The Occupy protests, environmental movements and civic revolutions across the world are suggesting that there is a whole world of politics available outwith the narrow party perspectives that still dominate the electoral machinery of Western democracies, says Simon Barrow. Party posturing is looking increasingly irrelevant. A spirit of change is in the air.

One of the Church of Scotland’s most senior ministers has challenged the parties contending the 5 May elections not to hide their policy proposals.

The reform group Unlock Democracy has said that the question of how political parties are funded is a "ticking time bomb" for the UK parliament.

Politics and personality have always been intertwined in the modern era, says Simon Barrow. The increasing glitz and media saturation makes it even more necessary to look past image towards substance - as in religion, too.