diff --git a/sourcing/utils.py b/sourcing/utils.py
index 701e875..1ad86fe 100644
--- a/sourcing/utils.py
+++ b/sourcing/utils.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import humanize
 from datetime import date, timedelta
+from jinja2 import Markup
 
 def display_datetime(dt):
     if dt is None:
@@ -10,4 +11,16 @@ def display_datetime(dt):
     else:
         return dt.strftime('%a, %d %b %Y')
 
+def nbsp_at_start(line):
+    ''' Protect spaces at the start of a string. '''
+    space_count = 0
+    for c in line:
+        if c != ' ':
+            break
+        space_count += 1
+    # return Markup(' ') * space_count + line[space_count:]
+    return '\u00A0' * space_count + line[space_count:]
+
+def protect_start_spaces(text):
+    return '\n'.join(nbsp_at_start(line) for line in text.splitlines())