Britain faces a ‘major public health challenge’ caused by the impact of long-term loneliness on elderly people, two charities have warned. Entitled ‘Promising approaches to reducing loneliness and isolation in later life’, the report details the impact of chronic loneliness – feeling lonely all or most of the time – can have on the health of older people. The research uncovered that one in four (2.9million) Britons aged 65 and over feel they have no one to go to for help and support. As well as serious implications for mental health, it found that chronic loneliness can be as harmful as smoking, increasing the risk of dementia, high blood pressure and depression. The report claims that health service funders and commissioners are suffering from a 'knowledge gap' as they struggle to meet the growing challenge of chronic loneliness. Laura Alcock-Ferguson, director of the Campaign to End Loneliness, said the framework is being offered to those councils which wish to use it.

From The Christian Institute: We have seen what the ‘British Values’ initiative has meant for school. Now it is to be applied to universities. New Government anti-extremism guidance means that universities must vet visiting speakers’ talks and Powerpoints for Christian Union meetings. The measures provide the ideal tool for authorities hostile to biblical beliefs to obstruct the operation of CU’s. The Government must withdraw this unjustified state intrusion into freedom of speech. The draft ‘Prevent’ duty guidance obliges universities to censor all external speakers, with requirements including 14 days minimum notice to the authorities and ‘advance notice of the content of the event and sight of any presentations, footage to be broadcast etc’. Quite apart from being a bureaucratic nightmare, past events indicate the level of hostility to CU’s on university campuses. The guidance stems from the Government’s desire to prevent ‘extremism’. Christian freedoms on campus are being put in real jeopardy.

Two Christian schools in the North East of England are considering legal action against Ofsted after being downgraded by inspectors. John Denning, chairman of governors at Durham Free School, told The Sunday Times: ‘The school is in the process of taking legal advice and will take whatever action necessary to protect the interests of its pupils and their families.’ Grindon Hall Christian School in Sunderland may also take legal action after it has exhausted Ofsted’s complaints procedure. Both schools have argued that new rules requiring schools to promote ‘British values’ including ‘tolerance’, are partly to blame for the schools being downgraded. Education Secretary Nicky Morgan brought the rules in last year in the wake of the Trojan Horse scandal involving infiltration by radical Muslim groups into schools in Birmingham. Other Christian schools have also been downgraded since the new measures were introduced. (See also Prayer Alert 24-2014)

Parents and coaches at junior rugby matches in Yorkshire are being asked to watch in silence as part of a drive to ‘challenge pitch-side behaviour’. Yorkshire Rugby Football Union (YRFU) said a ‘small minority’ of people were ‘definitely not living rugby's core values’ - and should ‘reflect’ on that. It said some referees had been verbally abused and were ‘constantly having their decisions questioned’. Silence has been requested at matches this Sunday, and again next Sunday. In a letter entitled #SilentSundays, YRFU secretary Dawn Rathmell said pitch-side behaviour was leading referees to quit, and making it harder to recruit new ones. ‘Some coaches, parents and spectators are constantly shouting at their players,’ she wrote. ‘Junior players who leave the game have highlighted this pitch-side pressure as a reason for giving up.’ The letter said YRFU wanted the silent Sundays to ‘help those who love the game to reflect on the knock-on effects of their actions.

Senior figures in the United Reformed Church (URC) have expressed solidarity with minority communities feeling vulnerable in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo shootings in Paris and the aftermath. They issued a statement of 'interfaith solidarity' last week affirming the important contribution to national life made by members of the Jewish and Muslim faiths in the United Kingdom. The statement said: ’Amid reports of security concerns in some of our Jewish and Muslim communities in Britain, the United Reformed Church is keen to emphasise our high regard for both of these faith groups. We also place on record our wish to work for community cohesion and well-being in places where Christians and adherents of other faiths live side-by-side, and we rejoice in the positive and practical ways in which many of our neighbours reciprocate this concern. As a people of faith, we honour the integrity of other faith communities in this island.’

