Displaying items by tag: United Kingdom

On 22 October the House of Lords will debate and possibly vote on the Assisted Dying Bill. It aims to legalise assisted suicide for terminally ill adults with six months or less to live. The media report that Boris Johnson opposes the legislation after carefully reviewing the arguments for and against a law change. Health secretary Sajid Javid is understood to have made clear he does not intend to vote to relax the law. This news will be welcomed by opponents of assisted suicide who feared a move towards cabinet support for changing the law. In the last year former health secretary Matt Hancock and former justice secretary David Gauke both endorsed assisted suicide. Parliament has debated this issue on several occasions, but there has been no change. Pray for the bill to continue to remain unchanged. See also

During COP26 Glasgow streets will see hundreds of people gather there to make their concerns known to world leaders through protests and petitions. God knows each and every one of them as immensely valuable, and He wants them to know that. During the conference YWAM volunteers will be based in one of the churches close to the main conference venue. Each day teams will be on Glasgow streets bringing the Good News of Jesus to those they meet. Pray for God’s anointing on each person as they engage with those to whom God leads them. Each of them also has a deep concern for the direction the world is going, and knows that God wants to see His creation flourish. Pray for God to build many bridges between His youth with a mission and those who have come for COP26. Pray also for peace on the streets if emotions run high.

A report compiled by two committees, containing MPs from all parties, revealed that the early response to stop Covid spreading was a complete failure. Attempting herd immunity led to a delay in introducing the first lockdown and cost over 150,000 lives. The report covers a variety of successes and failures in 150 pages. MPs Jeremy Hunt and Greg Clark, chairing the committees, said the nature of the pandemic meant it was ‘impossible to get everything right’. ‘The UK has combined some big achievements with some big mistakes. It is vital to learn from both’, they said. Stephen Barclay said scientific advice had been followed and difficult judgments had been made to protect the NHS. A full public inquiry is expected in 2022, and the Government will not shy away from any lessons to be learned. Pray for the inquiry to have bereaved families at its heart.

Church weddings have fallen to a historic low, with fewer than one in four choosing a religious ceremony. Reverend Sue Davies-Fletcher said a church is a beautiful and special place in which to make really big marriage promises, celebrate love, and be blessed. Many couples who come to church to marry find themselves becoming part of a church community that can support them through their married life. The county's 600+ Anglican churches are often Grade I listed in stunning locations. The Archdeacon of Exeter said couples who had married in the midst of Covid might now like to consider a church blessing to celebrate their wedding with family and friends who could not previously attend their special day. Such a blessing might also take place on a special anniversary. Pray that getting married in a church will be much more than just tradition, and that God will speak clearly to the many couples who don't yet know Him.

The murder of Sarah Everard by a police officer caused a national outcry over gender-based crimes, and a new question: should misogyny be considered a hate crime? Activists, criminal justice experts, and opposition lawmakers say the definition of a hate crime should be expanded to ensure greater punishment for crimes of harassment, domestic abuse and stalking. But the government has so far ruled that out. Boris Johnson said the legislation currently in place was ‘abundant’ but not properly enforced. Widening the scope would increase the burden on police. Ruth Davison, CEO of the charity Refuge, said, ‘When did we ever take the scale of a problem as a reason not to act on it?’ Government statistics reveal that one in four women have experienced sexual assault, one in three women will face domestic abuse in their lifetime, and a woman is killed by a man every three days, with many cases involving domestic violence.

The UK wants to change the Brexit process to allow goods to circulate more freely between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as current rules impose too many barriers to the sale of products. The EU have set out proposals that involve reduced checks on goods and medicines. The January post-Brexit arrangement, the Northern Ireland Protocol, was introduced to help prevent border checks between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Both sides agree in differing degrees that the protocol poses many difficulties. EU and UK talks to reach a better arrangement are likely to go on for several weeks.

Gareth Stace, the director general of UK Steel, said that now was ‘not the time’ for Mr Johnson to go on holiday in Spain. He told him to ‘bang ministerial heads together’ after a row broke out between different departments as to how to resolve the energy crisis and stop factories having to cease production. The business secretary was accused of making misleading claims about offering energy bailouts to factories struggling with soaring costs. Mr Stace said the Government should ‘shield’ the steel industry from soaring energy costs in the short-term, or risk ‘a bigger bill for the taxpayer’. He said that the industry was not seeking subsidies, but an end to ‘policy costs’ to cover the transition towards renewables which have been ‘piled on - making them uncompetitive’. See also

At the time of writing there are 16 days to the start of COP26 in Glasgow when leaders from 197 nations will assemble and decide what to do about climate change. This will be the largest gathering of world leaders ever to take place in the UK. We can pray according to 1 Timothy 2:1-2 that God will inspire all in authority with understanding, wisdom and discernment. May they be as the men of Issachar and understand the times and know what to do. Pray for God to give His church clear directions for prayer in accordance with His will in the days leading up to the conference and during the event, and for His Kingdom before and during the conference so that ‘as the ‘kings of the earth take counsel together’ they will know that ‘they are but men’ (Psalm 9:19-20) and that God’s sovereign purposes will prevail (Proverbs 19:21; Isaiah 66:18).

At the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in September, the Bible Society's 'Psalm 23’ garden attracted much attention (bit.ly/bspsalm23). Many were touched by the garden, by the psalm that inspired it, and by the Good Shepherd himself. One visitor said, ‘I suffer from paranoid schizophrenia, I saw the garden and wanted to pray there. I’ve got a deep faith in God now, it's helping with the anxiety and voices’ (bit.ly/bs23josh). Others are now creating Psalm 23 gardens in their localities. As individuals, schools and communities read the psalm and plan their own gardens, pray that they will hear the Lord speaking and come to know Him as their Shepherd and dwell with Him for ever. We can thank God that nature and gardens are attracting many different spiritualities and therapies, though some will need sifting to align with the truth.

Mohamed Amersi, who partially funded Boris Johnson’s campaign to become prime minister, also advised the telecoms firm Telia, which in 2010 made a controversial $220m payment to a secretive offshore company. Oil executive Victor Fedotov, who gave £900,000 to 34 Tory MPs, made $4bn from allegedly corrupt Russian pipeline deals, and is currently seeking government approval for a controversial energy link between the UK and France. Lubov Chernukhin has given over £1.8m to the Conservatives since 2012. The secret offshore wealth she shares with her husband, a former Russian minister, includes a London house worth £38m and a £10m Oxfordshire mansion. Mrs Chernukhin's lawyers say she is a British citizen and is entitled to do as she wishes with her money. High-profile foreign politicians and UK political donors have over 1,500 UK properties, bought secretly using offshore firms worth £4bn. See also