WHAT a wonderful triumph Her Majesty's Golden Jubilee celebration was. It baffled critics and put doom-merchants and pessimists in their place. It was jubilation on an amazing scale, and Great Britain was shown at its very best.
Yet again it was conclusive proof that the nation remains as strongly wedded to the monarchy as the Queen is to her subjects.
The politically-correct Tony Blair and his spin-doctor Alistair Campbell would have watched in envy the seemingly effortless efficiency with which the palace combined ancient and modern in a spectacular pageant, even though they are unlikely to have understood the real reasons behind the monarchy's enduring success.
The Queen remains popular and respected not because the nation reveres the Crown, but because many of her people at home and throughout the Commonwealth acknowledge the personal sacrifices she has made in its name.
New Labour may continue to haul us ever closer to a federal Europe and dabble with their big ideas of bringing change and modernisation to local democracy and our national identity, but the scale of the breathtaking events in London and elsewhere in celebration of Her Majesty's 50 glorious years showed that the British people are wise enough to know that that which is not broken is in no need of fixing.
JEAN ALLISON (Mrs)
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