The PM v. The ABC

It "ill-behoved" those who live in "bishops' palaces" to condemn government policies aiming at alleviating poverty. That's quite a stinging rebuke to the five bishops of the Church of England from the Member of Parliament who represents the church's interests in the Commons. Sir Stuart Bell, the Second Church Commissioner, says the bishops' comments on the government's credit crunch policy amount to "nonsense".

The ecclesiastical gloves are off. Nigel McCullough, the Bishop of Manchester, used his Christmas Day message to accuse the government of "scandalously encouraging" people to go into debt.

The bishops believe the government is failing to learn the lesson of the credit crunch -- the lesson being that a financial system based on indebtedness is doomed to collapse -- and are repeating the mistakes that produced the current collapse.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has already compared the government's anti-recession policy to an "addict returning to the drug".

Dr Williams also gave us, this Christmas, a very thoughtful reflection on an "unprincipled" sermon by Karl Barth.

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