Displaying items by tag: United Kingdom

Scientist and government advisor Prof Ravi Gupta sees signs of early stages of a third wave. Although new cases are ‘relatively low’, the Indian variant spreads faster than the winter variant. All waves start with low numbers grumbling in the background before infections explode. New infections with the Indian variant are rising daily in both the north and south of England. Very few hospital patients have had two jabs. See Also an evolved version of the Indian strain, 'Nepal' Covid, has so far been found in twenty Britons. It is closely related to the Indian variant, but has new mutations. The Nepal variant has also spread to several European countries. Its detection in Portugal could put their green-list status at risk. SAGE experts warn that the UK cannot panic every time it spots a new strain. The Government is waiting for more data before making a final decision on whether restrictions will be lifted in England on 21 June. That decision will be announced on 14 June.

Six people, including a 13- and a 14-year-old, were arrested for stabbing to death a 14-year-old boy in Birmingham. The victim was chased towards the nearby McDonald's by youths who fled from the scene after he collapsed. In London’s Hyde Park a 17 year old was chased by a group of males armed with large knives. He fell and was kicked and stabbed; one onlooker screamed ‘He bored him’ (street slang for stabbing. In South London a 23-year-old man is fighting for his life after being stabbed in the face. In north London a flowerstall man in his 50s was stabbed to death in a brutal daylight attack. Pray for more resources to be provided for teachers, social workers, and youth workers to help children and youths explore themes around knife crime and educate them to make better choices.

The man charged with overseeing plans to help children catch up on missed education in England has resigned just four months into the job. Sir Kevan Collins stepped down over the government’s pledge to spend just under one-and-a-half billion pounds on its recovery plan, calling it a ‘half-hearted approach which didn’t come close to meeting the scale of the challenge’. Boris Johnson said more resources will be ‘coming through’ to support children when catch-up plans were labelled a ‘damp squib’. Head teachers were "hugely disappointed" by a £1.4bn Covid recovery package, which breaks down to £50 extra per pupil per year. A report says £13.5bn is needed for pupils to catch up. Most of the funding will be for tutoring to make up for lost learning.

Abortion was decriminalised in Northern Ireland in 2019 after Westminster acted during the absence of devolution. Delays in implementing Northern Ireland's abortion laws have been a ‘deeply troubling exercise in finger-pointing’, a court has heard. Stormont is under pressure to establish a permanent, central abortion service; it has not happened yet and is being challenged in a high court judicial review. The Human Rights Commission is taking the case against the NI Executive, the Department of Health, and the NI secretary Brandon Lewis. Currently health trusts only operate a ‘skeleton service’ for medical abortions up to ten weeks of pregnancy. Women seeking a termination beyond that gestation travel to England. Arlene Foster’s party, which opposes abortion, said that abortion proposals were not going to be passed by the executive or the incoming leader, Edwin Poots.

An open letter from ‘Don’t Screen Us Out’ has been sent to Arlene Foster, Edwin Poots, and other leading politicians. It was written on behalf of people with Down’s syndrome and their families, who are asking for their parties to support a bill which has been introduced to the NI Assembly. The bill seeks to amend the current abortion regulations, to no longer allow unborn babies with a ‘serious foetal impairment’ to be aborted to term. This bill would not amend the law in cases of ‘fatal foetal abnormality’. Currently NI abortion is legal up to birth if the foetus has Down’s syndrome, cleft palate, cleft lip, or club foot. This new bill proposes that non-fatal disabilities should not be grounds for abortion, and the current law is discriminatory against those with such disabilities. 90% of babies diagnosed with Down’s syndrome are aborted.

BBC chairman Richard Sharp said failures of ‘accountability and transparency’ existed until 2020. The BBC will review editorial practices and investigate how journalist, Martin Bashir, was re-hired as religion editor in 2016, after an inquiry found he used ‘deceitful behaviour’ to secure an interview with Diana, Princess of Wales. The BBC accepted the findings and reiterated its apology. The Duke of Cambridge said his mother was failed ‘not just by a rogue reporter’ but by BBC bosses. An enquiry found Bashir had faked bank statements to suggest Princess Diana was under surveillance - to win the trust of her brother Earl Spencer, and eventually gain access to the princess for the 1995 interview. Then as media interest in the interview increased, the BBC covered up its knowledge of how Bashir secured the interview. Now the BBC board ‘hopes to ensure the mistakes of the past could not be repeated’. Pray for truth, humility and justice run through all reporting and commentaries.

Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, along with the World Council of Churches and other churches, have expressed their concern and prayers about the situation in Israel and Palestine: ‘Almighty and everlasting God, our days are in your hands. We lift up all those in the Holy Land who are victims of violence and injustice, that You will empower Your Church to bring healing to the wounded, relief to the suffering, and comfort to those who mourn. We pray also that You will soften the hearts of all those involved in the recent conflicts, that they may be led to work for justice and lasting peace in the land where Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, first came to bring hope and abundant life to all people. These things we ask in his Holy Name. Amen.’

On 26 May Dominic Cummings made ‘unsubstantiated allegations’ against health secretary Matt Hancock, describing him as ‘completely incapable of doing the job’. The next day Mr Hancock clarified the Government's handling of the pandemic  and accused him of lying. He said he was ‘straight with people in public and private throughout’, and the handling of the pandemic has been ‘unprecedented’. When asked if the PM still has confidence in Mr Hancock, No 10 said. ‘Yes, the health secretary is working closely with the prime minister and has been fully focused on protecting the health and care system and saving lives’. See Conservative Christian MP Gary Streeter said, ‘Last summer when Dominic Cummings was in the headlines for all the wrong reasons for breaking the lockdown rules, constituents were telling me how unfit he was to be so close to the Prime Minister. Now he is giving evidence against the Government. I think, going back to my old lawyer days, he might be described as a witness lacking credibility.’

Ten British soldiers stationed in Cyprus binged on cocaine during a night out in Paphos. It is one of the biggest single cases of cocaine abuse in British army history. A military spokesperson said, ‘The Army does not tolerate drug abuse within its ranks. It is incompatible with military service and operational effectiveness. Army personnel caught taking drugs will be discharged.’ Military police have launched an investigation into drug-taking by soldiers on the island, which an observer said is ‘rife’. The 500-strong battalion was given an ‘experimentation battlegroup’ role, with special forces officers drafted in to oversee the transition. It is also responsible for guarding an airbase which launched bombing missions to Iraq and Syria. It sits at the vanguard of the army’s approach to ‘prototype warfare’, which involves new technologies of drones and robots. The drugs binge by the soldiers is particularly embarrassing for army command, given the battalion’s high-profile role and the investment being poured into it. 

A lack of effective and sustained government action and funding is partly to blame for a crisis in the quality of England’s homes, according to a new report entitled ‘Past, present and future: housing policy and poor-quality homes’. It finds that while the government has a crucial role in protecting the nation’s housing stock, dramatic funding cuts and failure to act have left England’s homes crumbling. Today, an estimated ten million people in England are at risk because they live in a home which doesn’t meet basic standards, with the majority of these homes posing a serious risk to their inhabitants’ health or safety. Previous research by the Centre for Ageing Better and the King’s Fund highlighted the link between poor-quality housing and Covid-19; those who are most at risk of the disease are more likely to be living in non-decent homes.