Displaying items by tag: United Kingdom

Hidden by other news, the Agriculture Bill 2020 (bit.ly/agbill20) has been bouncing between the Commons and the Lords for several months, but has now been finalised and received royal assent. The good news is that Lord Curry’s amendment, the setting up of a trade and agriculture commission, has been included. Its purpose is to protect the UK's higher standards of environmental protection, animal welfare, and food quality in farming and food production against imports produced to lower standards. Thank the Lord for godly intervention and pray for our Government and for those who work in our food industry (1 Timothy 2:1-4). The new legislation will bring substantial change in how farming and food production are supported; pray for our farmers as they adapt (Isaiah 28:24-29). Sadly, some rural chaplains report that recent months have seen an increase in levels of stress and suicides, especially amongst younger farmers.

The armed forces are protecting people in a broader range of areas than ever, including coronavirus testing. The UK military will receive £4bn a year over the next four years to fund space and cyber defence projects such as an artificial intelligence agency. This could create 40,000 new jobs. Defence secretary Ben Wallace said ‘The extra spending is on top of the government's manifesto to increase the budget. When I looked across at the armed forces today I saw them with equipment that was out-of-date, I saw our adversaries across the world having better equipment, the ability to attack us and harm us getting wider and wider from our capabilities. When that happens, you need to modernise your forces. Sometimes you must let go of some older capabilities and that takes money in order to create the headroom to invest.’

West End star Seyi Omooba is appealing against key decisions in her court case at an employment tribunal in London. She was removed from a lead role in a musical production and dropped by her agents after another actor dug up an old Facebook post where Seyi quoted the Bible and said she believed in real marriage between a man and a woman. The judges decided not to hear expert evidence from a theatre critic and theologian, and then made decisions which that evidence directly contradicted. The appeal was to be heard during the first lockdown, but an online hearing was refused, delaying the case to 2021, even though many other cases have been conducted online. The delay makes it harder for her to be vindicated.

In the House of Lords on 18 November, Lord Farmer called on the Government to prioritise the strengthening of families through policy. To do so, a properly resourced, cabinet-le0vel minister for families, supported by funding and civil servants, is needed to take the lead. This idea is supported by peers and MPs who are part of the 'Strengthening Families' coalition, which CARE supports.

Ofsted's chief inspector revealed there was an alarming 20% rise in babies being killed or harmed during the first lockdown. Out of 64 babies which were deliberately harmed in England, eight died. Some 40% of the 300 incidents reported involved infants, up by a fifth on 2019. The ‘toxic mix’ of isolation, poverty and mental illness caused the March to October spike. Health staff and social workers were hampered by Covid restrictions. Many regular visits could not take place; others were carried out by telephone or video links. When schools closed in March, children's charities and teachers expressed fears that children at risk would be left even more vulnerable under lockdown. This was one reason why schools stayed open for vulnerable children, but babies can't tell an adult if there's a problem. Often, abuse is only uncovered when there's a critical injury, or it's too late - another young life damaged or lost.

Most people haven’t heard of Lee Cain but the resignation of the prime minister's top aide raises the question of whether it heralds a changing of the guard and a new Johnson era, now that Brexit is almost done. Mr Cain is part of the Vote Leave team that has dominated the PM’s first 18 months in office. He and Dominic Cummings have shaped his premiership more closely than anyone else, with an iron grip on the operation of No 10. But during that time, relations have soured between Downing Street and many ministers, as well as many Conservative MPs concerned about the leaks, the U-turns and the way things are run. Pray for the Holy Spirit to make a clean sweep through parliament, replacing ‘power struggles’ with harmony and positive influence based on facts. Pray for a new era in which government ministers practise peaceful relationships where there has been tension.

Revd Naomi Nixon, CEO of the Student Christian Movement, has criticised the Government's plans to get English university students home before Christmas. This was in reaction to a travel window, between 3 and 9 December, for students to go home in evacuation-styled staggered time slots. In-person teaching is also due to end. She said the procedure is brutal and confusing; treating students differently from everyone else in society. What if students have exams after the cut-off date, or live off-campus? Are students living in regular housing and streets to be treated differently from other people living in that street travelling at Christmas? Will students who have expensive train or plane tickets falling outside the travel window be refunded? There will be students isolating after a positive test, and students who have left foster care and are now 18 with nowhere to go.

The ‘Haulier Handbook’ (to prevent Brexit border meltdown) is a guide to the mountain of new red tape required to transport goods across borders. It was promised in early September but will now not be fully available until 7 December, three weeks before it is needed. Logistics UK, representing freight groups, warned that time is running out to prevent ‘lorry queues at Dover and empty shelves in Northern Ireland’ when the transition period ends in 50 days’ time. ‘With the economy still reeling from handling the impact of Covid-19, the last thing UK plc needs is another major shock of our own making,’ said the Logistics director of policy. Construction of border inspection posts for checks on animal products crossing the Irish Sea has not yet started, and will take up to six months to complete.

UK doctors have been warned the second coronavirus wave will be ‘gruelling professionally and personally’ with increased pressure throughout the winter. NHS chiefs and all four British medical officers have written to medics urging them to brace for a ‘prolonged’ Covid-19 outbreak over the coming weeks or even months. Healthcare professionals will have to be flexible, which ‘may entail working in unfamiliar circumstances or surroundings, or working in clinical areas outside of their usual practice.’ Their warning comes as Boris Johnson’s official spokesman told a Westminster briefing that England’s lockdown will not be extended. He insisted, ‘When the current national measures come to an end on 2 December, we will be returning to a regional tiered approach.’ Pray for rapid tests to speed up a return to normal life. Pray for God to inspire peace and remove the fear caused by continual negative media updates. Also, pray for the encouragement caused by news of the Pfizer vaccine to become reality.

The inquiry into gambling laws promised in the election manifesto should have begun this month. But the culture and media department now says it is ‘not imminent’. The UK betting industry has seen revenues surge to £14.5billion a year because of lax regulations and more gambling on smartphones. Not getting this review under way now will be a matter of life and death for hundreds of families. Two gambling addicts take their own life every day, with many more left bankrupt. One in ten children admit gambling with their own money. The Government is under pressure to curb advertising, prevent punters spending thousands online, and help the 55,000 children suffering from addiction. Richard Holden, a Tory member of a Commons committee which has investigated gambling, said, ‘The fact that the most senior civil servant in the culture department now seems to be backing away from getting the gambling review started is very worrying.’