Displaying items by tag: United Kingdom

A recent report revealed Bradford social workers turned a blind eye when a 15-year-old grooming victim took part in an Islamic marriage to one of her abusers. One of her social workers even attended the ‘wedding ceremony’. Despite the teenager not being a Muslim, professionals who were meant to protect her allowed the family of her 'husband' to foster her after she became pregnant. The council even paid them for fostering her. The terrified girl was trapped in 'domestic slavery', too scared to leave the controlling relationship, fearing she would be the victim of an honour killing. The report, which makes difficult and distressing reading, found that children suffered abuse no child should have to experience, and some youngsters in Bradford still remain unprotected. The report’s authors said, 'We believe that practice across all agencies is improving, but there is still much more to do.'

David Peace has motor neurone disease, a terminal illness which gradually affects the brain and nerves. He says he intends to travel to a Swiss clinic to end his life before his condition prevents him from making the journey. David, who lives in central London, is one of several people behind renewed calls to update England and Wales assisted dying laws to allow terminally ill people with six months to live the right to end their life. The second reading in the House of Lords of the assisted dying bill will be this autumn. The first reading paved the way for a debate on prospective legislation – the first since 2014 when Lord Falconer tabled a bill. 2021’s Dignity in Dying’s chair is Baroness Meacher, and her bill would legalise assisted dying as a choice for terminally ill, mentally competent adults in their final six months of life. See also

The COP26 climate change summit will be held soon in Glasgow. Just a few hundred miles away in the North Sea, a particularly thorny problem is developing. Approval for developing the Cambo oilfield was given twenty years ago, and a regulator is due to give final approval, releasing approximately 800 million barrels of oil for Shell and Siccar Point Energy. Ministers and advisers insist that the approval of Cambo is entirely in the hands of the oil and gas regulator. But Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is accusing Boris Johnson of delivering a cabaret of soundbites rather than the global leadership necessary to make the climate change summit a success. There is a near-impossible balancing act for the Government to protect its credibility while urging other countries to increase emission reduction.

On 23 September many people across the British Isles, young and not so young, will be interceding for the 196 nations and around 30,000 negotiators in the COP26 climate change conference from 31 October to 12 November. There have been numerous pre-conference prayer gatherings via Zoom for many months. Prayer changes things and we need to pray for climate changes. May many more catch the vision of lifting the Lordship of Jesus over all planned and unplanned meetings throughout the conference. May it accelerate the phasing-out of coal and peat, curtail deforestation, speed up the switch to electric vehicles, and encourage investment in renewables. Pray also for countries to make good on their promises to mobilise at least $100bn climate finance per year by 2020. For further information, click the ‘More’ button.

MP Maria Miller wants a parliamentary debate on banning digitally generated nude images. The nudifying service allows users to undress women in photos, using Artificial intelligence. They had over five million visits in June. ‘Parliament needs an opportunity to debate whether nude and sexually explicit images generated digitally without consent should be outlawed. I believe if this happened the law would change. It should be an offence to distribute sexual images online without consent. It severely impacts on people's lives. Software providers developing this technology are complicit in a very serious crime and should be required to design their products to stop this happening.’ At present making, taking, or distributing without consent intimate images online or through digital technology falls outside the law. Nudifier tools are not new. DeepNude was launched in 2019, but the creators quickly withdrew the service and offered refunds following a backlash.

Paul Whiteman of the school leaders' union says UK policy on jabs for children should be led by clinicians. Schools should not be responsible for promoting, enforcing, or policing pupil vaccinations. A record 1.13 million children in England were out of school for Covid-19 related reasons towards the end of term. Pupils will return to schools next month, and the Government needs to take every possible step to prevent transmission of the virus amongst people in school communities, no matter what their age. Vaccine decisions for teenagers will be guided by data from other countries. The reason to roll out the vaccine to children is to break the transmission chains in households and in schools for the autumn term, while we know the winter is going to be especially difficult with seasonal respiratory infections. Mr Whiteman recommends everyone over 12 should get the Covid vaccination, which is safe and effective. Israel is vaccinating 12- to 15-year-olds, feeling that protection from vaccination outweighs the risks.

University students will get ‘advance warning’ if they need to have vaccines before moving to halls of residence, Dominic Raab has said. The foreign secretary said decisions will be taken in September - but he was keen to encourage vaccine uptake. Over 70% of adults have had both jabs, and Mr Raab said ‘We need to close that margin’. Currently, the Government plans to require two jabs to go to nightclubs and other crowded venues in England. The full details of the plans are yet to be seen, but the rule is set to come into force at the end of September. An NHS Covid pass - which you can obtain electronically or as a letter - will be used as proof.

The number of children eligible for free school meals in England has risen since the start of the pandemic. The holidays have begun, and over one in five pupils are eligible. Unlike last summer, the Government is not directly funding vouchers or food packages this year. Free school meals have traditionally been provided only in term time. But many councils have decided to create their own meal schemes during the holiday - not trusting parents with cash payments. These programmes will cover four hours a day, four days a week, but nothing for the other three days. They will be offered free to all children eligible for free school meals. Other children may still get places, but not for free. Pray for children who may have missed out on direct payments turning up at school hungry and with no money or food.

Police are appealing for information after 39-year-old Hatun Tash suffered a knife attack at Speakers' Corner in London on 25 July. The former Muslim, now a Christian speaker, was treated by the ambulance service then taken to a central London hospital. See  Meanwhile Christian street preacher Joshua Sutcliff who was fined and prosecuted for evangelising in London on Good Friday 2020 was acquitted recently, but another judge upheld a Covid fine against Christian preacher Andrew Sathiyavan, who was out for the same reasons the same weekend. The Christian Legal Centre were pleased that Joshua was acquitted but are concerned that prosecution came this far. ‘We are seeing a lot of inconsistencies from the police and the judiciary in these cases. Christians have been easy targets during the pandemic while other groups gathering in significant numbers have not been targeted by the police.’

Mark 6: 31 says ‘Come with me to a quiet place and get some rest.’ May this holiday season be a season of rest, recuperation and restoration for individuals, couples and families. For those who are unable to take time off, we can pray for a supernatural season of rest and refreshment. Father, in that place of rest and relaxation, may Your people be in your presence, hear Your voice and know your ways, just as Moses encountered You in the wilderness. May this be a season of fresh encounters, restoration and breakthroughs, with Your Spirit brooding over this nation. May Your people forget what has gone before and press on toward the upward call of Christ Jesus. He is calling forth those who will lead in the days ahead, not because of title or position but because of the depth and obedience of their walk with God.