Aisling O'Connor: With McCartney, Moss and Middleton in its kit bag, can London Olympics hold a torch to Beijing?

LONDON has some task at hand with the 2012 Olympic Games this summer - Beijing is a tough act to follow. Based on the opening ceremony alone, this year’s organisers will be hard pressed to beat 15,000 multi-coloured dancers, marchers and acrobats; a giant scroll of 897 floating blocks; and a 2000 Millennium-grade fireworks display. The Chinese event was even described by film-maker Stephen Spielberg as, ‘arguably the grandest spectacle of the new millennium’.