Displaying items by tag: United Kingdom

In May the CofE’s General Synod was cancelled, but now an informal Zoom Synod will convene for a virtual meeting on 11 July. The term of the current General Synod has been extended for a year. Synod officers continue to explore options to enable them to transact business remotely if it is not possible to meet in person. July's meeting will include a session to discuss the CoE's coronavirus policies.

Brexit talks started in earnest on 15 June with an online meeting between Boris Johnson and EU leaders. There are only six months left to negotiate, sign and seal the UK's future relationship with its biggest and closest trade partner, but the talks have all but stalled due to disagreements on fisheries. Politicians and business leaders in the UK and Europe are calling for negotiations to be prolonged in the light of the pandemic. The UK originally had until June to extend the transition period, but now a statement says that the EU and UK plan ‘to intensify the talks in July and create the most conducive conditions for concluding and ratifying a deal before the end of 2020: this should include, if possible, finding an early understanding on the principles underlying any agreement.’

England contains many diverse, multicultural cities, and the current uprisings spectacularly play out in them. The movement’s heart is about injustices that go back decades - and centuries - with global foundations. Many parts of the UK have deep issues with racism that have long needed to be challenged, talked about, rectified and healed. On 15 June Boris Johnson announced plans to create a cross-government commission to examine racial inequality and the disparities experienced by minority ethnic groups in education, health and the criminal justice system. He said he could not ignore the strength of feeling shown by tens of thousands of people who had demonstrated in London and other cities across the UK. He said, ‘It is no use just saying that we have made huge progress in tackling racism. There is much more that we need to do; and we will.’

The Department of Education (DE) is considering two-week summer schools in late July for pupils going into years 5, 6 and 7. No school or organisation will be obliged to run one; they are entirely voluntary and subject to funding being available and the agreement of the executive teaching unions. Schools will be asked how many pupils they could take on a ratio of one teacher per seven pupils. Possible financial support may be available to schools already running their own summer schools (for current year 4, 5 and 6 pupils). Other proposals being considered are extra online lessons in literacy and numeracy for pupils going into year 7 who need extra support, and virtual learning if they have IT access.

Scotland's unemployment rate is now the highest in the UK, having risen by 30,000 to 127,000 between February and April as a result of the pandemic. Many people will be feeling a deep sense of anxiety about their livelihoods. The UK’s Scottish secretary Alister Jack said the impact of coronavirus was clearly seen in the latest figures, which are ‘expected to continue for some time’. There is no obvious reason why Scottish unemployment should have risen so much, although it could be the downturn in oil and gas consumption, or a bigger dependence on tourism jobs. The UK government is providing comprehensive coronavirus support packages to help people get through this unprecedented pandemic. We can pray for redundant young people and those already on company loans and universal credit.

A research team from Kings College London suggests social media news sites may need to do more to regulate misleading content as people who get their news from social media sources are more likely to break lockdown rules. Its report says, ‘Unregulated social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube may present a health risk to the UK because they are spreading conspiracy theories about coronavirus. One wonders how long this state of affairs can be allowed to persist.’ The study concludes, ‘Conspiracy beliefs act to inhibit health-protective behaviours, and social media act as a vector for such beliefs.’ In response, Facebook says it has removed a huge amount of misinformation from its sites, and directed 3.5 million visits to the official NHS and Government Covid-19 information sites.

At the time of writing (18 June - midday) Somerset media have reported torrential rain, flash floods, thunder, and lightning strikes in the last 24 hours, with more on the way. Pray for the owners of flooded homes and businesses, for those desperately laying sandbags against further flash floods, and for those experiencing power cuts and hazardous driving conditions as storms spread across the country. Other parts of England had torrential rainfall, and some houses were set alight by lightning. A local chamber of commerce in Gloucestershire said it was ‘heart-wrenching’ to see that shops which had just reopened after lockdown were now flooded.

A priest in St Albans diocese is beating the ban on public worship inside churches while complying with lockdown restrictions. He will hold communion services in his church’s garden of remembrance. Canon Charles Royden has announced that he will be holding services under the ruling that allows an outdoor gathering of a maximum of six people. He is taking telephone bookings for five people to attend at half-hourly intervals in the church grounds on Sunday. He has already filled twelve services, from 9.30 am to 3 pm, and is taking reservations for the following weekend. Service duties will be shared with his colleague, Rev Dr Sam Cappleman. Canon Royden said the new rules say we can now share food and drink and enjoy outdoor picnics and barbeques. So the sharing of the holy sacrament is no longer prohibited. The possibility of catching Covid-19 from this practice is considered to be extremely low.

British port cities grew wealthy transporting slaves to the Americas. On 7 June Bristol protesters tore down a statue of a slave trader whose company branded its victims with the company’s initials on their chests. Unfortunately on a weekend that marked the anniversary of D-Day, Sir Winston Churchill’s statue was also defaced as agitators chanted, ‘Churchill is a racist’; and at the Cenotaph, a monument to those who died for free speech and democracy, a protester tried to set fire to the Union Flag. Pray that Black Lives Matter marches are not muddled with wilful criminal damage. The government has been accused of appalling treatment of British Caribbean citizens who came to rebuild Britain after World War II. Sadiq Khan and many others are calling for all statues and street names linked to slavery to be taken down. The first to fall was a statue of slaveholder Robert Milligan at Docklands.

Nurses who have lived away from home since the early days of the pandemic to avoid the risk of infecting their families were interviewed recently. One says she fears that cases will begin to rise because members of the public, unlike medical staff, seem too eager to ‘move on’. Another said that her friend was admitted to her ward and it shocked her to see her friend fighting for breath and so ill. Thankfully she is now improving but the nurse said, ‘We are still admitting patients on to the Covid ward and I don't see much sign of it stopping. Some people tell us they have not been social distancing - they have been with relatives, or to other houses. I definitely think it is going to get worse before it gets better, because people just think that it is over.’ Pray for God to strengthen and comfort our frontline workers.