Glasgow,

The London mayor had all the polish and class as the mayor of Branson, Missouri in the U.S. Ambling down the red carpet with an open coat then taking his place while searching for a suitable place to put his hands, forgive my sarcasm, but I was so, um, I hoped to use the word "inspired".

L Swinford, Springfield, USA