The "Essex Princess"

So Jade's time on Earth is over. Farewell Jade. You were interesting.

I've been watching these last few weeks with fascination, and morbidly waiting for the end - every time I've gone online I've headed for the BBC website looking for bad news. Love her or hate her, Jade has done wonders for cervical cancer screening rates nationwide and her public fight for life has made many younger people contemplate their eternal fate where previously they thought they were invincible.

There are enough articles on the web already commenting on how Jade has used the media to her own advantage over the last few years, so I'm not going to make further comment on that, but a few things have struck me.

1. It's Mother's Day today. I'm sure Jade's not the only mother who has died today, but she's the one who is getting all the attention. She's left two little boys, who in all likelihood had made her a card and bought a present that they will not get to deliver to her. That's happening up and down the country today, to children young and old, but everybody else is doing their mourning out of the public glare.

2. Jade's mum Jackiey said this: "My beautiful daughter is at peace. Family and friends would like privacy at last". That's ironic then. I'm guessing that family weren't too comfortable with Jade's hunger for attention.

3. Jade's spirituality. In her last few weeks Jade did some interesting things. She got married, she was baptised and she got her children baptised. I've read some interesting things about her motivations for these (I'm a bit concerned that she may have gone for the 'baptism will get me into Heaven' ticket, and also heard that she'd been hedging bets with other faiths too) but by now she'll have had the conversation with Jesus where he looks for her name in the Book Of Life (I always think that sounds a bit Monty Python-ish) and her eternal destination will have been determined by her personal relationship with him, and nothing else.

4. Bishop Jonathan Blake performed the blessing at her wedding and was interviewed on BBC News this morning. He's an interesting character. Very convincing, and from the same vein as Jade and Max Clifford. I didn't know that we had a Bishop of Greater London. Oh, we don't. And neither does the Catholic church. Or any other mainstream Christian church. At the risk of increasing his self publicity here's a link: http://www.bishopjonathanblake.com/. Just look at what he's not saying about himself and make your own decision. At least I know where to go if I have any trouble getting ordained!

I'm off to watch the news now - the public reaction to this is going to be interesting. I'll be watching for what people say when they drop some petrol station flowers off at the gates of her house, and for what they don't say - what being English prevents them from saying....

More news from East Angular soon.