Campbell, a Catholic from Northern Ireland who has been UK Ambassador to the Holy See since 2005, was delivering the St Thomas More Lecture (full text here) at the Allen Hall Seminary in London's fashionable Chelsea district.

(Photo: Ambassador Campbell/FCO)

The UK envoy emphasised how Pope Benedict's approach to international relations had been shaped by his experience of growing up in Germany during the Nazi era. Campbell noted how Benedict, like his predecessor John Paul, "saw how fragile society actually was" and noted that he is one of the last of that generation still in authority.

Campbell underlined the common ground shared by Britain and the Vatican on issues like climate change, international development and disarmament, emphasising how the Pope's moral authority helped to propel shared ideas.

The envoy was suitably diplomatic on media reports that  the pope would visit Britain in 2010. "I couldn't possibly comment on that," he said. He also refused to be drawn on the biggest recent story between Rome and London, the Vatican initiative making it easier for disaffected Anglicans to convert to Catholicism.

Do you think the Vatican is a positive force in international affairs. And what about ecumenical relations between Lambeth Palace and the Vatican?

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The lobby area at the Brighton Conference venue is packed with stalls for various campaign groups -- everyone from the heavyweights of the Nuclear Industry Association to the Paul Daisley Trust, touchingly run by the widow of a Labour MP who died of colorectal cancer in 2003.

There are plenty of sweets on offer and the canvas bag with slogan is the favourite giveaway.

The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association even allow visitors to try out on Wii Fit's ski jump. For the record, your correspondent cleared 100 metres before crashing out on his second attempt -- way off the conference record marked on the whiteboard.

The most arresting sight is a lollipop lady made of ice -- she is slowly melting away in the conference heat. The Unison Union warns that public services would suffer a similar fate if political parties cut public spending.

The Labour Party conference in Brighton is crucial if the party is to start a revival that could give it a fourth successive term in office. As well as covering Gordon Brown's big set piece on Tuesday, our team of three reporters will try to gauge party morale and give you a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes beside the seaside.

You can follow our Twitter and video updates via our live blog, which will appear in the box below.

Cameron said a pint of Fosters in bars sells for only 2.10 pounds in Westminster, little over half of what you would pay outside the confines of parliament.

But it will be farewell to cheap beer and subdisided salads if Cameron gets into power.

That may go down well with voters but is unlikely to win Cameron many new friends among MPs, officials and, dare I say it, journalists working at Westminster.  

Ministers' salaries will also be cut by five percent and then frozen and the number of MPs cut from 650 to 585 if the Tories get their way. 

Cameron himself conceded that the measures he plans are trifling when compared with the size of the government defict of 175 billion pounds. But he reckons it is vital for government to set the tone for the new era of austerity we face.

The whole debate on public spending has an air of phoney war about it. We all know there will be spending cuts -- but neither Labour nor the Conservatives are really nailing their colours to the mast.

So are the Conservatives setting the right tone with their planned assault on Westminster's pay and perks, or is just cheap populism masking the failure to tackle the real issues?

That could change in the next election, due by next June, after Sky News threw down the gauntlet and invited Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg to appear before their cameras.  John Ryley, the head of Sky News, argues that this would be a "unique opportunity to re-engage a disillusioned electorate".

The Times reports that David Frost is being lined up to host the debate. 

There was some speculation over the summer that Brown was prepared to take part in a debate and would announce this at the party conference at the end of September.

Critics might argue that Britain's political system is not really suited to such a debate -- after all we vote for an MP in a local constituency and don't directly elect our leader. Also, should we vote on the basis of who comes across best on television or shouldn't we focus on more fundamental issues?

Who has most to gain or lose from the debate? Could it trip up Cameron or would it again expose Brown's discomfort in front of the camera, laid bare in the YouTube debacle?

A week later the plan has unravelled in the face of opposition protest and internal Labour party misgivings. The upshot is more bad press and the feeling that Brown's authority has been further undermined.

Throw in a budget in which the government has been forced to admit to the worst economic performance since World War Two and it has been a few days to forget for Brown.

Commentators are increasingly writing about the Conservatives as a government-in-waiting, a focus that carries risks because it exposes their policies plans to closer scrutiny.

His visit to Pakistan on Monday also brought reports of a snub after he appeared at a press conference with  Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani rather than President Asif Ali Zardari.  

So is the game up for Gordon? Well, it certainly is hard to see how Labour can overhaul their deficit in the polls. But Brown was being written off in 2008, with rumours of his impending removal, but  emerged stronger when the credit crisis hit.

It's been a bad week for Brown, but a year in politics is an eternity.

A week later, Gordon Brown finds his plan in tatters in the face of of opposition from rival parties and disquiet in his own Labour ranks.

