RIP Jade Goody

It's been reported by the BBC today that Jade died in the early hours of (UK) Mother's Day. How awful, whoever and whatever the circumstances, for someone so young, with two young sons, to die. I hope those little boys are well looked after.

I've been trying to avoid this hysteria/morbid fascination (what some media have described as our fascination with 'death porn') over a Big Brother 'star' who I do not know. But aside from it being really sad, this situation raises a lot of interesting questions about our society. I fully expect there to be some kind of national mourning in the UK like there was with Princess Diana (although not on the same scale) with people who didn't know her but felt like they did, turning up at her funeral to pay their respects. As sad as it is, I don't really understand that.

The media will of course go crazy, with every conceivable angle of the funeral and the boys' future scrutinised. Now I live in a country without tabloids as trashy as ours (which I won't pretend I didn't read from time to time in the UK, being a fan of celebrity gossip) I'm really starting to think the UK media is quite unique in the extent of its intrusion into people's private lives (and in this case we all know Jade invited it) and how we lap it up. I've not seen anything anywhere near like it in the year I've lived in Australia.

So here's what I thought of lovely Jade, who I of course didn't know, but saw more than enough of on TV and in magazines. She was happy and positive in the face of an awful situation, she looked out for her sons above anything else, she seemed thrilled to have married Jack, whatever your views on him, and she raised awareness of cervical cancer.

If you're one of those many Jade fans, why not make a donation to cervical cancer charity Jo's Trust in her memory?