Super User
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur
An employment tribunal has ruled that it was reasonable for Wandsworth Council to dismiss Duke Amachee, after he was sacked for gross misconduct for suggesting to a client with an incurable illness not to give up hope and to try putting her faith in God. The decision has come as a huge surprise to Duke and to his legal team. Duke, a committed Christian, had worked for Wandsworth Council for 18 years and had an unblemished record. Yet, as a result of the comments he made in one 45-minute housing interview, he was subject to six months of investigations and three interviews with the Council. His solicitor was even told by the Council that saying ‘God bless’ to a client would require an investigation if the client complained. Listen to Duke’s personal appeal: Duke and his legal team intend to appeal the decision. Pray: that God would hear our prayers and grant a reversal of this decision. (Ex.23:6)
Girls as young as nine are being forced to marry in mosques in Islington, according to the findings of a leading women’s rights group. The Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation (IKWRO) has reported that at least 30 forced marriages took place in the borough in 2010, involving at least three 11-year-old and two 9-year-old girls. Similarly, the Ministry of Justice revealed details of over 30 applications for Forced Marriage Protection Orders in 2011, of which ‘five or fewer’ were made to protect children aged 9 to 11. IKWRO has warned that child marriages in Britain could be on the increase. Ms Nammi said that the girls are married off to family friends or family members to stop them from losing their virginity to anyone not chosen by their father. The marriages are conducted by Imams under sharia law, rendering them illegal and void under British law.
Pray: that our justice system and authorities will be able to get to grips with this problem. (Pr.18:5)
Nearly nine million people across the UK are living with serious debt problems, according to a new report. The Money Advice Service (MAS) also said very few people were making any attempt to get professional help. The problem is particularly acute in five English cities, (Manchester, Hull, Nottingham, Knowsley and Liverpool), where more than 40% of the population is struggling to pay their debts. According to the survey, 18% of Britons, 8.8 million people, consider they have ‘serious’ financial issues. MAS, which is backed with public money, said that for the first time, the survey had provided a detailed understanding of the lives of those who are in debt. The report found that 74% of those struggling with debt were ‘unhappy’. There is particular concern that very few people ask for help. ‘millions of people could escape their spiral of debt by accessing free advice,’ said Caroline Rookes, the chief executive of MAS.
Pray: for the many thousands trapped in debt and that ways will be found to offer advice. (Ro.13:8)
Northern Ireland's First and Deputy First Ministers have said there is no excuse and no justification for the violence of recent days. More than 80 police officers were injured in two nights of rioting by nationalist youths. Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness said there had been ‘outright thuggery and vandalism’. Mr Robinson also said comments by a senior police officer alleging poor political leadership were unhelpful. He said he and Mr McGuinness have been working, and will continue, to work for a resolution of the difficulties around parading. McGuinness said both men were ‘resolute’ in their commitment to tackle sectarianism. ‘This will require the community to stand united against all those forces seeking to bring conflict back on to our streets,’ NI Secretary of State Owen Paterson praised the police and said those ‘who use young people to attack the police and smash up their own area are cynical enemies of the whole community’. (See Prayer Alert 2810) Pray: for seekers of peace to prevail in Ulster and elsewhere. (Jas.1:21)
The Archbishop of Armagh was at a special service on Sunday celebrating three decades of care by the Northern Ireland Hospice. The service was held on Sunday at St Anne's Cathedral, Belfast, and was led by the Dean, the Very Reverend John Mann. The leaders of the four main Churches in Northern Ireland came together in a presentation of candles representing the 28 years of the life of the NI Hospice. The Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, Dr Richard Clarke, offered a personal reflection during the service. He gave thanks in particular for the ministry at St Brigid's Hospice on the Curragh of Kildare, which cared for his wife Linda during the final days of her life.
