Secretary of State for Work and Pensions James Purnell outlined the Government's fightback strategy following the local elections in a speech to the Fabian Society, declaring "ideological confidence is the way out of this week's political setback."

Purnell spoke of the need to continue to tackle child poverty regardless of electoral considerations and accused the Tories of "failing the test on child poverty."

Dr Howard Stoate MP has called for a crackdown on leading sports teams being associated with alcohol products, in the upcoming Fabian Review.

In a YouGov Health poll 42 per cent of respondents said that drinking by teenagers worried them - more than any other group.

The TUC's Brendan Barber and Barnados' Martin Narey led a Fabian debate on the positive case for inheritance tax. The debate followed our new pamphlet, How to Defend Inheritance Tax, and a letter to The Guardian signed by leading academics, unionists, and NGO leaders.

It is vital that no one faith or ethnic group can totally dominate a town or city to the exclusion of all others, said Secretary of State Hazel Blears at the launch of the Fabian Housing and Community Policy Network.

She said: "There is nothing wrong with enclaves of particular groups – every city benefits from its China Towns, Little Italies, or as in London, Bangla Town, Kangaroo Valley, or Little Korea."