Displaying items by tag: United Kingdom

The BBC's News at Ten recently featured a one-sided report on a film about Christian 'gay conversion therapy'. The Miseducation of Cameron Post is about ‘a gay teenager sent away to a Christian camp that uses prayer and therapy to try to change her sexuality.’ Despite the film clearly being used to agitate for a ban on any kind of therapy, no counterpoint or challenge was made. The programme was designed to promote the film without any attempt to balance its portrayal of the world. In July, the government released an LGBT action plan that included banning ‘gay conversion therapies’ and may press ahead with the idea in the autumn. However a recent study suggested that, at least for religious men, therapy to help move away from unwanted same-sex attraction can be beneficial in a number of different ways.

Children play online casino-type games that allow them to gamble (without money). At the same time, whether on tablets or phones, children are bombarded with ads which make gambling sound harmless fun. The combined effect of these two factors is that children are being conditioned to gamble. It is legal because of a legislation loophole that allows such games because they do not offer monetary prizes. Meanwhile illegal online gambling for under 18s has been made possible by the creation of virtual items called ‘skins’, modified weapons or costumes that players can win or buy in video games. Parent Zone, an advice service for parents and schools, is demanding action to close the loophole that allows skins to serve as a digital currency that can be gambled and cashed out on roulette wheel spins or other games of chance. There are 6bn skins in circulation, worth an estimated £10bn - potentially fuelling the rise in addictive gaming among teenagers. See

Church buildings house congregations with a variety of physical, mental and spiritual needs. We need flexible and creative approaches when planning a service, so that adults and children with disabilities are not overlooked. Reading isn't easy for those with learning disabilities, poor eyesight or declining comprehension.Pray for churches to explore fresh Bible translations like the Easy to Read Version for those with lower reading skills and comprehension, braille, or versions designed to help the dyslexic. Our churches can sometimes be loud during praise and worship for those with autism who could experience sensory overload. The teaching can be boring or confusing for those with moderate or profound learning disabilities. Pray for more personalised services that tell God’s story creatively just for them. Pray for congregations to help with the range of needs without splitting church families into types, abilities or tastes. See

When MPs return from their summer recess, parliamentary battles on the road to Brexit will be held on the following key dates:20 September: EU leaders discuss Brexit, possibly at a full summit. 17-18 October: EU summit deadline for agreement setting out the ‘divorce’ terms of the withdrawal agreement.A political declaration on the future relationship between the UK and the EU is also expected at this point. November: there is speculation that an emergency EU summit on Brexit might be held if a withdrawal agreement is not reached in October. 13-14 December: EU summit. If a deal has not been done by October, this is the fall-back option if the two sides still want to reach an agreement. 2019: withdrawal agreement approved by UK and the EU.

Five of England’s leading letting agents are discriminating against tenants on housing benefit, a report by Shelter and the National Housing Federation has found. Stephen Tyler, who uses a wheelchair, said he was forced to sleep in his car because of such discrimination. In an undercover investigation carried out by Mystery Shoppers Ltd. 149 regional letting agent branches were called by researchers posing as prospective tenants. One in ten had a branch policy not to let to anyone on housing benefit, regardless of whether they could afford the rent. The worst offender out of the six big brands investigated was Haart, with an outright ban on housing benefit tenants in a third of the branches called (8 out of 25). The research also exposes the uphill struggle faced by housing benefit tenants. Almost half of the letting agents said they had no suitable homes or landlords willing to let to someone on housing benefit.

Chaplains at Pentonville, one of London's biggest prisons, were forced to run for their lives after a fight erupted at a worship service. A new report by the Independent Monitoring Board stated, ‘There has been an increase in gang-related incidents during gatherings for prayer. On one occasion, a fight erupted and ministers had to run for cover. On another occasion, a prisoner was knifed as he entered.’ Thirty staff were assaulted in just two months at the prison. The report warned that drug trafficking, violence against staff, declining job training and ‘inhumane conditions’ are major problems. Although Pentonville had many energetic and committed staff there were too few officers for most of the year. Wings were shut down for three or four half-days a week, activities and association time were restricted, and some prisoners went weeks without exercise in the fresh air. See

PC Claire Boddie will face a misconduct hearing for shooting Judah Adunbi, a race relations adviser, in the face with a stun gun. Boddie did not warn Adunbi before she fired and his hands were by his sides at the time. In footage shown in court, Boddie is heard telling Adunbi: ‘You look familiar.’ Adunbi refused to say who he is, telling the officers: ‘I’m an African black individual living in my own city’. He fell to the ground after he was shot and told them: ‘I’m nearly 70 - here’s my **** ID.’The notice claims Boddie’s actions constitute a breach of the standards of professional behaviour for the use of force. Adunbi, also known as Ras Judah, has sat on Bristol’s independent advisory group, which forges links between the police and the community, and has worked with the Crown Prosecution Service’s local community involvement panel. Footage filmed by a passerby was widely shared on social media, making headlines around the world.

While the country convulses itself about Islamic face veils, a truly disturbing event affecting our freedom and our future goes almost unobserved. Christian nurse Sarah Kuteh was sacked for daring to suggest that a patient she was treating might like to go to church, and ‘inappropriately gave a Bible to a patient’. Her abilities as a nurse were not questioned, but she was only allowed to work again after reflecting on NHS professional boundaries, agreeing not to express her personal beliefs and letting her employers know in writing the steps she has taken to address ‘deficiencies highlighted in her practice and how she would act differently in the future’. In other words, she had to ‘confess’ her thought-crime and promise not to repeat it. Unemployment is being used to threaten people into keeping their deepest, beloved beliefs a personal secret while they are on NHS premises.

After Salih Khater attempted a terror attack outside the Houses of Parliament, we can pray: ‘In the Name of Jesus, we enforce God’s original plans for peace, mercy and hope over and against every plan and purpose of Satan to bring death or destruction, and we declare this nation will be a place of safety. We declare You are the one in whom we put our trust. “Some trust in chariots and some in horses; but we remember the Name of the Lord our God” (Psalm 20:7). We thank You for Your love and Your covenant with us, and we come into agreement with Your word that “love always protects”. We thank You for those You have called to watch over our nation at this time, both in the spiritual realm and in the physical realm, and we release Your strength and Your wisdom to them in the Name of Jesus.’

Politicians and the Bank of England now say that the chances of a ‘no deal’ scenario are high, and may leave the UK with no trading deals in place. Pray that a spirit of fear will not entrench our nation. WTO's director general believes ‘this is not going to be a situation where all trade stops and there is collapse in terms of the economy as a whole. The tendency is that prices will go up because you have to absorb the cost of that disruption’. The WTO facilitates 164 countries, without free trade agreements with each other, to trade using the same tax on imports and the same limits on the number of goods. After Brexit, the UK could lower/waive tariffs to stimulate free trade. Cheaper products could enter UK, but some UK producers could fold. We can pray for business to thrive. The UK already trades under WTO rules with China, US, Brazil and Australia, plus any country without a trade agreement with the EU.