The main British party conferences were about to sidestep the economy, but the latest bank crunch has made the topic unavoidable, says Simon Barrow. But do politicians or the churches have anything meaningful to say?

Representative's of Britain's armed forces are reacting with fury to a report which says that some of their recruitment advertising is giving young people, in particular, a misleading and glamourised picture of military life.

Talk of the efficacy or otherwise of the surge is a smokescreen, says Simon Barrow. There is no long-term military solution to Iraq’s nightmare. But viable alternatives are being sought within civil society.