Our parliamentary politics is about mediating different interests in a society of strangers, says Simon Barrow. But bioethical decisions confront us with the need to move beyond accommodation and confrontation to moral community.

The heated row over abortion is continuing after a report by the House of Commons Science and Technology committee said there was no scientific justification for lowering the 24-week limit for terminations. But there are also signs of movement on all sides.

A maths teacher set to stand for the British National Party (BNP) in June's European elections has been suspended by his school.