Governments cannot make marriages or turn feckless individuals into responsible citizens. That needs another kind of change agent.

The faith religious believers have in God is small compared to the faith people put in politicians, knowing how many times they have been disappointed in the past but still insisting that this time it will be different.

The people of Israel are entitled, as is any other nation, to live in peace and safety.

Volunteering has been undervalued in Britain for a long time. Often it has been seen as a kind of cut-price, amateur version of work that would be better done by the state. When politicians speak about it, people hear in the background the sound of budgets being cut.

I do not want to suggest that you have to be religious to be moral.

ISIS is a terrorist entity whose barbarities have been condemned by all those who value our common humanity. In the current political climate, when hate crimes are rising and political rhetoric is increasingly divisive, this is all the more shocking.

We need to rediscover the idea of the common good and work together to build a home.