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A spectacular closing ceremony marked the end of the Paralympics last night and officially ended the glorious Olympic summer of London 2012. The athletes were joined by Coldplay, Rihanna and Jay-Z in a packed Olympic Stadium as they all came together to celebrate the most successful Paralympics ever.

Team GB ended up with a staggering 120 medals, narrowly missing out on second spot in the overall table, behind Russia by just two gold medals. However, it was not just Britain's success that has made this the greatest Games ever, but the overwhelming support for every event in the last two weeks. Almost every session was sold out, and over 2.7 million Paralympic tickets were sold - beating targets by 200,000 and predicted sales by £10m.

Closing Ceremony

After such a stunning summer, the final closing ceremony had a lot to live up to, and it didn't disappoint (so long as you don't mind Coldplay). It was presented as a ‘festival of flame' and fire played a major part in it. Coldplay, Rihanna and Jay-Z all played sets, with1,200 disabled and able bodied performers creating stunning visuals around them.

As the Paralympic games in London come to a close many (including myself) have been touched by the athletes' fortitude and the endearing spirit of both games.

Not one for sport, I normally stay clear of tuning into any sporting event, let alone attending a match, though after an incredible night of sport at the Excel Centre I've truly been converted.

Visiting any of the Olympic venues or park is a great outing alone, but I was lucky enough to get an evening pass to view some of the world's best Paralympic teams competing in men's sitting volleyball.

A packed arena comprised of locals and visitors, all cheering on Brazil and Team GB. As they geared up to represent their respective nations, scores of fans, mainly Londoners, proudly began to chant.

I was suddenly immersed into the most alien thing to me- the competitive zone of the spectator. Thankfully for me my home team were playing and before I knew it, a sense of relentless pride took over me and I was consumed by the spectacle.

Despite the festive atmosphere, which to my amusement involved a DJ playing popular music during every interval and point of the game, Great Britain struggled to defeat the Brazilian juggernauts.

The latest protest against the decision to revoke London Metropolitan University's license to teach international students took place yesterday outside the Home Office and Downing Street. Around 200 student and staff from the university joined together, with the foreign students who must now transfer universities or face deportation leading the demonstration.

This is only a latest in a number of protests and outspoken statements from various well-known figures against the UK Border Agency's decision to remove London Met's status as a ‘highly trusted sponsor' for non-EU students. The decision made less than a month before the start of the new academic year left thousands of students stranded.

In an attempt to minimise the damage, a number of the largest higher education organisations in the UK met yesterday to try and work out the best way forwards for the students left stranded by the decision. They hope to be able to offer every one of the international students who have been left without a place at London Met, place at a different university instead. A clearing system is expected to be announced shortly.

After having its license to teach international students revoked last week, London Metropolitan University announced last night that they will be challenging the decision. In a statement, followed up by interviews by the vice-chancellor, the university strongly refuted the claims from the UK Border Agency and made it clear they will be taking immediate legal action.

The statement appeared on the university's website on Monday night and strongly denies the claims of UKBA:

"There is no evidence of systemic failings, as claimed. The evidence that we provided to UKBA clearly shows on file after file that we were taking every reasonable measure we could to be compliant."

It went on to describe how UKBA had significantly changed their requirements at least 14 times in the last three years and this is "creating confusion across universities in the country".

London Met now hopes to appeal against the decision, taking legal action "as a matter of urgency" in order for its students to return to study as soon as possible. Indeed, the vice-chancellor Professor Malcolm Gillies was in bullish mood during interviews, asserting:

The north of England has a huge new attraction, after a giant figure of a woman appeared carved into the landscape near Northumberland. The 400m long artwork is called Northumberlandia, though is also known as ‘The Lady of The North', and is the brainchild of landscape sculptor Charles Jencks.

The figure took seven years to plan and a further two to build, and is said to be the largest landscape replica of the female body in history. It is made up of 1.5 million tonnes of rock, soil, stone and clay, all of which were by-products of a nearby mine, and together make the tallest point a massive 34m high.

It began life as part of the planning permission for the mine to be created on the site, and a spokesperson from the Banks Group mining company revealed:

"It cost £3m for us to create Northumberlandia. We wanted to give something back. When we end a project on a mining site we restore it. With this project we heard there was some local concern about a negative effect on tourism, so we decided to go one step further than usual and create a tourist attraction to leave as our legacy."

The sculpture will be officially opened today by Princess Anne, and members of the public and go and explore the piece from Wednesday onwards.