Peter Rhodes on sociable sheep, a disunited kingdom and where next for the AI jamboree?

A lesson of history is that the longer these conferences run, the more lavish they get and the more “delegates” they attract to increasingly posh locations. Do not expect an AI conference in Skegness.

Let them march. The authorities should do nothing to stop those who wish to parade their bile on Armistice Day next Saturday, to harangue Israel and provide priceless propaganda for the rapists and baby-slaughterers of Hamas. There was a time when, whatever your politics, the very idea of desecrating Armistice Day was unthinkable. But those days have passed and that England has vanished. The good things that once unified us have been replaced with gaping divisions in the structure of our fractured Disunited Kingdom. It may be depressing to see how deep the fissures run but the sooner we acknowledge such things, the better.

Plans to ban gay conversion therapy have reportedly been shelved at least until the next general election. And then what? If we believe in privacy and freedom of speech, how do we criminalise what is essentially one citizen talking privately to another - especially when there is no legal definition of what conversion therapy is?

As plans were laid to rescue Fiona, the loneliest sheep in Britain, from an isolated Scottish beach, a flock of about 30 sheep arrived in a meadow near our house. It was good to be reminded what sociable creatures they are. They form little groups, as if in conversation. They seem to play statues, standing stock-still for minutes on end. Then, for no reason, they suddenly run full-tilt across the field in what looks exactly like a race. To be isolated from the energy of one's own species must be terrifying for any creature, as it would be for me, or ewe.

I say “about 30 sheep". I would, of course, give the exact number but whenever I start counting, well, you can guess the rest.