A well known and very telling claim says there will never be peace in the world until there is peace in Jerusalem.

The city revered by three faiths — Christian, Jew and Muslim — is also and very tragically, a hotbed of hate.

It is wonderful, meaningful and restorative to visit.

And all too easy not to visit at all but to still lay emotional and spiritual claim to Jerusalem from a distance and so be party to flashpoint Israeli politics by default.

It is such mania which grips the land of Christ in a steel lock. Make no mistake, what is happening in North Africa and spreading like a bush fire across the Middle East is directly linked to Jerusalem. It always is.

Yes, the people in half a dozen restless lands say they want democracy, better services, education and an end to dictatorships. But so much of the background, domination and therefore unrest, will have been based on what they call faith and can be linked straight back to the Holy City.

Peace in Jerusalem would mean boundless tolerance, demolishing the wall of separation, embracing Gaza and bring all the Palestine territories (glory be) inside the city walls, so to speak. It’s a tough call with a history of spectacular failure.

But it is also all that’s left in the simmering Middle East which will still work.

And if that’s the case, for God’s sake (and I mean that) bring it on!

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The Duchess of Cornwall is not the first royal to drift into a radio soap — or TV soap come to that — but because she is a real fan, her day out with the Archers actually sounded fun. It’s the difference between a polite, if interested visit and somebody who is genuinely excited and happy to admit it.

Since actor Graham Seed still drones on about his forced exit from the rural soap — as Posh Nigel, he fell off a roof — Camilla’s country cameo was a breath of fresh air. Not many say that about her but I do, in or out of soapland.

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While one lot of politicians may be all at sea without a lifebelt, the other lot are downright scary.

What’s the thinking behind Ed one and Ed two banning Shadow Ministers from saying anything significant in public until they’ve filled in a form about the type of intervention and the sort of language to be used?

Oh, and got permission to speak.

Well obviously it is control, power, string pulling, get ‘em by the gullet, one wrong word and you’re a dead duck, that sort of thing.

Miliband and Balls might sound like a good Music Hall act but if the Labour Leader and Shadow Chancellor really are trying to get colleagues into that sort of stranglehold, any thoughts of democracy dilute like an ice cream in the oven. Whichever side of the Commons she sits on, Nanny rules and it’s not OK.

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A new report says that learning another language in older age helps keep dementia at bay. So does rewriting long shopping lists, remembering road signs or reciting half the telephone book by heart. But if delving into foreign garble also helps, go for it.

Just don’t be surprised if some stubbornly single-language citizen eyes you suspiciously anyway on account of talking in tongues.

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Meanwhile other researchers had a Eureka moment when they found that reading the same story over again means children learn any new words more easily. Well how bright do you have to be to see the logic of that?