THE best revenge is to live well. And that means even under the threat of terrorism, especially under the threat of terrorism. We must, of course, be sensible, vigilant and put up with some inconveniences. But what we must do above all else is enjoy life, make the most of it, seize the moment, seize the day and live life to the full.

Because of the 60th anniversary events at the weekend, the defiant spirit in London has been compared with that of the last war. But there's a more recent comparison too.

Back in the early 1970s I was living and working in London when the IRA started its terror campaign. A friend was badly injured in the bombing of the Old Bailey, another in the bombing of the Hilton.

Colleagues had sons and nephews in the Army, who'd joined up to fight the enemy and then found themselves risking death on the streets of Northern Ireland, still in Britain, with Marks & Spencer's and Smiths and Boots and Woolworths, yet with hidden enemies on every corner. My brother-in-law was a bomb disposer. We got used to the news starting with the grim words: "Last night another soldier..."

In London we lived with bombs and bomb scares, roads closed, Underground stations closed, stores and offices evacuated on a regular basis. Even opening the post in the morning was a risk at the BBC when the IRA had a craze for letter bombs.

We lived with a sort of edgy awareness that simply became a part of life. And to a lesser extent, it had the same result as our parents had discovered during the war - it sharpened our appetite for life, made us appreciate its delights.

Whether it's big adventures or the simple pleasures of a sunny day with family and friends, enjoy it. Make the most of the sunshine and the summer.

Enjoy it even more, because the more you do, the further away the terrorists are from victory.

IT was Smaller Son's graduation last Thursday - sunny day, grassy lawns, Pimms and posh pastries. New graduates getting the hang of their gowns, mortar boards and hoods. And lots and lots of proud parents from all corners of the world.

There were Indian ladies in saris, tiny talkative Chinese, extended Japanese families, each member of which seemed to have a few thousand pounds worth of cameras and videos. Graceful African women, already terribly tall in those brightly coloured wrap dresses and then topped off with elaborate headscarves like turbans. There were elegant French, assorted middle Easterners, stolid looking Russians - and beaming British families, from pale freckled Scots to delighted dreadlocks.

Foreign students don't just bring lots of dosh to British universities, but a real sense of variety and internationalism. But it wasn't the differences that were most marked, but the similarities. A proud mum and a devoted dad armed with a camera are just the same in any dress and any language - and so is a desperately embarrassed new graduate.

And as the news of the bombings in London buzzed round the gardens and marquees, it was those multi cultural similarities and the identical horrified reactions that were somehow most cheering and should give us most hope for the future.

A SOCIAL week - in Saturday's heat we were at a wedding, the men in best suits, women in posh frocks and tottering, strappy shoes.

Immediately after the service, even before the first drink had been poured, we were all getting hotter and pinker, the men were discarding jackets, loosening ties. Half the women had abandoned shoes beneath tables and were padding around barefoot. We all looked a lot more comfortable, but not - with a few remarkable exceptions - what you would call elegant.

Of course, in this country we don't get much practice at dressing up in the heat, but if global warming's here to stay, then maybe it's time we learnt how to dress for it. Or put comfort before vanity.

But one of the pleasures of a sunny day - when we're not worried about sore feet - is the way it totally changes the British way of life.

Neighbours have the time and inclination to stop and talk, instead of scurrying past with coat collars turned up, desperate to get back to the warmth and dryness of their houses. People sit out in pavement cafs and bars, talking to strangers, talking to passers by. In sunshine, we can feel ourselves relax.

Much of the British character has been formed by fog and rain and fleeting sunshine. Much more of this heat, and the national character could undergo a change. It's not the EU or cheap travel or foreign TV programmes that's the cause - it's the hot weather that's making us all continentals now.

THEY'RE making a new version of Morse but, of course, without John Thaw, who died in 2002.

Morse without Morse?

Think Robin without Batman, Tonto without the Lone Ranger, Ron and Hermione without Harry Potter.

The new show might be interesting, might even be brilliant, but all the time we will be waiting for that exasperated cry of "Lewis!" and aware of a colossal ghost hovering over the production. Definitely not the same.

AMERICAN soldiers have been told that central London is out of bounds.

When President Bush visited London last year, his security advisors insisted that he used an armoured limo just to go from the back of Buckingham Palace round to the front.

Meanwhile, just four days after the bomb attacks, the Queen drove in an open car to lead a parade of veterans down the Mall to Buckingham Palace in the celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

The Queen and the royal family apparently cost us 61p each year.

If only for last Sunday, I reckon we've got an absolute bargain.

I DIDN'T realise I cared. Then they announced that London had got the Olympics and I was suddenly quite irrationally pleased.

Let's hope we host the Olympics in the same way in which we arrange events like the Trooping of the Colour and royal funerals - in which case, it will be a great success and a brilliant showcase for Britain. And not at all - whisper it quietly - like the Dome.

Published: 13/07/2005