Fiona Bruce, MP is helping International Justice Mission-UK (IJM) with their campaign to stop child sex tourism.  During December 2014 a Briton was convicted for abusing young street boys in Kenya. IJM assisted in the case and supported the British and Kenyan police. The man was charged under a British law which allows UK nationals who commit sex offences overseas against children to be tried in the UK. IJM has been campaigning for effective application of this law and were recently joined by Cambodia Action, Hagar and Love 146 as part of their Stop It Together campaign, which now has over 7000 signatures. Steve Webster, Chief Operating Officer of IJM-UK said, ‘We are delighted that Fiona Bruce is helping to publicise the situation within Parliament through a House of Commons Early Day Motion (493)’. Ms Bruce emphasised, ‘This conviction evidences the tremendous work that IJM is undertaking and shows that sex tourism of this nature can be stopped in its tracks. I congratulate IJM on its persistent, detailed and highly professional work and encourage people to contact their MPs to ask them to sign Early Day Motion 493. The impact of constituents making such a request cannot be overstated.’

The Church of England issues a damning judgment of the state of Britain under the Coalition as a country in which the poor are being ‘left behind’ and entire cities ‘cast aside’ In a direct and unapologetically ‘political’ intervention timed for the beginning of the General Election campaign, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, warn politicians against selling a ‘lie’ that economic growth is the answer to Britain’s social problems.They condemn inequality between rich and poor as ‘evil’ and the assumption that the value of communities is in their economic output as a ‘fundamental sin’. Britain, they argue has been ‘dominated by rampant consumerism and individualism,’ while the Christian values of solidarity and selflessness have been supplanted by a new secular creed of ‘every person for themselves’. While London and the South East forge ahead, much of the rest of the country is still  ‘trapped in apparently inevitable decline’.

It was intended, she says, as a simple but heartfelt gesture of comfort and support for a troubled colleague. Victoria Wasteney put her hand on her friend’s knee and, asking if she could pray for her, said simply: ‘God, I trust You will bring peace and You will bring healing.’ So when Miss Wasteney was later suspended by the NHS from her position as a senior occupational health therapist for having prayed with her colleague, she was left openly distraught and angry. East London NHS Foundation Trust suspended her for nine months on full pay, but, on Tuesday Miss Wasteney, who describes openly herself as a 'born-again Christian’, begins a legal challenge against the Trust, claiming it discriminated against her on grounds of religion and that it infringed her rights under the European Convention on Human Rights. She says she also wants to challenge what she regards as the stifling of ordinary conversations about faith in the workplace.

A special state school could open its doors in the centre of Manchester to specifically teach LGBT young people who are struggling in mainstream schools. It might also be open to young carers, young parents and those with mental health problems. Amelia Lee, strategic director for LGBT Youth North West, the youth work charity behind the plans, said that bullying of LGBT is incredibly common in schools and causes young people to feel isolated and alienated, which often leads to truanting.  A £63,000 feasibility study into the plan is under way thanks to a grant from the Department for Communities and Local Government. The charity has also been involved in discussions with Manchester City Council about how it can provide more alternative education for LGBT children in the area and Ms Lee hoped the school would act as a trailblazer and inspiration for more.

A Christian magistrate has been disciplined by a Tory Cabinet Minister for expressing the belief that children should be raised by both a mother and a father. Richard Page told colleagues behind closed doors during an adoption case that he thought it would be better for a child to be brought up in a traditional family rather than by a gay couple. He was shocked a week later when he found he had been reported to the judges’ watchdog for alleged prejudice and was suspended from sitting on family court cases. Mr Page, an experienced NHS manager, has now been found guilty of serious misconduct by Lord Chancellor Chris Grayling – who previously spoke in support of a Christian couple who turned away a gay couple from their B&B. He has also been ordered to go on an equality course before he is allowed back in the courtroom.