I'm back from my travels. The news is, of course, domintated by the death of the Pope. I am, as regular readers will know, not a Catholic. Nor did I find myself in sympathy with many of Pope John Paul's views. But I have found the quiet dignity of the crowds in Rome very moving.

What a contrast with the grotesque display in this country after the death of the Princess of Wales. Diana was a trivial woman. Her only lasting legacy was in the reaction to her death, a public emoting which demeaned those caught up in what was a form of mass hysteria and which bodes ill for the future, in what it reveals about our national psyche.

The contrast with the behaviour of the crowds in Rome is instructive. The Pope, whatever one's views of his moral dictates, was clearly a towering figure of the past two decades, a man who shaped the world and had a direct influence on many - and in one particular for the good, given his part in the downfall of communism. If ever mass public wailing could be appropriate it would be now, in Rome. But there has been nothing of the sort.

Italians are supposed to be demonstrative, Brits withdrawn. So much for national caricatures.