Three special young Britons

I never met Sergeant Lee “Jonno” Johnson, Natasha Richardson or Jade Goody but I am proud of them. I suppose other countries can produce such “types”, and that if I were American or French I could point to similarly moving or touching personal stories. But still: Blimey!

“Jonno” seems to have been a person who was a thorough warrior, including being strongly and even superstitiously aware of his being a creature of fate. Natasha Richardson seems to have been fabulously vivid, and I very much warm to her loving being treated in a special way at airports. Jade Goody of course was very touching in the way she made what she could – a triumph, actually – of the extraordinary cards she had been dealt.

I never do much fear for my country. For as long as it can produce these lives, it’s rock solid.