Via live internet streaming, I was able to watch yesterday's amazing Diamond Jubilee Concert from the front of Buckingham Palace in London. How well-choreographed the whole event was, how spectacular the closing fireworks and how benevolent the weather gods were. Rippling through the thronging crowds was a reaffirmation of British people's pride in their influential little nation with its proud history, its beauty and its stalwart character.
I must say that having emigrated so far from home, I felt a lump in my throat and it wasn't the roasted taro and grilled John Dory I had ordered at the social club bar. My whole life has been lived within the bounds of Elizabeth's reign and as she has aged so have I. The Diamond Jubilee has not been solely a celebration of her sixty years on the throne but a recognition of Britain's place in the world, our spirit and the special bonds that exist within our commonwealth of nations - from Tuvalu to Trinidad, New Zealand to New Brunswick, Canberra to Cape Town.
In these times of economic gloom, enmity and terrorist outrage it's nice to have such a good news story - the life of Elizabeth II:-
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