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Lawrence, in very properly warning us against going overboard welcoming popular change (eg the general election result), you are, I feel, in danger of going overboard the other way. As though no change effected by people could ever be positive, because the popular will is contaminated. The end of Marxist/Leninism may have brought evils such as consumerism and mafia activity to the former eastern bloc countries, but I bet most folks are glad to see the back of it nevertheless. Coming back to that funeral and the week of hysteria leading up to it - let's not be fooled by the media circus, there was a substantial degree of scepticism in the country which was not reported. My parents, who are ardent Thatcherites and Daily Mail readers, professed themselves disgusted and outraged at the over-the-top cult of Diana. I have heard similar views from people of all shades of political opinion. A non-poet friend warned me off the Ted Hughes poem with a grimace. The comparison with the Virgin Mary cult is apt. My own sorrow, as an anti-monarchist, is that the monarchy as an institution may well have been saved by this extraordinary event. The future scenario: Charles renounces his claim to the throne in favour of William, who now carries the aura of Diana, saint and martyr. The monarchy is re-invented as a so-called "people's monarchy". The House of Windsor is dead; long live the House of Spencer. (Hugo Young's article in The Guardian on Monday reflected my views almost exactly.) K %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%