Some appeared in Basra to encourage other Iraqis to resist and there are reports of a few fighting in

Some appeared in Basra to encourage other Iraqis to resist and there are reports of a few fighting in Baghdad. But again, they have not featured nearly as prominently in the battle as expected.So why should the Iraqis fight for Tikrit? Despite the speculation otherwise, I suspect that President Saddam is still in Iraq. Neighbouring countries such as Syria have been warned not to accept as refugees any close relatives of his, any senior Baath party officials, or any of the 55 characters on the English-language playing cards distributed by the Americans.There might still be a substantial fight for Tikrit The US military might be disappointed if there is not. But I suspect – and I hope I am right – that Saddam Hussein’s regime will now end, not with a bang, but with a whimper. After all, there is enough to do restoring order and rebuilding a great nation that has suffered horribly.Christopher Bellamy is professor of military science and doctrine at Cranfield University. In Normandy, April is by far the prettiest month The apple trees are coming into flower.

Primroses and cowslips gleam along the road verges and beside the few hedgerows that have not yet been grubbed out as traditional dairy farming succumbs to cereal murder

In Normandy, April is by far the prettiest month The apple trees are coming into flower. Among its upper branches, dangle eight compact discs, turning in the wind and glinting in the sun. This is an ancient Norman ruse (at least as ancient as compact discs) for scaring away sparrows and preventing them from eating the tiny cherries as they form.Sparrows, in case you’ve never seen them, are nondescript, small brown birds that were once common in Britain. The CDs were free samples that a friend of Michel’s found dumped in a dustbin Michel now talks of his “arbre qui chante” or singing tree. He is looking forward to home-grown cherries this year.Michel and Madeleine, our next door neighbours, are in their late fifties and already retired (he from a job as shift foreman at the Citro?transmission plant in Caen; she as caretaker of several blocks of flats). Like many French people of their age, they have benefited from generous early retirement schemes, created to free jobs for young people. Such generosity is now under challenge as the the French population ages.Michel and Madeleine’s twin passions are cooking and gardening.

Their garden is a jumble of flowers and vegetables in classic cottage garden fashion. You used to see similar gardens, with no demarcation line between flowers and veg, when I was growing up in the rural north of England. In lower Normandy most country gardens are still organised, or disorganised, in this way. Michel and I are in friendly, horticultural competition, which he generally wins.

This is partly because he is a much better gardener than I am. However, I suffer from the handicap of living 160 miles away most of the time, which makes watering and planting at precise times a little awkward.My only victory over Michel so far has been my onions. He told me that all his attempts to grow onions in the rich, pebbly soil of the Norman hills had failed. Last year, I produced onions the size of large oranges, which have lasted – including some triumphant gifts to Michel and Madeleine – until now. This year, he is growing his own.A constant source of amusement to Michel and Madeleine is my heroic attempt to create a lawn from the scruffy field, which I inherited five summers ago Rural Normans have little time for lawns.