In an exclusive extended interview, Nick Clegg has told Premier he thinks it must be the most wonderful thing to have a faith and would embrace it if it came his way. The Deputy Prime Minister has been speaking ahead of the election and touched upon his personal faith journey, his time in the coalition government and the role of Church in society and politics. Mr Clegg, who's been labelled an atheist in the media, said he felt uncomfortable with the title and remains open to religion. ‘I now accompany Miriam [his wife] and the children, and do so with great joy, to Mass pretty much every weekend,’ he explained. ‘I sometimes think it must be the most wonderful thing to be infused with faith. It's not something that's happened to me, it's not happened to me yet. I would embrace it.‘

Teachers, counselors and social workers in England and Wales who fail to protect children could face up to five years in jail under new proposals. The new measures, being unveiled by the prime minister, would see the crime of ‘willful neglect’ extended to cover children's social care and education. There would also be unlimited fines for individuals and organisations shown to have let children down, and police will now prioritise sexual exploitation as a ‘national threat’. This means such abuse will be treated in a similar way to serious and organised crime, with police forces, chief constables and police and crime commissioners having a duty to collaborate in order to protect children. The government's proposals - also to include a national helpline being set up to enable professionals to report bad practice - are a response to child abuse scandals including those in Rotherham and Oxfordshire.

Hundreds of babies are being born clinically obese every year - including some weighing more than a stone. As many as 1,403 newborns have been classified as obese since 2011, according to shocking figures from a series of Freedom of Information requests. At just one trust nearly 400 babies born in the last four years weighed 9lb 15oz or more - the marker for an obese baby.  Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum, said that although some mothers suffer from medical conditions, which increase the size of the baby, most just overeat. 'Women have to understand that they have to keep themselves in shape due to the huge responsibility they have of producing the next generation. Successive governments have not really addressed the obesity problem. It starts at conception and sometimes even before then. If we get it wrong, it's a vicious circle and it will just go on and on and on.'

British Christian schools could face a European Commission investigation, following complaints from a humanist campaign group. The British Humanist Association (BHA) claims that faith schools breach European Union (EU) equality rules when hiring staff, because they say religious adherence is a ‘desirable’ quality. EU rules state that schools must prove there is a ‘genuine occupational requirement’ in preferring to recruit teachers of faith. Spokesman for The Christian Institute, Simon Calvert, said church schools are ‘hugely popular’, and their ethos is why they do such a good job of preparing children for life in 21st-century Britain’. ‘It’s disappointing that humanists seem to be so intolerant of religious organisations seeking to remain religious. There’s a relentless agenda to secularise religious organisations. ‘If they were to succeed, it would severely damage these church schools and undermine the great work that they do’. (See also British Isles and Ireland story.)

Imposing fines of up to £500,000 on the companies behind cold calls and nuisance text messages is to become easier under changes to the law being made by the Government. The move follows tens of thousands of complaints about cold calling. Currently, firms can only be punished if the Information Commissioner can prove a call caused ‘substantial damage or substantial distress’. But from 6 April, that legal requirement is to be removed. More than 175,000 complaints were made to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) last year about nuisance calls and text messages. The government says the number of complaints has risen in the past decade and the issue is particularly acute for the elderly and housebound as such calls can cause distress and anxiety. In a speech earlier this month, Information Commissioner Christopher Graham described the current law as ‘a licence for spammers and scammers’ and appealed for more powers

Christian environmentalists are calling on the public to buy Fairtrade products after sales fell for the first time in 20 years. The drop of nearly 4 per cent in sales of Fairtrade products reflects the success of cheap brands offered by Aldi and Lidl at a time when the Government's austerity cuts are affecting hundreds of thousands of people. Dr. Ruth Valerio, churches and Theology Director of A Rocha UK, the international Christian research, environmental and conservation charity, said switching to Fairtrade could change people's lives. The foundation was set up to help provide a fair deal for farmers and producers in the developing world. Dr. Valerio told Christian Today the fall in sales should not be ignored and she urged everyone to act.

Toxic fumes in cabin air pose a health risk to frequent fliers and aircrew, a coroner has said in a landmark report. Stanhope Payne, the senior coroner for Dorset, said people regularly exposed to fumes circulating in planes faced ‘consequential damage to their health’. Mr. Payne, who is inquiring into the death of Richard Westgate, a British Airways pilot, called on BA and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to take ‘urgent action to prevent future deaths’. Most airline passengers, who fly only occasionally, will not be affected by the problem, but some frequent travelers who are genetically susceptible to the toxins could fall ill. His report, obtained by the Telegraph, is the first official UK recognition of so-called ‘aerotoxic syndrome’, a phenomenon long denied by airlines but which is blamed by some for the deaths of at least two pilots and numerous other incidents where pilots have passed out in flight

Older teens are more at risk of abuse and neglect than any other age group, according to new research from the Children's Society. The report also shows that four in five UK parents think neglect and abuse laws should be changed to include 16- and 17-year-olds. Existing child cruelty laws allow prosecutions to be brought for neglect, ill treatment and abandonment but only until the child is aged 15.  Teenagers aged 16 and 17 who live in England are more likely to be abused or neglected than any other age group, but are given the least protection, according to the analysis. The Children's Society is calling on the Government to make changes to the Serious Crime Bill, which includes changes to the law on child abuse and neglect.

A Scripture Union book designed to help with the move to secondary school has been banned at a Scottish school after humanists complained it could ‘distress’ pupils. Robert Douglas Memorial School in Scone, Perthshire, decided to stop handing out the book to primary school leavers after a complaint from one humanist parent as it mentioned prayer. The move was described as ‘petty’ by Rev David Robertson, the incoming Moderator of the Free Church of Scotland. Students at the school had formerly been given a copy of the book called 'It’s Your Move' at a leavers’ event. It is described as a ‘fun and friendly guide to moving to secondary school’ but the Humanist Society Scotland (HSS) said it could ‘cause distress’ for some children. Speaking to The Courier, Rev David Robertson said ‘This is petty and vindictive. I think this is a form of bullying and intimidation, telling a head-teacher what to do.’ (See also Europe story.)

In forthright evidence to a parliamentary inquiry into Britain’s rapidly-growing aid budget, Adam Smith International (ASI), which runs Government reform projects around the world and is a major contractor of the Department, said it is ‘concerned’ at how a growing volume of British aid is being ‘pushed’ into the hands of wasteful third parties as ministers seek to hit the government’s target of spending 0.7 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) on foreign aid. But ASI warned this represented a ‘false economy’ in helping the world’s poorest people as the global bodies are far less efficient and have higher administrative costs than projects run directly by Britain. It highlighted the World Bank’s $350 million (£227 million) programme in Afghanistan, towards which Britain has given some £300,000. Just 38 per cent of the project’s money has been released after three years, amid corruption and chaos under the former president, Hamid Karzai.