Interview with Jesse Norman MP: “I don’t really believe in making political promises.”

Politics is “a noble calling”. And in praise of Abraham Lincoln, Edmund Burke and Louis Armstrong.

Ryan Shorthouse: How to form a future without poverty

Better pre-school education, more help in need for those who have contributed more, a higher minimum wage, support for grandparents – all fit Conservative ideals.

James Cleverly MLA: Social Impact Bonds mean big business can boost the Big Society

Social investment is more tax efficient than it has ever been.

Dr Martin Parsons: The bishops’ letter is naive, inaccurate and sloppy

The claim that Margaret Thatcher’s ‘Victorian values’ meant the reintroduction of ‘unregulated markets’ is simply untrue.

If Cameron loses in May it will be because he fought the 2010 and 2015 general elections in the wrong order

Cameron’s first election should have been about security and his second about hope.

Mark Fox: A time of the year to remember those who work during it

Members of the armed forces, doctors, nurses, shopkeepers…and, yes, news journalists.

Christian Guy: On Thursday, this army of compassion will again make us proud

A tribute to the charities helping the lonely, sick, isolated and dependent on Thursday – and throughout the rest of each year.

David Kirkby: Britain’s young people aren’t a selfish generation

They just want a smaller state and a bigger society.

Mark Fox: What I learned from David Cameron about interviews. And what he could contribute to volunteering.

People willing to give their time and experience for nothing in support of others is a valuable and precious part of our society.

Heresy of the week: A partial defence of Russell Brand

While Brand’s vision of a Big Society for anti-capitalists might not sound like a whole lot of fun, it does represent a challenge to the mechanistic, top-down statism of the conventional left

What’s wrong with Hampstead? In defence of Miliband.

As it happens, I live only a few hundred yards from his house.

Harriet Maltby: Sunshine is winning the day. Here’s evidence that Britain’s getting better – not worse

More freedom. Strong families. New jobs. More giving. This year’s Prosperity Index from the Legatum Institute is a rebuke to the doomsters and gloomsters.

Kwasi Kwarteng MP: Lessons for the Big Society from Spelthorne

Support from local businesses, active citizenship, and the occasional competition – these are the ingredients for a strong civil society.

Danny Kruger: Cameron stopped proclaiming the Big Society. But now he should start once again.

My regret is that, blamed for the disappointing result of 2010, the Conservatives dropped it as a slogan, and adopted a policy of “show not tell”.

Jesse Norman MP: The Government needs to make the case for Big Society principles once again

It is neither paternalistic nor libertarian, but grounded in a “compassionate conservatism” whose roots lie in Adam Smith and Edmund Burke.