Displaying items by tag: families

The effect of violent, horrific video material and pornography on children (let alone adults) is well-known, but little-recognised officially. Once seen, it cannot be unseen; it is highly addictive and utterly destructive. The numbers of children reported to police for indecent images offences since 2014 have tripled. Seven-year-old girls are being targeted online and post explicit images of themselves. Google and social media must be challenged to be responsible and provide the best and most effective protection. Online pornography is creating a public health crisis in our young people, and children are being driven to mental breakdown and even suicide by harassment on social media. The effect of the consumption of pornography and violent material is a time-bomb waiting to go off. Our children are at risk. Click ‘More’ for the full article, and then consider emailing your MP – and/or a member of the House of Lords.

‘We’re not so different, you and me’ is the theme of My Feral Heart, a British film about a young man with Down’s Syndrome (DS). At the heart of the film are two intertwining themes: we can only find happiness in caring for each other, and all of us are vulnerable and needy, not just people with DS. Disability is nothing to be feared, hidden away or ashamed of. Each of us is disabled and needy in different ways: some intellectually, others emotionally and socially. But the universal cure is self-giving and generosity. The release of My Feral Heart comes as the British health system increasingly pressurises mothers to abort any child diagnosed with DS.

‘People knock on doors begging for food,’ said a man who fled north Mosul with family still trapped there. ‘People will start dying of starvation. There are no doctors or food. No flour, no bulgur wheat, no rice, no milk, nothing to eat.’ As fighting continues, thousands of families have already fled Mosul for their lives, and many more are expected to do so. UNHCR anticipate 250,000 displaced who will need shelter, food and water - including distressed children and those requiring urgent medical care. ‘What we're hearing from inside western Mosul right now is deeply concerning,’ said Save the Children’s director in Iraq. Meanwhile, since December, four million letters of hope and love, written by civilians, have been dropped over IS-held parts of Mosul. Volunteers gathered 2,000+ letters, photocopied them and then showered them from a transport plane. See: