• Blog

A selection of stories from today's press and other media that relate to Ekklesia's work, produced daily by James Vincent and covering papers such as The Times, Daily Telegraph, Independent, Guardian, and the tabloids.

Economy & Politics

Nick Clegg forced to admit: I’d work with Labour, but not Gordon Brown
Nick Clegg has made his first serious blunder of the campaign after mistakenly suggesting that he would refuse to negotiate with Labour if it came third in votes cast.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7108965.ece

Soaring postal vote may swing marginals
A survey by the Independent has revealed that there has been a rise of 10 per cent in the number voting by post in some of the key marginal constituencies where the result of the general election hangs in the balance.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/soaring-postal-vote-may-sw...

Independent readers agree: the result will be a hung parliament
A blast of fresh air blew through the dinosaur skeletons inside the Oxford natural history museum last night as readers of The Independent overwhelmingly voted a hung parliament the most likely outcome of next week's general election.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/independent-readers-agree-...

Set us free to call for tactical voting, Gordon Brown urged by Labour figures
Senior Labour figures are urging Gordon Brown to tear up a ban on allowing members openly to advocate tactical voting as internal divisions over how to deal with the Liberal Democrat surge deepen.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7108955.ece

BBC BNP election broadcast met by protests
The airing of an election broadcast by the British National Party (BNP) was met by protests outside the BBC's headquarters.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/election-2010/7636537/BBC-BNP-election-b...

Comment: Proportional Representation would make politics less clean and more
Nick Clegg's big idea for "new politics", to cleanse the Augean stables, is to ditch our First Past the Post electoral system and replace it with Proportional Representation. This would ensure permanent coalition.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1268904/GENERAL-ELECTION-2010-...

Comment: Would Alternative Vote be better than the status quo?
Analysis: Labour do so well because Labour-held seats on average contain smaller electorates.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/john-curtice-would-alt...

Comment: The anti-vote: a voice for revulsion
We demand an anti-vote, to meet the needs of the enraged and force the parties to really listen.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/26/revulsion-electoral-...

Comment: Who will lead the opposition?
A hung parliament doesn't just change the nature of government – it changes almost everything about the workings of parliament.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/26/hung-parliament-oppo...

Ecology & Environment

For one night only? Climate change back on election agenda
climate change came back into the election as a live issue yesterday when the three main parties clashed over each other's credentials for fighting global warming.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/for-one-night-only-climate...

Comment: If only the countryside could vote
In saner times, the evidence that we are destroying our natural world would demand political solutions.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/terence-blacker/terenc...

Race & Identity

Comment: Will this be the year the tiny number of black MPs finally increases?
There are more minority candidates than ever before standing for parliament next week. Afua Hirsch asks if the UK is finally having a post-racial election.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/apr/27/election-race-equality-mi...

Comment: BNP manifesto seeks more than votes
Nick Griffin's manifesto reveals a party keen to turn voters into supporters of a racially 'pure' Britain, 'bound together by blood'.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/27/bnp-manifesto-launch...

Community & Family

Comment: Social mobility, not social security
It's a toxic mix of welfare dependency, fantasy consumerism and misguided schooling that keeps the poorest in poverty.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/26/social-mobility-not-...

Crime & Justice

Ex-MI6 officer attacks America's torture policy
A former senior MI6 officer has criticised the torture and abuse of terror suspects and says the US response to the threat posed by al-Qaida has been exaggerated and counterproductive.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/27/mi6-officer-attacks-us-torture

Globalisation & Development

Comment: The World Cup is Africa's chance to show how it has changed
Sport has the power to rebuild fractured relationships.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/26/kofi-annan-world-cup...

Peace & War

Comment: When will time run out for a two-state solution?
The Palestinians must draw the line on settlements, or the facade of a two-state discussion will continue ad infinitum.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/27/israel-palestinian-t...

Religion & Society

Comment: There is no Christian vote
Believers don't form a single voting bloc in this country, but Christians are more likely to vote than "nones".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/apr/26/religion-elec...

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