For the record I believe elected officials should talk about faith. Our founders believed the moral principles of faith were indispensable to our nation's survival. The Declaration of Independence mentions God four times.

It's possible that the 2012 general-election race will be the least overtly religious one since 1972 the last campaign before Roe v. Wade and the rise of Jimmy Carter brought evangelicalism into the political mainstream. That's because faith remains a complicated issue for Obama who is still wrongly thought to be a Muslim in some quarters.

That someone like Obama could be elected president of the United States - with its unrivaled power and prestige - has begun to restore the country's and the world's faith in America as the land of opportunity.

You can almost see voters nodding their heads at home: The public's faith in politicians and political institutions has been on a steep and dangerous decline for decades because elected leaders fail to deliver.

Each party steals so many articles of faith from the other and the candidates spend so much time making each other's speeches that by the time election day is past there is nothing much to do save turn the sitting rascals out and let a new gang in.

These are tough times and under this Tory-led government many people in Manchester are suffering and getting left behind. If elected I will use all my energy skills experience and knowledge to stand up for our communities and get things done for the better.

If one area I felt it was a tough election was I couldn't see my young son and I couldn't see my wife a lot but apart from that for her also it was an experience.

It's a very small and select slice of all the people who have ever been born. I believe we've come back during this time those of us who are here now specifically to experience it. And to cause a 'quickening of the spirit.'

As for the forces electromagnetism and gravity we experience in everyday life. But the weak and strong forces are beyond our ordinary experience. So in physics lots of the basic building blocks take 20th- or perhaps 21st-century equipment to explore.

I will feel equality has arrived when we can elect to office women who are as incompetent as some of the men who are already there.