Displaying items by tag: United Kingdom

Over fifty officers were involved in an operation at a Russian businessman's multi-million-pound London home to investigate potential criminal activity by oligarchs. They arrested a 58-year-old man on suspicion of money laundering, conspiracy to defraud the Home Office, and conspiracy to commit perjury. He was also charged with obstructing an officer when trying to leave with a bag containing thousands of pounds in cash. Another man who is the former boyfriend of the businessman's current partner was arrested at his home in Pimlico for money laundering and conspiracy to defraud. The National Crime Agency (NCA), which was established this year, is having ‘significant success’ investigating potential criminal activity by oligarchs.

Michael Lockwood has led the Office for Police Conduct as director general since 2018, handling the most serious complaints against police in England and Wales. Now he has been forced to resign after becoming the subject of a police investigation himself. The Home Secretary took action after learning of a probe into a historical allegation against Lockwood. He was asked either to resign or be suspended. No further information about the nature of the allegation was given. Home Office staff are now working to ‘put in place temporary arrangements for the organisation's leadership’.

Thousands of disabled people live in unsuitable homes, while cities fail to plan for wheelchair users. Three of the ten largest cities have no requirements beyond national guidelines, which only provide wheelchair users access through entrance doors and hallways on ground level. Disabled people face long housing searches, huge extra costs to convert accommodation, or living in a dangerous home. The Equality and Human Rights Commission said failure to plan for fully accessible homes is a ‘hidden crisis’ in housing for disabled people. The government said it will strengthen the national standards. As the number of disabled people increases, it is estimated that 400,000 wheelchair users in England alone are living in unsuitable accommodation. Many of our disabled cannot live independently. They cannot afford the huge costs for adaptations or specialist accommodation; some can’t even use parts of their own homes without someone coming in to help them.

The UK has snow and ice warnings in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the east coast of England. Forecasts of icy temperatures will last until at least early next week, possibly beyond.  if people cannot heat every room or are struggling with heating costs, they are being advised by health officials to heat living rooms during the day and bedrooms before going to sleep. Pray for enough shelters to be provided for the homeless people. Pray for the elderly and sick to have plenty of hot food and drinks to keep warm and to stay warm regardless of heating costs. Fuel poverty charity National Energy Action called on the Government to step in with more help for those at greatest peril this winter: pray for the Government to listen and act. Pray for more ‘warm banks’ to be established, providing heated buildings for people to visit.

Cancer survivor John Dunn, who had served in the Special Forces, was interviewed under caution and subsequently summonsed by the police for alleged 'homophobic' behaviour after preaching on Swindon High Street. When his case went to court, the Crown Prosecution Service argued that parts of the Bible are 'abusive' and 'no longer appropriate in modern society'. The case was thrown out of court when the women making allegations against him ‘refused to engage with the case’. Another Swindon street preacher, Shaun O'Sullivan, who was arrested in March 2020, was also found not guilty of 'hate speech'. He found salvation in Christ after hearing the gospel preached by John, and has experienced radical transformation. They both said they will never give up preaching Christ on the streets. Hear how God has worked in both men's lives:

The director of MI5 says Iran has plotted the assassination and kidnapping of at least ten British residents it accuses of being ‘enemies of the regime’. A Home Office statement said, ‘You may have seen Ken McCallum’s annual threat update, in which he said that Iran’s instability is bringing real-world consequences here in the UK. It has become the state-actor which most frequently crosses into terrorism, and we see the regime resorting to more and more extreme measures to silence its critics at home. We also see Iran projecting threats directly to the UK through its aggressive intelligence services. We know, at the most extreme end, its ambitions include kidnapping and killing British or UK-based individuals they perceive to be enemies of the regime.’

Heidi Crowter, who has Down's syndrome, lost her appeal over a law allowing abortion up to birth for a foetus with Down’s. Legislation gives a 24-week time limit for abortion unless the child could suffer from physical or mental abnormalities, including Down’s. That law was made in 1967, when Down’s children could not even go to school because of their extra chromosome. Pray for judges to move with the times. Heidi said the rules discriminated against people with Down's and do not respect them. Her original court case against the Government was with Maire Lea-Wilson, mother of a Down’s son; she will now go to the Supreme Court. BPAS argued, ‘The claimants say foetuses should have human rights; this was never decided in UK law and goes against many years of legal precedent.’ 90% of women whose unborn children were diagnosed with Down's terminated their pregnancies in 2022.

Livia Tossici-Bolt was praying quietly with a friend in a public space when she was warned by prayer-patrol officers that ‘their prayer could cause intimidation, harassment or distress’; they were asked to move away. Livia filed a complaint against Bournemouth Council for breaching her freedom to pray on a public street. The officers said they prayed close to the edge of a new buffer zone around an abortion clinic, where a protection order bans praying, protesting, vigils, and handing out leaflets. Ms Bolt said, ‘Everyone has the freedom to pray quietly in a public place. I would never dream of doing something that causes intimidation and harassment. We complied with the new rules instituted by the council and didn’t pray within the censorship zone. They tried to intimidate us out of exercising our freedom of thought and of expression in the form of prayer - which has been a foundational part of our society for generations.’

Over two million British people have long Covid, yet almost three years into the pandemic there is still a struggle for them to be seen by specialist clinics, hampered by a lack of resources and research. Long Covid has symptoms that continue for over 12 weeks and are not explained by alternative diagnosis. Over a third of people with long Covid acquired it during the first Omicron wave. They suffer weakness, tiredness, difficulty concentrating, shortness of breath, muscle aches, pain, fatigue, brain fog, muscle twitching, sleep problems, and more. The British Medical Association has asked the Government to increase funding for long Covid clinics to deal with the ever-increasing patient numbers. NHS England's 2022 strategy, set out in July, failed to announce any new funding.

Pressure on GPs is ‘dangerously close to a death spiral’ as doctors leave, says Dr Paul Evans. BMA's safe working guidance states GPs should have up to 25 patient encounters a day. But on Mondays a doctor could have 40, 50, sometimes even 60 direct patient contacts. The problem worsens as the pressure leads to more GPs leaving the profession. The NHS has recruited 4,000+ trainee GPs in 2022, hitting government targets. However, while training places have increased, quite a significant number who finish training leave the system because it is so hard to work in. Rishi Sunak said the NHS was a priority and ‘billions of pounds extra’ would be invested, adding, ‘I'm confident, because we are putting in the extra resources, we will be able to find a way to improve the services’.