As fireworks cracked and revellers cheered to mark the anniversary of Guy Fawkes' unsuccessful plot against parliament in 1605, a very different kind of conspiracy was launched on the world from an office near London Bridge last night.

Migration issues are back in the headlines, with the two main parties vying over 'get tough' policies, and the government admitting that its recent labour force statistics have been wrong. But positive alternatives are also being mooted.

Gordon Brown, artfully manoeuvred into Downing Street, will have little room to operate in for the social justice agenda. But what space there is will be created by the power of imagination, says Simon Barrow. Look at the example of Northern Ireland.

The automatic presence of 26 Church of England bishops in the unelected second chamber of parliament has been raised again, in light of the UK government's deliberations about House of Lords reform.