(The name of the show itself is not the kind to endear itself to a Liberal Democrat in any case). And so I never really 'got' the way that Jade Goody roared to fame.

And then there was the Shilpa Shetty episode...

But I have to say that it did strike me as poignant that Jade passed away on Sunday – on Mother's Day.

Perhaps it has struck a chord because I lost my own mum to ovarian (as opposed to cervical) cancer a year and a half ago, but I have noticed myself listening unexpectedly to the debate in the media about whether or not Jade has been right to do as many interviews; have the wedding covered; have Max Clifford managing the whole affair...

'Was this the done thing?' the pundits have mused. 'Was it in good taste?'

I haven't read the interviews. I don't know if Jade has explained why she has chosen to live out her last weeks and days in the media spotlight.

Certainly she may have understood that it was the media that enabled the brief life that she has had to be so successful.

As the parent of a toddler, I am personally drawn to believe that she has done what she has done in order to provide as well as she can for her children after her death.

That she has wanted to make sure that even her death could be used in order to take care of their futures.

It is in this sense that the news on Mother's Day was poignant.
Whatever and whoever she was – I wish her safe passage.

(To read more about what Nick has been up to, check out his blog – 'Nick Perry for Hastings & Rye' at www.nickperrylibdem.wordpress.com]