I believe that now is a time for a new seriousness of purpose, indeed, for a new moral purpose. . . A new moral seriousness, combined with a sense that we’re all frail and fallible, would be a good start for the new Parliament

Richard Harries, former Bishop of Oxford, Thought for the Day, Radio 4, 5 July

Starmer’s speech outside No 10 was a good one. However he delivers these things like a vicar conducting a service. These things can be done more effectively if they sound like a conversation

David Aaronovitch, journalist, X, 5 July

[I believe] very strongly . . . that Jesus Christ not only lived and existed but he’s the son of God and was sent as our saviour.

Wes Streeting MP, Health Secretary, The Rest is Politics, 28 June

It is great to see more women than ever in the Commons, with all they will bring to legislating and their constituencies. But spare prayers for them, and others, as they will now face unspeakable levels of online hostility. We have to heal this poison between us

Simon Burton-Jones, Bishop of Tonbridge, X, 5 July

I have to be in Parliament today. . . You may like to pray for the United Kingdom this afternoon, at around 2.30, where, for a space of about 15 seconds, in one of the oddest byways of our constitution, I am actually in charge of the country for something like 15 seconds. . . It’s amazing the buttons you can press in 15 seconds

Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, speaking at the General Synod, 9 July

I’d have to say that one of the things you discover when you have any kind of high office is that you get to do a lot less than you thought you were going to do, because suddenly you become aware of the institutional obstacles and the time things take

Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury, interview, The Big Issue, 7 July

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds haunted me, and — in a completely different way, so did When I’m Sixty-Four. Sixty-four seemed like unimaginable antiquity. Now I’m thinking, prime of life really. . .

Ibid.

My hope is that the new Government will understand that secularity is not separate from faith or freedom of conscience. Instead, it provides the scaffold for a pluralistic society made up of individuals or groups who may have profoundly differing belief systems but are nonetheless willing to live together in a shared social order

Anna McNamee, executive director, the Sandford St Martin Trust, Theos website, 9 July

What worries me is the reduced number of people who . . . vote. . . Participation cannot be improvised: it is learned from childhood and must be trained, even to develop a critical sense regarding ideological and populist temptations. . . Ideologies are seductive. . . They come and they seduce, but then they lead you to drown yourself

Pope Francis, address to the 50th Italian Catholic Social Week, Trieste, 7 July

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