A Christian printing company in the Republic of Ireland has become the latest business to take a stand for traditional marriage, based on firmly-held religious convictions. Beulah Print & Design declined to print invitations for a gay couple’s civil partnership ceremony. The incident comes after calls by the Council of Europe for member states to support the principle of reasonable accommodation. The owners of Beulah Print said that because of their Christian faith they could not print material for John Keirans and Jonathon Brennan’s civil partnership ceremony. A statement released by the company stressed that their decision was not a personal attack on the customers, whom they had happily served for four years, but was due to their opposition to same-sex marriage. It reads: ‘We, at Beulah Print, are Bible-believing Christians who are committed to standing by our conscience and God’s Word.’

Children in care ‘get a raw deal’ and the government is not doing enough to help them, MPs have said in a report. In particular the Department for Education shows ‘alarming reluctance to play an active role’ in improving the lot of these children, say the MPs. Poor local services are too often left to ‘fester’, says the report by the Commons Public Accounts Committee.  A DfE spokesman said the report ‘purposefully’ ignored ‘very real progress’ made by government. The life chances of children in care were being transformed, said the spokesman. ‘It is a fact that vulnerable children are doing better than ever’. The Department for Education is best placed to lead improvements in the quality of care but is reluctant to take on this role, only intervening after Ofsted has failed a local authority service, say the MPs. ‘The department focussed on limiting its responsibility rather than maximising opportunities for children in care,’ said the committee's chairman, Margaret Hodge. 

A dress which went viral after viewers were split on its colours has become the focal point of the Salvation Army's campaign against domestic violence in South Africa. A photo was in the media last month in which some saw the colours white and gold and others saw blue and black. The Salvation Army's new poster features a similar dress worn by a bruised woman with the strapline 'Why is it so hard to see black and blue?'. Speaking about the advert, a spokesperson for the Salvation Army said: ‘The Salvation Army sees the devastating effects of domestic violence on women, men and children every day. We know that one in four women are victims of domestic violence in the UK: this innovative and powerful campaign by the Salvation Army highlights that domestic violence is often overlooked by society. We hope this image helps people to see the true impact of this crime.’

The Bishop of London is planning to revive a century-old episcopal see to create a new 'Bishop for Church Plants'. The Right Rev Richard Chartres plans to bring back the See of Islington, which existed briefly from 1898 to 1923. There was only ever one Bishop of Islington, the Right Rev Charles Henry Turner, who was at the same time Rector of St Andrew Undershaft. The Church Times reports that the proposal is to be considered by the Dioceses Commission. The aim is to provide additional support for the burgeoning church planting movement. The London diocese is one of the most successful in the western world in terms of growth and diversity. Besides the leadership of Bishop Chartres, this can also be attributed to the phenomenally successful Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB) group of churches and the Alpha evangelisation course that originated at HTB.

As many as 373 children may have been targeted for sex by gangs of men in Oxfordshire in the last 16 years, a serious case review found. The investigation came after a sadistic sex gang of seven men were jailed in 2013 for abusing six girls in Oxford, between 2004 and 2012. Thames Valley Police and Oxfordshire County Council made ‘many errors’ in that case and could have acted sooner. A victim of the gang said the issue had been ‘swept under the carpet’. Of the 373 cases, the council said about 50 victims were boys. Speaking at a press conference, the chair of Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board (OSCB) Maggie Blyth said: ‘What happened to the victims is deeply disturbing. It is shocking that these children were subjected to such appalling sexual exploitation for so long.’

Churches and youth workers are being encouraged to get up to speed with social media and the internet to support those who are self-harming. A new poll, commissioned in the run up to Self-Harm Awareness Day, has shed light on the number of 11-21 year olds exposed to online self-harm images. Organised by ChildLine, SelfharmUK, YoungMinds and YouthNet, the research found that over half of 11-14 year olds have either self-harmed themselves or know someone who has self-harmed, whilst eight out of every ten 18-21 year olds say they have self-harmed or know someone who has self-harmed. Speaking on Premier's News Hour, Rachel Welch called on those in churches to do more to understand what's happening so they can make a difference. She said: ‘They're all engaging with social media so it's critically important that youth workers and other people from within the church are using those same places. It's important we go to where the young people are.‘

A threatened Christian school has defended itself on BBC Radio 4, saying a critical Ofsted report ‘contradicts’ clear evidence. The Durham Free School is set to be closed after Education Secretary Nicky Morgan restated that its funding would be withdrawn. However, the leader of the governors at the school, John Denning, said the Ofsted report which led to the funding decision ‘contradicts a whole raft of evidence’. He also addressed accusations of bullying at the school, saying pupils who had been targeted elsewhere are happy at The Durham Free School. Answering questions on Friday’s Today programme, Denning said the school was taking legal advice. He commented that parts of the schools’ watchdog’s critical report were ‘inaccurate’ and ‘just plain wrong’. The flagship BBC radio programme also heard from parents who praised the school, with one saying the school was a ‘lifeline’ for her child.

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.'