These days it isn’t just anxious looking MPs and peers, lobbyists, civil servants, journalists and security officials you’ll find wandering near Westminster, says Simon Barrow. Among other unexpected visitors have been Batman, a troupe of clowns, Basil Brush and his foxy friends, a group of zombies and a super-sized duck home

Imagine a world of soundbite politics where the machinery of power is operated by vacillating professional politicians, out of their depth, jumping to the whims of ruthless, feral spin doctors. That, says Alan Wilson, is the film satire In The Loop

There are many people who are not Christians who revere Jesus, says Martin Marty. But when his name is invoked in the civic arena they hear assertions of majority privilege in the religious realm, where privilege often has taken form in power against others.

Bishop Robinson chose to eschew specifically Christian language for the occasion, saying that the texts and beliefs he holds sacred are not so held by all Americans. But his prayer could hardly be accused of pulling punches or resting on polite diplomacy.

Leading British Methodist Ruby Beech's "day job" is a position that dates back to at least the 15th century, reports Kathleen LaCamera. As an assistant sergeant at arms in the UK Parliament, she helps look after the security and administration of the House of Commons.

In a provocative short article in the International Herald Tribune newspaper, Phillip Blond argues that the dominant neo-liberal model of global economy is in crisis, and that both the political right and the political left have failed to understand the nature of the challenge this embodies.