Displaying items by tag: United Kingdom

NHS bosses have told political parties not to impose any new targets on the beleaguered health service in their bid to win the next general election. They said the Conservatives and opposition parties should resist foisting new performance metrics on the NHS when it cannot deliver the hundreds it already operates under. The plea was made by hospitals, ambulance providers, mental health, community care and GP services in England, who said, ‘Given the NHS’s staff shortages, huge backlog of care and financial problems, the answer will not be found in politicians imposing oversimplified and unfunded targets that make convenient soundbites but have little bearing on reality and demoralise frontline workers.’

44 European leaders gathered in Prague on 6 October for the first meeting of a new political community. Most of the countries already belong to other organisations including the EU, NATO, the Council of Europe (upholding human rights), and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (arms control, freedom of the press, and free and fair elections). But the latter two are ineffective at reining in Russia. EU’s foreign policy chief spoke of building ‘a European political community without Putin’. Liz Truss will join EU and non-EU leaders plus Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky by video. She said the ‘club’ is not an alternative to the EU, but added that after Brexit the UK should be involved in discussions that affect the entire continent.

Nigel and Sally Rowe took legal action against the Department for Education after they and their six-year-old son were labelled ‘transphobic’ by a CofE primary school for refusing to ‘believe’ in transgender-affirming policies. The Rowes had raised concerns after two boys aged six were allowed to come to school identifying as girls. The school said it did not ‘require formal medical / psychological assessment and reporting when a pupil seeks to be treated as transgendered’ and was working with Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust (TPHT). TPHT has now been shut down over safety concerns for thousands of children who have been referred there. The Government has settled the case after the Rowes won High Court permission for a judicial review of government transgender policies. They believe that ‘a child of primary school age does not have the mental ability to work out what it is to be transgender.’

A Gloucestershire town is preparing to host the UK’s first-ever free Christian book festival. It will include special guest Sophie Neville, who starred in ‘Swallows and Amazons’ as a young girl before finding her Christian faith. Stroud will welcome 15 different Christian authors to its new event Book Blest. The authors hail from all corners of the UK, but it was a local man who thought of the idea: Brendan Conboy, author of ‘One God, Many Names’. The event, to be held at Stroud Baptist Church on 4 and 5 November, will include sessions for children, teens and young adults, and more mature readers. Mr Conboy said, ‘We hear so much nowadays that the Church is dead and irrelevant. This festival is an example of how the Church is alive and forward-thinking.’

The Chancellor’s biggest tax package in fifty years has sparked fears within businesses and banking. Also, in an unusually outspoken statement, the IMF (which works to stabilise the global economy, and also funds countries in need of economic rescue) has openly criticised the tax cuts plans, warning that they will likely fuel the cost-of-living crisis by increasing inequality and pushing up prices. While the Government said the measures will kickstart economic growth, markets are raising alarms, plunging the pound to a record low of $1.03 on 26 September. Christians Against Poverty (CAP) says the government's 'short term' economic policy will tip millions more into poverty, and former Bank of England governor Mark Carney accused the Government of ‘undercutting’ key economic institutions. The bank will now buy £65bn government bonds to try to protect pensions. 

We pray for peace to cover this nation. We speak hope instead of despair, prosperity instead of lack in finance and the economy; stability to markets, and wisdom to all those making decisions and directives. We agree with James 2:13 (‘Mercy triumphs over judgement’), and repent where our nation as well as our own actions have brought Your judgement upon us. We repent where debt is an accepted norm of society; we repent where we withheld when You asked us to give; we repent where there has been mismanagement, greed and corruption within the very structures of our society, and we ask forgiveness for every place where we as a nation have not stewarded well the resources You gave us. We ask for Your revelatory wisdom to those working at the Treasury and Bank of England. We ask that You connect what needs to be connected and disconnect what needs to be disconnected, so that this nation will be blessed in the year ahead.

Recently King Charles assured faith leaders from various religions that he would work to protect the space for faith. He stated his duty was ‘to protect the diversity of our country by protecting the space for faith and its practice through religions, cultures, traditions and beliefs to which our hearts and minds direct us’. As a member of the Church of England, his beliefs had love at their heart, so he would respect those who follow other spiritual paths, as well as those who seek to live in accordance with secular ideals. His mother, at her coronation, swore to do her utmost to maintain the laws of God, the true profession of the Gospel, doing all in her power to maintain the Protestant reformed religion and maintain and preserve the settlement of the Church of England, and its doctrine, worship, discipline and government, as established by English law: see

It is estimated that on 24 September the ten millionth child would have been killed under the Abortion Act.. Last week the media reported that at 14 weeks’ gestation a child can demonstrate their sense of taste. But this child has no meaningful protection in law for another ten weeks. Babies at 23 weeks, which could be delivered and go on to lead healthy lives, can be killed at the mother’s discretion. Leading abortionists would like this to be offered all the way to birth. There are signs of encouragement for pro-life activists. The morals of abortionists like BPAS are being exposed. Fresh young pro-life campaigns are springing up. March for Life UK had record attendance. Each landmark, each record, each year is a painful reminder that we have not come far enough.

The Scottish government's chief legal officer has come under fire after saying that prayer vigils outside abortion clinics could be 'far more damaging' than verbal protest. Addressing the UK's supreme court about abortion clinics in Northern Ireland, Dorothy Bain KC said she believed ‘standing in judgment’ was just as psychologically damaging for women. She wants prayer vigils to be excluded from ‘buffer zones' - areas where protesting or handing out leaflets are banned - outside abortion clinics. The Catholic Church has labelled Mrs Bain's remarks as ‘absurd and alarming’, and have condemned her comments. Everyone has the right to express and offer our opinion on religious belief, and more importantly, religious practice. The Church said, ‘To be told they can't stand silently in prayer, in this case, outside an abortion clinic or a hospital that carries out abortions is really, frankly, chilling and extremely worrying.’

An undercover reporter worked inside the Edenfield Centre caring for people held under the Mental Health Act who are at serious risk of harming themselves or others. With a hidden camera, he filmed staff swearing at patients, taunting and mocking them in vulnerable situations - when they were undressing - and joking about their self-harm. Patients were being unnecessarily restrained as well as being slapped or pinched by staff on some occasions. Some female staff acted in a sexualised way towards male patients. Ten patients were being held in small seclusion rooms, designed for short-term isolation to prevent immediate harm, for days, weeks or even months, with only brief breaks. Patient observations, a crucial safety measure, were being regularly missed, and records falsified. Seven members of staff were seen sleeping on shift. A consultant psychiatrist said the footage showed a ‘toxic culture’ among staff of ‘corruption, perversion, aggression, hostility, and lack of boundaries’, which were undermining patient recovery.