I’m in England, spending a week in the company of my mother-in-law and mother; women with a mean age of 82, who have stared down the defeats of life but still remain, after all is said and done, resolutely inclined to Movement and Battling On.

Britain's Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon expressed regret today over the “tragic” deaths of two British soldiers whose tank was mistaken for Iraqi armour and destroyed by “friendly fire“.