Mustafa Abu Shawari did not pause from slapping dough for the traditional qatayef of Ramadan on to the hob outside the Nazareth restaurant in Ramallah as he considered the fate of the sick old man in his bed some 400 yards away. "We may lose him," he said. "We should pray to God about the consequences."

In the finest October traditions of rural Staffordshire, a rendition of "We plough the fields and scatter" was ringing out from Needwood Church of England primary school in Newborough yesterday afternoon. If events had run their normal course, the pupils' customary "circle time" with their headmistress would have been occupied with thoughts of harvest thanksgiving too.

Rough justice in paradise

Sound the bugle, the Union flag may be coming down. MPs will this week seek to blow away centuries of tradition with an assault on the "outdated" rules on the flying of national flags from official buildings.

Along With the ever-present - if rarely delivered - threat of giant-killing, one of the traditions of the Challenge Cup is the feeling in some years that one club's "name is on it". This season, that club is St Helens, who have already accounted for Bradford and Leeds and tomorrow take on another big gun when Hull come to Knowsley Road, where they have not won for 16 years.

BIRTH AND death certificates issued in England and Wales are to have a new background design, the Office for National Statistics announced today.

IT IS SAD to see Neal Ascherson signing off from the IoS (25 January). He does so, of course, with a forthright expression of what the future should hold: liberty, equality, and fraternity. That places him well to the left of New Labour.

Villagers are going to the polls to decide whether a historic 650-year-old fair should be scrapped - because it causes an annual crime- wave.

Sir: We are asked to feel pity for the industry hunting supports, and not ban hunting because to do so would end hundreds of years of tradition. The communities that the hunt supports would suffer great hardship caused by the consequent unemployment.

Sir: I recently spent a lot of time driving through France, Belgium, Holland and Germany on business. Our European counterparts have a good sense of safety and etiquette. Having overtaken a vehicle, they pull into the nearside lane.

Letter: Tally ho for a romantic future