Displaying items by tag: UK

For six years, Kristie was a pastoral assistant at a secondary school. When her school notified staff of a 'No Outsiders' programme to be introduced Kristie went to a meeting to find out more. No Outsiders introduces young children to ideas about family and gender that are very different from Biblical teaching. She was concerned and did further research and shared a couple of posts on Facebook. But one of Kristie's Facebook ‘friends’ sent her Facebook posts to the school’s headteacher complaining that ‘a member of your staff, working directly with children has posted homophobic and prejudiced views against the lgbt community on Facebook.’ Kristie was sacked for gross misconduct. Her appeal was denied. She appealed but the decision was upheld. Kristie took her case to an Employment Tribunal but they ruled against her. In a few weeks’ time an Employment Appeal Tribunal will conduct their hearing. 

Boris Johnson is sending £100m worth of weapons, including Starstreak anti-aircraft missiles and 800 anti-tank missiles, to Ukraine after an ‘unconscionable bombing’ of a crowded railway station killing dozens of refugees. He said, ‘It is a war crime to attack civilians, and Russia's war crimes in Ukraine will not go unnoticed or unpunished. Boris is sending precision munitions capable of lingering in the sky until directed to their target plus more helmets, body armour, and night vision. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the UK will also be providing heavily armoured Mastiff vehicles suitable for road patrols and convoys. Sensitive equipment will be removed, and British troops will help with training in a neighbouring country. So far sanctions have frozen £275bn of Russian foreign currency reserves, which is 60% of their total reserves. It is having deep and damaging consequences for Putin's ability to wage war. 

The government continues facing pressure over gatherings in and around Downing Street during lockdowns. The police are investigating 12 parties and on April 12th issued 50+ fines, with more to come. Boris and Carrie Johnson and the chancellor are among those fined; making Boris the first serving prime minister to be caught breaking the law. All three apologised, but bereaved families called their actions ‘truly shameless’ with ‘simply no way’ they could continue in their jobs. Labour MPs also want the PM and Mr Sunak to quit. Mr Johnson said he felt ‘an even greater sense of obligation to deliver’, while the chancellor said he was ‘focused on delivering for the British people’. Amanda McEgan, whose daughter died during the pandemic, said the prime minister's conduct during lockdowns made restrictions on the 19-year-old's funeral ‘more hurtful’. Boris said he accepted ‘in all sincerity that people had the right to expect better’ from him.

Governing includes difficult choices, confronting seemingly conflicting demands - and making a decision. So, should the government say yes to a new coal mine in Cumbria that will provide a domestic source of coking coal for the steel industry? Currently 40% of our coking coal comes from Russia. Now  the government faces a deadline to decide. The office of the Planning Inspectorate has sent its completed report to Housing, Communities and Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove with a 7th July deadline for him to issue his decision. If it goes ahead, it would be the first deep coal mine to open in the UK for over 30 years. There are many opponents to Whitehaven and they have previously protested outside the Home Office in London as well as at the site in Whitehaven.

Some asylum seekers from across the channel will be given a one-way ticket to Rwanda, under new government plans. Rwanda would take responsibility for them, put them through an asylum process and if successful they will have long-term accommodation in Rwanda with entitlement to full protection under Rwandan law. Plus equal access to employment, and enrolment in healthcare and social care services. Plans also include asylum seekers resettled in the UK will be spread more evenly across local authorities. Operational control of the Channel handed to the Royal Navy. Investing £50m for new equipment and specialist personnel for Channel operations. A new reception centre for migrants and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for smuggling. However at the UN last year  the UK government expressed concern over Rwanda’s continued restrictions to civil and political rights and media freedom. 

UK’s Foreign Secretary said, ‘The age of engagement with Russia is over. We need a new approach to security in Europe based on resilience, defence and deterrence. There is no time for false comfort. Russia is not retreating but regrouping and repositioning to push harder in the east and south of Ukraine.’ She called for a return to Cold War-era diplomacy, declaring that an agreement in which NATO and Moscow ‘do not consider each other as adversaries’ is dead. Liz Truss made the remarks at a dinner with counterparts in Brussels, hours after NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said the war in Ukraine could be ‘a long haul’ with Vladimir Putin still intent on taking control of the whole of Ukraine. It is anticipated that Ms Truss will put pressure on her NATO counterparts to continue supplying Ukraine’s forces with weapons, alongside fortifying sanctions on Moscow.

Tory MP David Warburton was suspended from the parliamentary party pending an investigation into three allegations of sexual harassment. A few days earlier it was revealed that Labour staffers, Laura Murray and Georgie Robertson, were asked to sign confidentiality agreements when they complained of sexual harassment about a senior official. They refused to sign the legal agreements and chose to resign without payouts. Documents show the women had reported the party official for ‘inappropriate’ and ‘possessive’ behaviour. The claims about Mr Warburton are being examined by Parliament's Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS). Also, the Sunday Times reported allegations of Mr Warburton taking cocaine, and failing to declare a £100,000 loan in 2017, since repaid, from a Russian businessman. 

'I will never betray you', Peter declared at the Last Supper. And indeed he stayed close to Jesus all through his arrest and trial, albeit in the shadows. Yet, before the cock crowed he had denied Jesus three times. Knowing this secret he had to watch and wait three agonising days with the other disciples, sharing their anxiety and sorrow. No wonder he ran to the garden on the third day when Mary brought the news that the tomb was empty; the beginning of hope restored. Back on the shores of Galilee where he had first met Jesus, he is embraced, forgiven and recommissioned. Pray for any feeling disqualified or who have lost their way with Jesus, or are facing the sifting Satan demands of us all. May they know His love and be aware of His presence. 

Figures show that very little has changed when it comes to addressing the gender pay gap in Great Britain. Women in the UK were paid just 90p for every £1 earned by a man, according to the latest figures released through the government’s gender pay gap reporting mechanism. Among those high-profile companies reporting particularly large gender gaps was EasyJet. According to data filed by the company’s larger arm, Easyjet Airline Company, women’s median wage stood at just 36p for every £1 that men earned last year. Other companies reporting that median male earnings were at least double that of female employees include HSBC Bank along with several academy trusts. A spokesperson for EasyJet said its ‘gender pay submission does not represent a complete picture because the data in April 2021 included pilots, while the majority of our predominantly female UK cabin crew community remained on furlough’.

Boris Johnson has said he does not think ‘biological males should be competing in women’s sports and the ‘sensible’ view was that transgender athletes - such as Lia Thomas, a swimmer who won America’s top trophy in university sports - should not be allowed to compete alongside cisgendered women and that children should not be allowed to decide their own gender without parental assistance. His most comprehensive comments yet on transgender issues came days after the Government decided not to ban trans conversion therapy, as the Conservative Party promised at the last election. Conversion therapy attempts to change or suppress someone’s sexuality or gender identity. Mr Johnson also said he thought it was important to have women-only spaces in hospitals, prisons and changing rooms but admitted there were ‘complexities and sensitivities’ around transgender issues that ‘still need to be worked out’. It is already outlawed in several other countries.