The recent ‘war of position’ on the economic crisis is more about the politics of appearance than the politics of change, says Simon Barrow. The real agenda cuts much deeper.

Pope Benedict XVI has urged British PM Gordon Brown to push for the establishment of an ethically-grounded financial system at the G20 summit that begins in London on Thurday.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has told faith leaders and representatives of NGOs at St Paul's Cathedral in London that the world must adopt global economic rules based on common values.

Responding to global financial crisis must be more than "short term financial bail out." It must seek "long term transformation" and "sound ethical and moral principles", says the World Council of Churches.

The Jubilee Debt Campaign has warned G20 leaders that a debt crisis approaching that seen in the 1980s could engulf many impoverished countries as a result of the global financial crisis.

Several hours after British PM Gordon Brown extended an invitation to the Pope to visit the UK, the Vatican issued a statement saying he had no current plans to do so.

In an audience at the Vatican today, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has invited Pope Benedict XVI, leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, to Britain and has promised him a "warm welcome".

The PM's surprise withdrawal of the Freedom of Information (Parliament) Order, which would have exempted Parliamentary expenses from full disclosure, has been welcomed by campaign group Unlock Democracy.

Five leading Church of England bishops have criticised the government's social policy, suggesting that Labour policy has led to the neglect of the most vulnerable.

Anti-poverty and environmental groups today pressed Gordon Brown to end his love affair with big business. In a visual demonstration campaigners posed as a fat cat in bed with the British prime minister outside the Bank of England.