Uk politics

Can Islam ever be reformed and reclaimed from the fanatics? On this week’s View from 22 podcast, the Quilliam Foundation's founder Maajid Nawaz argues it most certainly can. Discussing this week’s cover feature with Freddy Gray, Maajid questions why the British media thinks there is only one strain of thought in Islam. How does seeking out a singular ‘Muslim opinion’ lead to a spiral towards regressive conservatism? How can the vocal reformers make a difference when they are frequently outnumbered? James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman also discuss whether Ed Miliband’s luck has run out. Labour’s lacklustre response to the budget appears to have put Miliband on the back foot, but will this harm his electoral chances in 2015?

When I was doing my time in HMP Standford Hill, a strange pair of heavily perfumed Korans and Bibles were delivered to one inmate, ostensibly to help him with his 'studies in comparative religion'. As intended, the perfume threw the sniffer dogs off the scent. But a suspicious prison officer found a significant quantity of heroin stuck between the pages of these holy books. This was an example of 'parcelling it,' con-speak for getting drugs into jails. So Chris Grayling, the Justice Secretary, has a point now that he is trying to restrict the supply of books into prisons. But not much of a point: such examples are real but rare.

David Cameron is doing his best to do what the Tories haven't always been that impressive at: capitalising on the clever political bits in this year's Budget. He was at a PM direct event in Peacehaven today, driving home the importance of the government's reforms to pensions to his target voters. But he also had the opportunity to woo them with other policy treats, such as what the Tories might promise on inheritance tax in their next manifesto. 'Would I like to go further in future?' he said. 'Yes, I would. I believe in people being able to pass money down through the generations and pass things on to their children.' He added that 'it's something we'll have to address in our manifesto'.

Isabel and Sebastian are right: #ToryBingo is embarrassing. The advert was crass to the point of being idiotic. The use of the word 'they' rather than 'you' to describe 'hardworking people' was sloppy. The episode has taken some of the gloss off an otherwise shiny Budget. It is, emphatically, bad PR. That said; I don't imagine that the Tories will be too displeased by the furore. #ToryBingo has given a huge amount of exposure to two Budget measures that would otherwise have been buried beneath the pension announcement: the Tories have cut tax on bingo and duty on beer.