The chief executive of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, has suggested that bankers are doing “God's work” and that banks have a "social purpose". His remarks were described as “frankly astonishing” by Church Action on Poverty.

Church Action on Poverty has announced a series of regional events to help churches and other faith groups respond to the economic crisis and support those worst hit by it.

New government figures released on 7 May 2009 confirm that progress on fighting poverty in the UK had come to a halt, even before the current recession, says the campaigning organisation Church Action on Poverty.

People from Glasgow will be giving their accounts of deprivation at Scotland’s first Poverty Truth Commission on 21 March - as it highlights the reality of those living on the edge in modern Britain.