Displaying items by tag: Politics

Italy intends to close all ports to NGO ships rescuing migrants crossing from Africa to Europe. The UN said that the decree intensifies the hostile climate and xenophobia against migrants. Meanwhile over 40 migrants from the German aid group Sea-Watch remained off the island of Lampedusa waiting to disembark its passengers. There are thousands looking for a new start after difficult journeys. In the middle of his nursing training, Hassan was drafted for five years of Eritrean military service, so, with his twin brother walked 550 miles overland to Khartoum, lived in a UN refugee camp for four months and hid in a truck caravan for 2,200 miles to Libya. Eight months of hard labour gave them enough for fake papers and a rubber dinghy holding 45 adults that crashed on a Sicilian beach. They managed to travel to Denmark, applied for refugee status and are hoping, eventually, to join friends in the UK.  See https://prayercast.com/displaced-people-in-europe.html

Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is launching a formal investigation into the Labour party over whether they unlawfully discriminated against, harassed or victimised people because they are Jewish. They have been carrying out preliminary investigations since March and will seek to determine whether the party and its employees have committed unlawful acts of discrimination or failed to respond to complaints of unlawful acts in an efficient and effective manner. The EHRC rarely takes action against political parties. In 2010, it ordered the British National party (BNP) to rewrite its constitution to comply with race relations laws because they banned black and minority ethnic Britons from becoming members. The inquiry transpires in the midst of a worrying rise in anti-semitism in the UK and across Europe. See https://www.prayer-alert.net/europe-pa-site/item/11821-germany-jews-told-not-to-wear-skullcaps

Britain has a shortage of veterinarians, medical practitioners, engineers, artists, web designers and architects according to the Government Migration Advisory Committee (MAC). Only workers from the European Economic Area (EEA), that's EU countries plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, enjoy freedom of movement to travel within the area without visas. The UK currently allows 20,700 high-skilled workers entry per year. If a job title is included in the list of vacancies it means there are lower visa application fees, no requirement to advertise the job to UK workers, or meet £35,800 salary threshold for settlement after five years. The MAC recommended there should be a ‘full review’ of the shortage occupation arrangements once it is clear what the future immigration system will look like after Brexit. We can pray for the skilled labour cap of 20,700 to be raised regardless of Brexit, and for appropriate applicants outside of the EEA to be given working visas to cover the manpower shortage in the ‘skilled workers’ categories.

As Theresa May steps back from her position of Prime Minister and eleven men and women step into the ‘race’ to take her place, we can pray for a heavenly outpouring of wise strategies and an air of calmness to diffuse the current Westminster upheaval. Ask for God’s Spirit to permeate conversations and media comments with positive expectations that would replace fear, frustration and criticism. As far-right and nationalists in Italy, France, Poland and Britain gained support in Europe’s elections, there are forecasts of politics being shaken in these nations - none more so than Britain. Please pray for the people appointed to represent Britain in Europe to have extraordinary negotiating skills as they sit at a changed negotiating table, and may our next Prime Minister be heaven’s choice, serving with honesty, strength of character and a godly focus on renewal. May our leader speak and act with strategies that bless the nation.

A survey showed that Poland's pro-EU opposition has a ten-point lead over the ruling nationalists ahead of European Parliament elections - a sharp turnaround that some analysts linked to a film about sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church. The documentary Just Don't Tell Anyone, which shows victims of child abuse confronting priests who had sexually abused them, has shocked Poles. The powerful Catholic Church has close ties with the governing Law and Justice party (PiS). The documentary has been viewed more than 18 million times on YouTube since it was released on 11 May. PiS has responded to public outcry by announcing tougher penalties for child abuse, but it has also stressed that the instances of abuse by priests should not be used as a reason to attack the Catholic Church. PiS sees Catholicism as a key element of Poles' national identity. Some say that the church is too powerful.

On 18 May Austria's vice-chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache resigned after German media published a video that purportedly showed him offering government contracts to a woman posing as the niece of a Russian oligarch, in exchange for media coverage and political funding. The scandal drove Austria’s Chancellor Sebastian Kurz to call for snap elections instead of trying to revive his weakened coalition government. ‘Enough is enough,’ Kurz told reporters, while Strache, who leads Austria's far-right Freedom Party, described the incident as a ‘targeted political assassination.’ The video was reportedly just months before Austria's last election, where Strache's party received 26% of the vote and 51 seats. In the wake of the video, Kurz said the abuse of power, taxes and interference in media affairs were among his concerns. Strache vowed to take legal steps to address the video.

Five year plans are centralised and integrated national economic programmes. India launched its first one in 1951 under Jawaharlal Nehru. Although he has no ‘plan’ for the next five years, a bitterly contested election campaign appears poised to give prime minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist BJP party a resounding mandate for the next five years. For thirty years India was governed by a series of broken, temperamental coalitions. Modi’s election in 2014 broke the pattern, and this victory will exceed even the BJP’s expectations. The primary force for Christian persecution in India is Hindu nationalism, which voices the belief that India belongs to the Hindus and that people of other faiths should find somewhere else to live, work and worship. In 2018 more than 12,000 Christians were attacked, but this number is only the tip of the iceberg, researchers say, as increasing numbers of persecution acts go unreported. See

Bishop Graham Tomlin wrote in the Sunday Times, ‘Prayer reminds me that my opponents are people too, that they deserve respect even if I think they are profoundly wrong. We need our politicians to pray because we need them to know that they are not God, that whatever power they have is borrowed. They need to treat each other well, debate wisely and carefully, and know they are accountable not just to us and our passing fads, but to something bigger, deeper and more final - a God whose Kingdom will last long after Brexit is a footnote in the books of history.’ We can pray for all struggling to break the Brexit deadlock to find time to attend Parliament church services this term. See

An Iranian woman has been sentenced to ten years in prison in Iran for spying for the UK. A spokesman, Gholam Hossein Esmaili, said the woman had been ‘in charge of the Iran desk’ of the British Council. The British Council seeks to foster cultural relations and educational opportunities in many countries worldwide, but does not have offices or representatives in Iran. It knew that one of its staff had been detained while making a private family visit. Mr Esmaili said she ‘confessed’ to ‘co-operating’ with British intelligence. She is accused of ‘acting against national security’ - a charge laid against a range of activists, journalists, dual citizens and foreign nationals detained in recent years. A London-based British Council employee and art student, Aras Amiri, who was detained in March 2018, is thought to be the jailed person.

On 16 May the prime minister’s spokesman was asked whether the new US sanctions against Huawei had persuaded the UK government to reconsider its telecom strategy. The Trump administration hit Huawei with severe sanctions on 15 May. British ministers have agreed to allow Huawei a restricted role in building parts of its 5G network, although the final decision has not yet been published. The spokesman said, ‘As you know, in relation to Huawei, we are reviewing the right policy approach for 5G and when an announcement is ready the culture secretary will update parliament. We are committed to ensuring that UK telecoms networks are fully secure, and any decision will be supported by a hard-headed, technically informed assessment of the risk.’ See also article 6 in the World section.