On Monday, most of us will spend a quiet moment thinking about Diana, Princess of Wales.

How could we not? Her death just a year earlier sent such shock waves around the world that most of the population of this planet seemed to be traumatised by it. You can't just forget an event like that.

What happened in the days and weeks following that terrible accident in a Paris underpass was partly genuine grief at the abrupt loss of a beautiful woman, mother of two young sons, whose very public personal life forever teetered on the brink of tragedy while at the same time she was trying so hard to do good in the world.

But it was also partly mass hysteria. There is no other explanation for the extraordinary scenes which took place and the uncharacteristic displays of open emotion in a nation which suddenly shed its reserve. Hardened cynics joined the unashamedly sentimental in letting the tears flow.

Britain's stiff upper lip softened and then trembled without restraint. We wallowed in our new-found mawkishness. And now, a year on, there are some who are preparing to wallow once again.

But though it's right that we remember Diana on the anniversary of her death, we surely don't want to turn it into an action replay of the scenes of a year ago. We can't use rekindled grief to mask the many other tragic events which have occurred since.

Even in this last few days there has been the massacre at Omagh. In this area alone there have been four lives lost in the canal accident at Gargrave. There have been the honeymoon couple lost in The Strid. Many other good, kind, dearly-loved individuals have died.

All of which should help to put the death of Diana, shocking though it was, into some sort of perspective a year on.

Bradford Council has probably got it just about right with a short service attended by a multi-faith congregation in Centenary Square on Monday to unveil a plaque next to a tree planted in the memorial trees area.

If anything good came out of Diana's death, it was the coming together of the different communities in Bradford, united by a sense of loss and sorrow. That sense of common purpose should not be allowed to fade away, along with any chances to build upon it.

What I'm less sure about is the decision to play Candle in the Wind on the City Hall bells. Elton John's performance of his adapted hit song about Marilyn Monroe caught the mood of the country at the time, but looked at from a year's distance is more than a little maudlin.

After the Paris crash, just about everyone went into a state of shock. Then we grieved. But grief passes, and afterwards people start to look ahead again.

And that's what we should be doing now. Spare a thought for Diana, certainly. Mark the anniversary with a quiet moment. But leave the deep sorrow where it belongs, with her family. Let the rest of us try to focus on the positive.

For instance, we could do worse than turn Monday into a day of celebration for the British athletes who triumphed so memorably in the European championships. After a disastrous Olympics in 1996, when it seemed we were doomed never to win anything again, we have found renewed success.

Our athletes have begun to think of themselves as potential gold medalists, not as also-rans. They've stopped wallowing in self-doubt and have got their act together.

It should be no insult to the memory of Princess Diana to suggest that that is the mood Britain should be encouraging rather than trying to recapture the way we felt when we were collectively plunged into mourning.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.