Displaying items by tag: United Kingdom

The Catholic Union, Christian Institute, and Evangelical Alliance have written to the chair of the human rights committee, asking for religious freedom to be a ‘key part’ of a parliamentary inquiry into human rights at work. Catholic Union director Nigel Parker says that it is becoming increasingly difficult to be a faithful Catholic in many workplaces in this country, and his concerns are shared by people from other denominations and other faiths. A Catholic Union survey found that almost five in ten workers do not feel able to talk about their faith openly with colleagues, with 41% of respondents saying they didn’t believe religious discrimination was given the same weight as age, race, sex, and sexuality discrimination. Although the inquiry's focus includes ‘freedom of thought, conscience, and religion’, they worry this won’t receive enough attention. They want a separate session discussing religious freedom at work to help shape the final recommendations for the Government.

Only 14% of river water bodies in England currently achieve ‘good ecological status’. Pollution is the biggest problem; a quarter of rivers are not in good ecological health due to sewage pollution from water companies, homes and businesses, costing £1.2bn per year. Wildlife is threatened by poor water quality as fish spawning grounds are lost to silt building up. Too many nutrients in rivers feed algae growth, leading to streams and rivers becoming choked up with vegetation and a decrease in plant and wildlife diversity. Sadly, government ministers have proposed scrapping the pollution rules to build more homes - which will worsen sewage pollution. They propose building 100,000 new homes by 2030, loosening the rules around building near waterways in protected areas. The Wildlife Trust accused the Government of disgusting behaviour, saying that change will lead to ‘lots more poo in our rivers’ and ‘not solve the root causes of housing problems’.

The Government refused to attend a UN review of its treatment of disabled people after an inquiry warned of grave violations of disabled people’s rights. The UN report found welfare reforms had adversely affected disabled people. The UK's delegation should have gone to the Geneva hearing on 28 August to assess their progress, but the Government pulled out, saying it would meet UN officials in March 2024 instead, sparking anger from campaigners. The UK published responses to the UN's recommendations in 2018, 2021, and 2022, and was to give a further update this year. After its no-show there were feedback sessions with British disability rights groups who complained, ‘No one from the Government heard the facts and stories of increasing poverty, lack of support, inaccessible services, and an infrastructure that limited the life chances of disabled people’.

Unipol says student housing shortages will get worse in some cities. The number of new purpose-built rooms being created is tumbling, despite student numbers growing. Keira Barber, 18, says she had to switch universities because she was unable to afford accommodation at her first choice. Universities say they always try to help because housing issues are a significant worry. Some universities have struggled to provide a room near campus for new students, offering them housing in neighbouring cities instead. Most student accommodation is now built and rented by the private sector, and Unipol keeps a register of the number of rooms as part of a voluntary code of conduct. The creation of new student rooms is grinding to a halt because of high building costs. 29,048 new student rooms were created in 2020, but only 13,543 this year. Some were old buildings brought back into use.

On 11 August Christian Climate Action (CCA) held a prayer vigil outside the headquarters of the Catholic development agency CAFOD. They prayed for and with the charity to consider their banking arrangements. The core plea of the prayers was for CAFOD to close their bank account with Barclays, the biggest funder of fossil fuels in Europe. They held up signs such as ‘Praying for CAFOD to stop banking with Barclays, who fund climate chaos’ and ‘Barclays, the ecocide bank’. Some members of CAFOD came out and joined the vigil and other CAFOD volunteers stopped to talk. This followed a similar vigil outside Christian Aid recently, which led to that charity closing its Barclays account. There will be a series of vigils in the coming months at charities which bank with Barclays, including World Vision, BMS World Mission, Tearfund, and Leprosy Mission. CCA also spread their message at the Greenbelt Festival.

NHS officials have reported that a new Covid mutation was discovered on 18 August, the most concerning variant since Omicron first emerged. Although BA.2.86 is not classified as a variant of concern, scientists say it carries a high number of mutations, and the rollout of flu and COVID-19 vaccines has been brought forward. Vaccinations for care home residents and those who are immunocompromised will now start on 11 September, not in October. This group will be followed by inviting carers, pregnant women, social care personnel, and individuals aged 65 and above to receive booster shots. The NHS vaccinations director said that although flu and Covid hit hardest in December and January, the new variant presents a greater risk, so they want to vaccinate as many people as possible sooner.

Wilko’s 400 stores are expected to close within weeks with 12,500 redundancies unless a buyout is secured. Pray for the 12,500 families living with fear of being out of work. Wilko’s assets were valued at £41m and the stock is likely to be worth tens of millions of pounds. The stores could be bought by rival bargain retailers like Poundland, Home Bargains, Primark, and B&M, who would rebrand them, possibly without retaining existing staff. The GMB union, which represents thousands of Wilko staff, said it would be ‘a disgrace’ if bids that could save jobs were disregarded. 12,500 jobs cannot be sacrificed for a few pence in the pound for creditors. Viable bids that protect jobs must be prioritised. M2 Capital’s bid to keep the entire Wilko chain trading fell through on 31 August. Job losses are feared.

Nurse Lucy Letby killed seven babies by force-feeding them with milk or injecting them with air or insulin, and seriously damaged six others who she tried to murder. Dr Stephen Brearey, the lead consultant on the unit where Letby worked, first raised the alarm in October 2015. The first five murders happened between June and October 2015, and - despite months of warnings - the final two were in June 2016. Dr Brearey said senior managerial hospital staff were worried about reputational damage to the organisation. Instead of acting on his warnings, he and his colleagues’ lives were made very difficult. There is ‘no apparent accountability’ for what NHS managers do in trusts. There will now be an inquiry into the magnitude of the event and the questions raised: should NHS managers be regulated in the same way as doctors, and should they be held to account?

The number of students choosing Religious Studies in A-level has fallen, following warnings of a lack of teachers. More than a quarter of pupils have been given either an A or A* - down by 9% compared with 2022. The fall follows a campaign to recruit a new generation of RE teachers, with the Religious Education Council warning that due to shortages in specialist teachers some schools in the Midlands and northeast are struggling to offer the A-level subject. For two decades, A-level RS has had growing numbers of entries and impressive results, opening a world of opportunity, particularly for people from disadvantaged backgrounds, providing access to top universities and careers in law, journalism and teaching. That legacy is now threatened. A teacher training bursary scheme and a fair allocation of resources to the subject would help to reverse this trend.

Less than half of the population across England and Wales call themselves Christian. In a largely secular society, where more than one-third claim no religion at all, Franklin Graham is sharing the hope of Jesus Christ in the God Loves You tour on 26 August in London. This is the culmination of months of prayer, planning, and training to equip the local churches. The event is free to attend and will be held at the ExCel London. With over 900 churches partnering in this outreach, more than 125 buses will bring thousands to London, some coming from several hours away. The Lord has placed a burden on Franklin’s heart to proclaim Jesus Christ across the UK, and that sense of purpose and evangelistic passion has continued to grow over the years.