The Spectator

Bishops and rioters From the Scarman report to ‘Faith in the City’, no British riot is complete without politicians and churchmen weighing in with the answers. It was no different in the 13th century. In 1272 the townsmen of Norwich rioted after the prior to the city’s monastery refused to allow the arrest of monastic servants charged with murder. The cathedral was burned down. In response, the bishop excommunicated the townsfolk, but two years later the Pope was asked to pass judgment. He deferred to Edward I, who besides ordering the townsmen to pay 3,000 marks towards rebuilding the cathedral, produced an agreement with a phrase worthy of a primary school headmistress: ‘That all parties should be real friends.

Here are some of the posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the last week. Fraser Nelson has a web exclusive of his magazine interview with IDS, and notes that inflation has risen yet again. James Forsyth laments the missed opportunity to transform, and compares Cameron and Miliband’s responses to the riots. David Blackburn examines Merkel and Sarkozy's latest solution for the Eurozone, and says that Clegg has made his mark on the riots issue. Martin Bright reckons there are no easy answers to Britain’s social crisis. Nick Cohen praises Gordon Brown for the one and only time. Rod Liddle asks if David Starkey is a racist. Alex Massie argues that Bill Bratton could have helped both Labour and Tories.

Welcome to the latest CoffeeHousers' Wall. For those who haven't come across the Wall before, it's a post we put up each Monday, on which — providing your writing isn't libellous, crammed with swearing, or offensive to common decency — you'll be able to say whatever you like in the comments section. There is no topic, so there's no need to stay 'on topic', which means you'll be able to debate with each other more freely and extensively. There's also no constraint on the length of what you write — so, in effect, you can become Coffee House bloggers. Anything's fair game, from political stories in your local paper, to chat about the latest football results.