Displaying items by tag: United Kingdom

Its chief executive has said, ‘YMCA’s unique nature is particularly affected by this crisis. Our work stretches across every aspect of the community and throughout people’s lives: whether it is the youth clubs we deliver to thousands of young people, the nursery provision provided to tens of thousands of families, or the health and wellbeing services delivered to the elderly and vulnerable. YMCA supports communities across the country; every hour of every day, through the good and bad times. Our frontline work is significantly disrupted by coronavirus. It is affecting those people who come and go from our services as well as those individuals who depend on it as a lifeline and place to call home. YMCAs are facing a multitude of challenges in keeping our support operational; not least ensuring that our staff and volunteers are safe whilst at work.’

Superdrug has started selling a coronavirus antibody test, costing £69, to the public. They sold out in a few hours. The tests are intended to tell if someone had the virus in the past. The user takes blood samples and posts them off to a laboratory, where it takes 24 hours to produce a result. Medical giant Abbott, which makes the tests, insists that they are not intended to be used by people taking their own blood samples. They have only been found to be accurate on blood samples taken by trained healthcare providers directly from patients' veins. The MP who chairs the parliamentary panel on consumer protection said, ‘Superdrug seems to be playing on people’s fears and that is not right. What people really need is a readily available, easy to use test that is accurate’. She added that the cost is excessive and it is not 100% accurate. See

David Frost, Britain’s trade deal negotiator, has warned the Cabinet that Brussels talks are heading for collapse. He told ministers to ‘take the moral high ground’ when speaking to their counterparts across the Channel in the face of Brussels stubbornness. He urged them to step up their ‘no deal’ planning in case talks over a new trading arrangement break down. Downing Street is preparing to issue warnings that the UK is heading for an ‘Australia-style deal’ - which in reality means tariffs on imported and exported goods under World Trade Organisation terms. Boris Johnson is expected to tell the EU27 to set new rules for their negotiator Michel Barnier, otherwise any hopes of a deal fade. If progress is not made at the next online UK-EU negotiators meeting there is talk in Whitehall of a British walkout. A senior Government source said, ‘Breakdown is entirely possible.’

The UK public is showing impressive levels of solidarity, humanity, and kindness during the coronavirus crisis, according to a new opinion poll by Amnesty International. The poll shows that huge numbers have helped a stranger, volunteered their time, reconnected with someone they’d previously lost contact with. One in five have spoken to their neighbour for the first time. Also, an estimated 30 million people have taken part in the Thursday ‘Clap for Carers’ initiative.

The Catholic Church has said that the Government should treat the effects coronavirus has on ethnic groups as a matter of urgency. New analysis suggests that black men and women are more than four times more likely to die a coronavirus-related death than white people. Black males are 4.2 times more likely, and black women 4.3 times more likely, to die after contracting the virus. People of Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Indian, and mixed ethnicities also had an increased risk of death compared with those of white ethnicity. While public health leaders have said that they will review how different factors, such as ethnicity, obesity, and geographical location influence the effects of the virus, the church has said that more must be done.

Statistics show that in the final two months of 2019 police dealt with 664 crimes involving machetes - an average of one every 130 minutes. Three years ago the deadly blades were used in only 100 crimes a month over the same period. Also the toll will be significantly higher because only 34 of the 43 police forces responded. Stabbing hotspots London and Greater Manchester refused to provide data. Rising numbers of criminals are using machetes as their weapons of choice to instil terror in victims and rival gang members. Offenders use them in violent rapes, robberies, and murders. The Home Office said that the Government is doing everything in its power to protect communities from the effects of knife crime, and is recruiting 20,000 more police officers over the next three years as well as ensuring that the most violent offenders spend longer behind bars.

Interpol has issued a red notice to Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a US diplomat, charged with killing Harry Dunn outside a US military base. She is now ‘wanted internationally’, charged with causing death by dangerous driving after her car knocked Harry off his motorbike last year. It is alleged that she was driving on the wrong side of the road. She claimed diplomatic immunity and fled to America. A Home Office extradition request was rejected by the US secretary of state, a move described by Downing Street as a ‘denial of justice’. In an escalation of the British stance, Interpol requested police forces worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest her if she crossed their borders. Pray for Mrs Sacoolas to decide to return to the UK and face the charges.

Ebola caused a tremendous set-back for the New Generations ministry in Sierra Leone. They saw an average growth of 2,000 new churches annually, but in the epidemic this dropped to less than 200 annually. Fear of getting infected caused people to avoid personal contact. In disciple-making the Gospel spreads through natural social networks, by contacting people - in the same way as the virus. Church planting halted, so they decided to trust God and repurposed themselves to serve their communities, the government, the NGOs, and wherever the need was high. This made a strong and lasting impact in the predominantly Muslim communities. People who were quite closed before Ebola opened up to the Gospel because of the serving attitude of the church planters and their timely interventions. The enemy can use fear to bring the Church to a standstill, so the most important enemy to overcome is fear.

In a recent tweet, Robert Jenrick, secretary of state for housing, communities and local government, said he will be meeting with religious leaders to plan the reopening of places of worship, whether for public worship or individual prayer. He said, ‘We will work together to agree how and when to do so, whilst protecting the public and controlling the virus.’ He said that private prayer could be allowed before buildings are opened up to the public. Currently places of worship in England are not expected to open before 4 July at the earliest. Bishops in Scotland have formed a Coronavirus working group to look at the best way of meeting long-term pastoral needs during the pandemic, but the Church is not expected to return to normal until 2021. They said that even when churches reopen, parish activities will still be greatly restricted. Pastoral working groups will identify and publicise advice or resources to help dioceses and parishes face fresh challenges in a safe manner.

Nurse academic Irene Tuffrey-Wijne says figures about deaths from coronavirus of people with learning disabilities are needed now to help prevent unnecessary deaths. Public Health England have stated that an expert group will analyse data on the deaths from coronavirus of those with learning disabilities and autism. However, the data will not be published until 2021. Ms Tuffrey-Wijne said, ‘It’s not good enough to look at this retrospectively in 2021; it will be too late then to prevent unnecessary deaths in 2020.’ The Care Quality Commission says there has been a 175% increase in deaths of people with learning disabilities living in adult social care organisations in England, compared with the same period last year. But while elderly people are entitled to be tested for coronavirus, people with a learning disability are not. See