(Photo: Rabbi Marc Schneier/FFEU)

Schneier helped to bring together thousands of Jews and Muslims across America last November in an initiative in which 50 mosques were twinned with 50 synagogues over a weekend. Jews and Muslims worked together in community projects, formed study groups and got a better understanding of each other's faith. They publicised this in the short video below and a full-page ad in the New York Times available here in PDF.

An eloquent and persuasive speaker, Schneier has advocated closer links between Jewish and Afro-American communities through the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, where he has worked with hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons.

Schneier feels there is a need for action at the grass-roots level to help heal the rift between Jewish and Muslim communities in Europe.  He is planning to repeat his "Weekend of Twinning" this November and wants to extend it to Britain from North America.  "Jewish-Muslim relations are a great concern here in Europe, so we wanted to bring this programme across the Atlantic," he said.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews told me they were very interested in the project and wanted to develop it here, building on their own linking programme. However, the climate is not easy.  Israel's invasion of Gaza in which more than 1,300 Palestinians were killed has sparked fresh tensions between the two groups in Europe.

An umbrella group of French Jewish groups last week asked French President Nicolas Sarkozy to ensure that authorities do more to stem a rise in anti-Jewish crime. Britain has also seen protests over Israel's campaign.

(Photo: Pro-Palestinian protesters in Paris, 24 Jan 2009/Gonzalo Fuentes)

Schneier dismissed concerns that members of close-knit Muslim communities in European countries such as Britain and France would be harder to reach than their counterparts in the United States, who tend to be better integrated into U.S. life.

"The challenge here is more of a language barrier than a social or cultural barrier. What we did in North America wasn't an easy task either. There was much hesitation on both sides," he said. "I see around the world there are pockets of moderation emerging within Islam. We cannot spurn the hands of the moderates in the Muslim world."

Schneier's initiative seems to be working in the United States, but can it be transplanted to Europe? We'd like to hear your comments here.

China may be a relatively untapped soccer market, but the 50,000 plus crowd knew that the best team had won on the night.

The Olympic tournament, with its uneasy format of under-23s and a smattering of over-age players, has plenty of critics, but Brazil v Argentina is a big match in any competition.

So much so that even the ultra-efficient Beijing organisers struggled to shoehorn the hundreds of accredited press and associated media folk into the seating reserved for them. The post-match press conference was an all-ticket affair, with Portuguese and Spanish-speaking reporters given priority.

Argentina, inspired by captain Juan Roman Riquelme and the darting Lionel Messi, made their superiority count after halftime, running in their three goals in the space of less than 20 minutes.

All the marginal decisions went their way - Brazil appealed in vain for offside when Sergio Aguero scored his second to put Argentina 2-0 ahead. Shortly after Brazil's Pato had the ball in the net, but this time the goal was ruled out for offside and there was no way back.

So plenty to think about for national coach Dunga, who has given the impression during this tournament of wishing he were elsewhere. Plenty too to ponder for Ronaldinho, who looked out of sorts as he prepares for life with AC Milan after a disappointing  final season with Barcelona.

For defending champions Argentina, it's a showdown at noon on Saturday with Nigeria in the Bird's Nest Stadium. That's a repeat of the 1996 final, a cracking match won 3-2 by Nigeria thanks to two late goals.

Let's hope the two teams can defy the heat and serve up another classic for the maligned Olympic soccer tournament.

PHOTO: Argentina's Lionel Messi (L) speaks with Brazil's Ronaldinho after Argentina won their semi-final soccer match in Worker's Stadium during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, August 19, 2008. REUTERS/Daniel Aguilar

Struggling? The list runs from A for Aquatics to W for Wrestling. (Although "aquatics" to my untrained eye seems to span a series of water sports - swimming, diving and water polo).

For baseball and softball, Beijing will be bittersweet -- they will not feature in London in 2012 when the programme will be cut to 26 sports. They are the first sports to be axed from the Olympics since polo in 1936.     

Both are relatively recent additions - baseball made its debut as a medal sport in Barcelona in 1992 and softball in Atlanta four years later. As quintessential American games they struggled to muster the international backing needed to keep them on the programme.

The American women have swept softball golds in all three Olympics, but Cuba leads the United States 3-1 in baseball golds. The USA  baseball team, which does not include heavyhitters from the major leagues, will at least be represented in Beijing after failing to qualify for the Athens Olympics.   
 
 The IOC plans to cut the programme to 25 sports by the 2020 Olympics, leaving a number of federations in fear of losing the unique exposure offered by the Games.

 There is much talk of getting golf back on the programme after an absence of more than a century. Rugby union sevens too is a candidate and Twenty20 cricket might be fun. 

What do you think should be in the Olympics and what should be dropped?