Pray: for the hospice movement and that the support given by the church and Christians will continue to be a blessing to those who are in need. (Ps.8:4)
More: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/archbishop.praises.hospice.movement/32270.htm
Efforts by the British government to bring legal abortion by ‘bureaucratic stealth’ into Northern Ireland will be met with a full legal challenge by the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC). The High Court in Belfast has granted leave to SPUC to launch a challenge after the Department of Health, without explanation, reissued medical practice guidelines that had been rejected by the High Court for violating the province’s abortion laws, reports Hilary White at LifeSiteNews.com (LSN). For three years the guidelines have been the focus of an intense battle in Northern Ireland, where abortion remains a crime, between the pro-life movement and pro-abortion forces in the British government. SPUC’s Liam Gibson told LSN, ‘At present it's difficult to tell whether our case will be overtaken by events, but the department is hell-bent on pushing its abortion guidance forward no matter what happens.’ Pray: that any changes to the abortion guidelines in NI are fully and openly debated to protect the rights of unborn children. (Pr.10:9)
The Department of Health is acting after reports that over 1,000 people have starved to death in NHS hospitals in past four years. The Sunday Express said figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed that for every patient who dies from malnutrition, four more have dehydration mentioned on their death certificate. In 2011, 43 patients starved to death and 291 died in a state of severe malnutrition, the newspaper said, while the number of patients discharged from hospital suffering from malnutrition doubled to 5,558. A Department of Health spokeswoman said: "Every NHS patient should expect to be looked after properly in hospital. It is completely unacceptable if patients go hungry or are malnourished. and they have increased the number of unannounced inspections by the care watchdog to tackle the issue. "We are also investing £100m on IT so nurses can spend more time with patients, not paperwork.
Pray: for response to this issue that will ensure it becomes a tragedy of the past. (Ps.8:4)
More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/mar/03/nhs-watchdog-malnutrition-hospitals
Wide-ranging reforms of the National Health Service will be recommended by a public inquiry into serious failings of care at Stafford Hospital. The £11 million review of what went wrong at Stafford Hospital between January 2005 and March 2009 will suggest hospitals that cover up mistakes by doctors and poor treatment of patients should face fines and possible closure, the Sunday Times said. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, writing in the Sunday Telegraph, said that the NHS needed a "change of culture. Patients must never be treated as numbers but as human beings, indeed human beings at their frailest and most vulnerable," he wrote. "A culture of targets and performance management defined the NHS under Labour - with the unintended and tragic consequence that organisations cared more about meeting top down targets than focusing on the needs of patients."
Pray: for all NHS staff most of whom work hard and professionally. Where deficiencies arise pray that they can be addressed quickly. (Rev.21:4)
More: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/wideranging-nhs-reforms-to-be-recommended-by-report-into-scandalhit-stafford-hospital-8439947.html
Serious failures in standards of care at Stafford General Hospital are evidence that the "marketisation of the health service has gone too far", two bishops have warned. The Bishop of Lichfield, the Right Reverend Jonathan Gledhill, and the Bishop of Stafford, the Right Reverend Geoff Annas, made the comments in the Church Times in response to an inquiry into the death of 66-year-old Gillian Astbury at the hospital in 2007. Bishop Gledhill said the investigation into the hospital had been a "long and terrible time for the people of Stafford", particularly the relatives of those who had died "unnecessarily and suffered". He said people should "not be afraid to go to their local hospital", but also expressed sympathy for NHS workers who have "borne the weight of cuts and reductions". He called for a return to the Christian values that inspired the creation of the NHS.
Pray: for a return to the Christian values that once underpinned the NHS as a caring organisation. (Gal.5:22)
More: http://www.christiantoday.co.uk/article/nhs.must.return.to.christian.basis.bishops/31650.htm
Assisted suicide is illegal in the UK, but on the 10th anniversary of the first British citizen visiting Dignitas a senior NHS consultant claimed doctors are prematurely ending the lives of thousands of elderly patients because they are difficult to manage or to free up beds. Professor Patrick Pullicino said hospitals use a controversial ‘death pathway’ (equivalent to euthanasia) when there was no clear evidence for initiating a method of care designed for use when death is imminent. ‘Far too often elderly patients who could live longer are placed on the pathway and it had now become an assisted death pathway rather than a care pathway.’ The professor revealed he had personally intervened to take a patient off the pathway to be successfully treated and then live a further 14 months.
Pray: that this issue will continue to be highlighted in the media until action is taken to implement more appropriate techniques of care for those terminally ill in NHS hospitals. (Mat.25:36)