Displaying items by tag: United Kingdom

The Tory MP for Loughborough asked Mr Johnson during PMQ: ‘Local church leaders have contacted me about access to churches for services, to help tackle loneliness. Please could I ask that religious faiths be allowed to let people into their places of worship, observing social distancing within their premises, and that wedding venues be allowed access for bookings?’ The Prime Minister said he understood the urgency many people feel about the need to reopen places of worship, but highlighted the risks it could cause to the public if done prematurely. ‘We are not there yet. It is vital that the people of this country understand the continued need to push down on the infection rate.’

June brings with it longer daylight hours and an explosion of new life in the bird, insect, and animal worlds. Give thanks for the natural beauty of our world and the way so many people have begun to interact with it in new ways during lockdown. Rural churches will need to think about gathered worship; pray for those making decisions at local and national levels to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, and to continue mission in new ways. Give thanks for Daily Hope, a free telephone service with prayers, hymns and services designed to serve those without access to the internet (0800 804 8044). Also a drought is developing, which will seriously reduce crop yields (some estimate by 60%) and grazing this year. Pray for rain.

England has seen a 36% increase in homeless under-25s seeking support since lockdown began. Youth charities in Wales and Northern Ireland have a 50% increase. Charities and youths say some councils are failing them during the Covid-19 crisis. ‘Stay at home, protect the NHS, save lives.’ But what if you don’t have a home? ‘Your grandparents were called to war, you were called to sit on the sofa,’ is a saying. But what happens if other people’s sofas are the only thing keeping you off the streets? For many homeless young people, sofa surfing is the only way of keeping a roof over their heads, staying with different friends for days or weeks at a time, while they seek support and work out their next move. The government has stopped landlords evicting tenants until the end of June. There is no protection against being thrown out by parents or friends.

The URC has said Dominic Cummings should ‘consider his position’ following his account of his 260-mile trip to his parents’ farm when he and his wife were ill, despite government advice to stay at home, especially if you had coronavirus. It said his actions were a blow to trust and integrity. ‘Dominic Cummings’ explanation of his actions shows how important it is to maintain a clear sense of what is right and wrong, along with the ability to be sorry for mistakes made; none of which he displayed. Trust is built on integrity and his actions have been a blow to both.’ Some bishops have received death threats after commenting on Cummings. The Bishop of Worcester was warned, ‘Stay out of politics or we’ll kill you’. The Bishop of Ripon was told, ‘Stay out of politics or it will be the death of you’. The Bishops of Newcastle and Liverpool also received hate mail. See

Home should be the safest place. But for child victims of online sexual exploitation, it is far from safe. Lockdown has meant being locked in with their abusers, with no way to escape. As you read this, western predators from the UK are paying to livestream the sexual exploitation of children from the Philippines. Tragically, this vile crime is growing. In almost two thirds of cases in the Philippines, children are abused by their own families - like Maarko, who, aged just seven, became a victim performing ‘shows’ for sex offenders in the UK to watch. The pandemic creates a perfect storm for increased child sexual exploitation online. Children are locked in with their abusers, and western predators are at home with more time to spend online. Global law enforcement is reporting that child sexual abuse sites are crashing due to increased demand during lockdown.

280,000 social care workers are in insecure and low-paid work, leaving them vulnerable to Covid-19. A petition has been launched appealing for Matthew Hancock to provide funding so that all social care sector staff can be paid the Real Living Wage of £10.75 an hour in London and £9.30 in the rest of the UK. Dr John Sentamu said, ‘It is morally wrong to put our care workers on the front line in the face of infection and potential death, with limited personal protective equipment, and to do that for poverty pay. I hope that if this epidemic teaches us anything, it will be to draw us back to justice, compassion and love. That is why I am proud to support the campaign for the Government to prioritise the proper funding of social care, ensuring that every care worker will get paid a Real Living Wage.’

25,000 contact tracers started work on 28 May, making their contact calls to track down the 2,013 people who tested positive the previous day. They will be told to self-isolate under new test and trace schemes being launched in England and Scotland. Tracers will text, email or call people who test positive with coronavirus and ask who they had contact with. Any of those contacts deemed at risk of infection will be told to isolate for fourteen days, even if they are not sick. Those who have already had the virus will also be asked to self-isolate. The aim of the system is to lift blanket lockdown restrictions and move towards more localised, targeted measures. Contact is defined as spending 15 minutes or more at a two-metre distance; household members; or people with whom you have had face-to-face conversations less than one metre away.

The Prime Minister has asked scientists to review the two-metre social distancing rule to see if it can be reduced in an effort to help public transport and the hospitality sector. On 27 May, Boris Johnson told MPs that members of the scientific advisory group for emergencies (Sage) had been told to review the guidance. While hotels and restaurants are currently scheduled to start reopening from 4 July , hope has been raised for beer gardens to be opened much sooner. Mr Johnson said, ‘On hospitality we are trying to go as fast as we can. It is really difficult to bring forward hospitality measures in a way that involves social distancing. But I am much more optimistic about that than I was. We may be able to do things faster than I previously thought.’ He has now announced that the lockdown will be eased further with effect from 1 June.

1,775 migrants entered the UK in small boats this year: a record 741 landed in May. The French navy is escorting them across the Channel and into British waters as smugglers exploit legal maritime loopholes. By a 1974 law, all mariners must provide assistance to vessels in distress at sea. The small boats crossing the Channel are often overloaded and taking on water. When French vessels attempt to intercept them, migrants threaten to jump into the sea, or even throw children overboard. Their refusal to be rescued by French authorities puts lives at risk, so the French have no option but to shadow the boats into British waters, where migrants are safe, knowing they will be taken to Britain, not back to France. MPs are calling for new powers to return people to France.

YouTube has decided to reintroduce John Piper's audiobook 'Coronavirus and Christ' after initially banning it. The audiobook saw a sudden uptick in views after being re-uploaded, jumping from 187,000 to over 200,000 and growing. It hit the spotlight after an atheist group urged the US secretary of defence to punish a military chaplain for sharing a copy of the publication with his colleagues. The book was written both to call for repentance and to bring people into a transformation of thinking, feeling and living in alignment with the infinite values of Jesus Christ.