Strangers greeting each other on the street. Cheery smiles from people who would normally ignore you. New pals made and old friendships renewed.

Ah well, it will all be over by Christmas. But despite fighting still going on in Europe and elsewhere round the world, the spirit of seasonal goodwill lives on.

In one notable act of remembrance, President Bill Clinton joined Tony Blair, David Trimble and Gerry Adams in marking the lost lives of people killed in Northern Ireland's Troubles.

Meanwhile, the remaining paramilitary prisoners in the Maze prison - including two loyalists on remand in a murder case - were released to spend Christmas with their families.

Jonathan Aitken, the disgraced former Tory cabinet minister, was also given Christmas leave from his 18-month sentence for perjury and perverting the course of justice.

Some people are also feeling what they perhaps thought they never would - sympathy for Neil Hamilton.

Outstanding costs

As well as suffering the humiliation of losing his libel action against Mohamed al-Fayed, he now faces having to sell his house to pay the legal costs.

His friends and supporters, who rallied round for him, are also facing being billed for the outstanding costs.

One tale goes against the flow of goodwill, though. In Ayrshire, a group of neighbours got a court order preventing David Rowlands from switching on 8,000 Christmas lights outside his house at night.

Asked if, in a spirit of reconciliation, he would let bygones be bygones, he told Radio 4's Today programme: "No, not at all. I certainly will not make up with the neighbours."

"On earth peace, good will toward men" was what the angels told the shepherds in St Luke's gospel. At Christmas it's a feeling that nearly everybody, be they of whatever faith or none, can support.

What's Jesus got to do with it?

But they were words prefaced by "Glory to God in the highest", and the only reason the angels were there in the first place was to cheerlead the birth of Jesus.

In the UK, where the church is facing renewed reports of falling interest and failure to reach the people, the religious element of the celebration is a moot point.

Not least because of the impending celebrations at Greenwich. What started out as the Spirit Zone in the Millennium Dome but is now known as the Faith Zone hit a very delicate question.

How should a nominally Christian country celebrate a nominally Christian event without excluding or offending other faiths? Initial reports seem to suggest the various faiths are happy with the zone, and the Archbishop of Canterbury has also given it his seal of approval.

But one sharia court in the UK did issue a fatwa against going to the Dome, saying it was unsuitable for Muslims because alcohol was available and men and women were supposed to mix.

The big questions remain, even thousands of years later.

But there is one very good reason to feel goodwill to all. The prospect - for many - of a ten-day holiday.

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