Twenty veteran monks, many ancient and venerable, disturbed from harmless contemplation in the loneliness of their cells, stood at the back, blinking in the light. It is a movement that stands for purity, for rectitude, for election. Word having gone out before him, we gathered before the white stucco walls of an indoor monastery, a bowl of flowers picked in the gardens that morning by Brother Mandelson adorning the simple table. I have, I confess, been a sinner.

But yesterday, along with a couple of hundred others, I too saw the light on the Road to the Manifesto. A man - whose lack of denominational discrimination is causing havoc to established churches throughout the country (is he an Anglican? Is he a Catholic?) - is leading a new Order, whose objective is moral rearmament. A "university for industry" will use computer technology to enhance skills, and all schools and libraries will be wired up to the Internet.. It will also become easier under Labour to sack poor teachers.On nursery education, the party would withdraw the voucher scheme due to be introduced nationally in April 1997 but would replace it with partnerships between the public, private and voluntary sectors.Labour does not favour a return to the 11-plus but would not close existing grammar schools unless parents wanted them closed. Its paper talks of a comprehensive education system which caters for all children's needs through grouping by ability, broader A-levels and better vocational qualifications.In further and higher education, students will be given loans to cover their maintenance but will not be charged fees.In training, individuals will be able to build up credits in a "learn- as-you-earn" account which can be cashed in for courses. The pledge to phase out the assisted places scheme and put the money into mainstream schools will eventually save more than pounds 160m per year, according to research for Labour by the National Foundation for Educational Research.

This will take longer because subsi- dies will not be withdrawn from children who already have them.The document also promises higher standards in primary schools, with testing at five and a core curriculum for teacher training to place more emphasis on the basics - a policy announced by David Blunkett, Labour's education spokesman, in May and also favoured by the Government. Labour would have to divert pounds 68m from private education subsidies to cut primary-class sizes to 30 or less within three years, new figures compiled for the party's manifesto document show. We believe that is fair - right and responsibilities go together."The NHS plans include the bureaucracy cut, the replacement of GP fundholding with GP commissioning and the restoration of the right of all GPs to refer to any hospital."Tough on crime" includes removing the "licence to carry on offending" from the youth justice system by halving the time from arrest to sentencing for persistent offenders.And the document again stresses "rights and duties" to defend Labour against its suggestions for tackling disruptive neighbours, truancy, young children out late at night and vandalism."If your life is being made hell .. your rights are being infringed," it says.. The options for the young include a private sector job subsidised by a pounds 60-a-week six-month rebate; a six-month benefit- plus-job with a voluntary sector employer; full-time study, or work with the planned environmental taskforce."There will be no fifth option of remaining permanently unemployed on full benefit.

Without any detailed commitment, the document states that "the benefit traps that make people worse off when they take a job must be tackled." There is, however, "a commitment" to "high and stable" levels of employment - the 1944 White Paper definition of full employment - starting with a cash rebate for employers who take on the long-term unemployed, together with its pledge of a job or training for every young person unemployed for six months.The package - an "economic imperative" - will be funded by the windfall tax on utility profits. Labour will, however, create a new framework for funded second-tier pensions as an alternative. It also said: "The issue of the single currency must be determined by a hard-headed look at its economic practicalities."NICHOLAS TIMMINSPublic Policy Editor. Getting 250,000 under-25s off benefits and into jobs, treating an extra 100,000 patients by a pounds 100m cut in NHS bureaucracy and introducing "fast-track" punishment for young offenders are three of Labour's firm "promises" on social policy. On social security Labour is far less specific, aiming to spend less through welfare-to-work and fraud-busting policies, and promising to retain Serps, the State Earnings Related Pension Scheme.