Tower Hamlets, the east London council, sold off public buildings to associates of the Mayor and handed out grants to ineligible bodies, a damning Government report has found. The winning bidder to buy Poplar Town Hall offered a lower price than other bidders and ‘had an association’ with the controversial Mayor Lutfur Rahman, according to an audit by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). The Mayor personally intervened in the awarding of council contracts, which lacked signed paperwork or audit trails, the report found. Hundreds of thousands of pounds in public money were awarded to local bodies that were not eligible for the money after the intervention of elected councillors, the report found. The audit was commissioned by Eric Pickles, the Communities Secretary, following allegations of cronyism, fraud and waste at Mr Rahman’s council.

A grandfather who spent almost 20 years volunteering for the Red Cross has been dropped by the organisation for opposing same-sex marriage. Bryan Barkley held a sign which read ‘No Same Sex Marriage’ and ‘No Redefinition of Marriage’ on the first day same-sex marriages took place in England. In August, Mr Barkley was told of the decision to withdraw his ‘opportunity to volunteer with the British Red Cross permanently and with immediate effect’. The letter also referred to the incompatibility between Mr Barkley’s views on marriage and the Red Cross’ ‘fundamental principles and values’. Coalition for Marriage (C4M), an umbrella group of supporters of traditional marriage, is backing Mr Barkley and described the actions of the Red Cross as ‘shocking’. At the Red Cross he volunteered in the international family tracing service, working on 84 cases, irrespective of sexual orientation.

Fiona Woolf is a person of great integrity, as indeed is Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, but the task of heading an inquiry into allegations of historical child sex abuse is a special one. The two candidates for the post fell by the wayside not because of their personal qualities but because of their family and social connections. That the Home Office failed to spot the problem in both cases and then took so long to accept that it was a problem reflects badly on her department and ultimately on Theresa May, the Home Secretary, herself. That, however, is the past. Ms May's sincerity should not be doubted, even if her department's competence and her judgement might have been found wanting. What matters now is to learn the lesson and get it right the third time. This is an important inquiry and it will be hard to find the right person to lead it.

Paedophiles are grooming women to bear their children, giving them easy access to victims, according to a child abuse charity. MOSAC - a charity which supports the non-abusing parents and carers of abused children - says a third of all calls to its helpline are from women who believe they have been groomed into conceiving a child. Director Nigel Newton Sawyerr said: ‘Paedophiles who are very devious will go to any lengths to access children. Who's more vulnerable than their own children?’ Barrister Sophia Cannon says the law under the Children's Act will always take into consideration the wellbeing of a child. But she adds that it is ‘skewed towards the idea that all mothers and fathers who want to be involved in a child's life can be involved. What it doesn't look at are the parents to whom responsibility has certainly fallen short,’ she said. MOSAC is now lobbying the Government for change

Only eleven per cent of voters in marginal constituencies think religious liberty has improved since David Cameron became Prime Minister, according to a new survey. The ComRes poll, commissioned by The Christian Institute, found that over four in ten (44 per cent) of those surveyed support legal protections for people with ‘sincere, profoundly-held beliefs’. ComRes surveyed 1,000 British adults living in the 40 most marginal Conservative/Labour constituencies last month. Only 21 per cent disagreed that the ‘tide of equality legislation has gone too far in elevating equality over religious freedom’. Colin Hart, Director of The Christian Institute, said the results should act as a ‘wake up call’ to party leaders, as voters in key marginal seats are ‘very concerned about threats to religious liberty and free speech. Those surveyed rightly believe that religious freedom in this country has not improved under Mr Cameron’s leadership.

Christian charities from across the UK are joining forces to launch a year of prayer and fasting for the climate. A number of church services are taking place around the country where believers will be encouraged to pray on the first day of every month during 2015. In December 2015 a new international climate agreement will be signed in Paris. Charities like Operation Noah, A Rocha, Christian Aid, Christian Concern for One World, Christian Ecology Link, OurVoices, Hope for the Future and Shrinking the Footprint are all involved. The campaign is aiming to highlight the political and spiritual significance of prayer and fasting as a powerful platform for change. Canon Giles Goddard, board member of Operation Noah said: ‘The need for change is urgent and everyone can help bring it about. Praying and fasting for the climate will inspire action and encourage people to think about what needs to happen.'

Christian speaker Rev J John questions what Halloween stands for and believes it is getting ‘darker and nastier’ each year. Halloween has become one of the biggest events in the British calendar. There have always been traditions associated with 31 October, but the present extravaganza, with its epidemic of ‘trick-or-treating’, is a recent phenomenon. Financially, Halloween is now, after Christmas and Easter, our third highest grossing celebration. When people talk about what happens on 31 October a little phrase commonly heard is that Halloween is ‘harmless nonsense’. But is it indeed harmless? Is it merely nonsense? It’s time to do some hard thinking. JJohn gives you six reasons why Halloween is not harmless: 1. Halloween celebrates evil. 2: Halloween is unhelpful: 3. Halloween trivialises bad things: 4. Halloween is offensive: 5. Halloween is getting worse: 6. Halloween allows evil a victory.` Click on the ‘More’ link for details.

A Christian film distributor wants to recruit more than 100 pastors to hold prayers at multi-screen cinemas in the UK. Kingdom Cinema is run by the Rev George Hargreaves, a former music producer and leader of the Christian Party. He began distributing Christian films last year, with one, God's Not Dead, reaching the top 20 in April. Now he wants pastors to speak and pray after screenings in December of Ragamuffin, a film about a Christian musician. He has negotiated with chains like Cineworld and Odeon for the pastors to address audiences after the movie which tells the story of Rich Mullins, who struggled with addiction and depression. Rev Hargreaves said: ‘It is not bashing people over the head with a Bible or making people embarrassed. It will be a few minutes at the end of the screening just to wrap up the themes and let the audience know more about our faith.’

Children and young people have a ‘profound lack of trust’ in the Police, bordering on fear in some cases, a report by MPs and peers has suggested. Children are often treated as ‘small adults’, with their specific needs disregarded, according to the all-party parliamentary group for children. Negative experiences, such as arrest and stop and search procedures, breeds ‘frustration and anger’, it warned. It urged changes to training, custody facilities and safeguarding approaches. Publishing the findings of an 18-month inquiry, the committee said children and young people's first contact with the police was vital in shaping their attitudes towards them. ‘For a significant number of children and young people, this experience is a negative one as a victim or suspected offender,’ the report said.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has warned politicians not to demonise immigrants, a day after a Cabinet minister suggested that some parts of the country felt ‘swamped’ by foreign arrivals. Justin Welby said on Monday that he was worried about the language used in the debate. ‘We have 9,000 clergy working and livingin 16,000 parishes, We have better reports from the grassroots than almost anyone. What we are seeing is an upsurge of minor racist, anti-semitic, anti-Islamic, anti-foreigner xenophobia – not major things – just comments being made, things being said which are for the people who grew up in those backgrounds seriously uncomfortable, really quite frightening.'