PEACE is a good thing. It gets everybody's vote. And so too, most probably, does peace's much younger cousin, the "peace process".

The best known "peace processes" are those in the Middle East and Northern Ireland. And what do we get? In the Middle East, fighting over the very spot where Christ was born. And in Northern Ireland, continued violence by para-military groups, including some officially on ceasefire. The latter has become so blatant that Northern Ireland's First Minister, David Trimble, is urging Tony Blair to do something about it.

The truth is that a "peace process", greeted with something like joy, too easily becomes an excuse for not making the further, more difficult effort, to secure peace itself.

Instead of bringing peace closer, it can therefore prolong whatever conflict it is intended to resolve. How much longer might the Second World War have dribbled on if the Allies had set up a "peace process" with Hitler? The best way to end war is with peace. Didn't someone once say: "Blessed are the peacemakers''? I don't recall any mention of the makers of a peace process.

WHILE it might prove totally irrelevant, the fact is that the shocking rape of a 71-year-old terminally-ill cancer patient took place on a mixed-sex ward.

Expressing all the correct sentiments - of distress and sympathy - Health Secretary Alan Milburn failed to mention Labour's pledge to get rid of mixed-sex wards. A relatively small but not unimportant reform, this looks as far off now as when New Labour made the promise after coming into power in 1997.

WIMBLEDON next week. And never has it been more welcome. With football not only still going on but obsessing almost the entire nation, and the June weather more like January, Wimbledon at least proves that summer is here. But this year's tournament marks the end of an era.

No, not the last of Henmania, though that is surely looming, but the final Wimbledon of British-made tennis balls. Having supplied the 50,000 for this year's tournament (yes, 50,000 for this year) the Barnsley factory where all the Wimbledon balls have been made since 1945 has already closed. Next year's balls will come from the Phillipines. Rule Britannia.

NUMBER two in the supermarket league, Sainsbury's is taking the lead in at least one matter - the abuse of "disabled" parking. It has launched two pilot schemes, one in which bays for the disabled will be monitored from the customer services desk, and the other in which a recorded voice will greet all parkers in the disabled slots, reminding them of their purpose.

Good as far as it goes, this still fails to tackle the selfish parking I mentioned last week - drivers wrongfully taking up places reserved for customers with young children.

WALKING across the Snilesworth moors, between Osmotherley and Hawnby, the other day, I came across a flock of newly-shorn sheep. With my cagoule double-zipped against the biting wind, I thought: "It's a bit cold for these sheep to be sheared.'' Then I thought: "Hang on a minute. It is mid June...''.