Displaying items by tag: United Kingdom

An Afghan colonel who fought alongside British troops in Helmand province joint operations has been threatened with deportation to Rwanda. He was not helped in any way after Kabul fell to the Taliban, and recovering from a combat wound he fled to find safety. After journeying across 11 countries he reached the UK on a small boat last September. He has now received a notice of intent from the Home Office threatening him with deportation. While he was still in Afghanistan he applied to the Ministry of Defence’s resettlement scheme, known as Arap (the Afghan relocations and assistance policy). He received one follow-up call from a British official but heard nothing since. He is one of many Afghan veterans who had to use illegal routes to get to the UK due to restrictions and delays plaguing the government’s dedicated Afghan resettlement schemes.

Kyrees Sullivan, 16, and Harvey Evans, 15, died in a bike crash in Cardiff. Shortly afterwards rumours spread across social media that they were being chased by the police when they crashed. The rumour spread like wildfire and sparked a riot. 150 masked vandals set vehicles alight and aimed missiles and fireworks at police, injuring 15. 12 were hospitalised. The clean-up operation will cost about £22,500. The vicar at the local church said, ‘I can't even begin to imagine the amount of pain and grief the family of Kyrees and Harvey will be feeling. It is absolutely vital that communication between the police and community is handled properly. This community is very difficult to police. We have some people who are very antagonistic towards police; a police presence anywhere will wind them up.’ May God’s peace fill the atmosphere in this community and for police enquiries to run smoothly. See

‘We have a low-wage, high-welfare economy, which means people depend continuously on tax credits and all sorts of other welfare help in order to get by. That is not a sustainable situation for millions of households up and down the country’, says Christian economist Professor Adrian Pabst. As the cost of living crisis continues, the prospect of corporations engaging in increasing the cost of items at the shopping till to keep their profits high is facing investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) amid ‘ongoing concerns about high prices’. The CMA is looking at whether increases are linked to ‘any failure in competition’. Recently, Tesco’s chairman said it was ‘entirely possible’ that food producers are hiking prices more than necessary. Professor Pabst asks, ‘Do workers deserve a pay rise to match inflation? Christians should be on the side of the dignity of labour, not siding with private profit.’

Speaking at a Scottish Police Authority meeting on 25 May, Chief Constable Sir Iain Livingstone said, ‘It is the right thing for me, as Chief Constable, to state clearly that institutional racism, sexism, misogyny and discrimination exist within the force. Publicly acknowledging they exist is essential to our absolute commitment to championing equality and becoming an anti-racist service. There is no place in Police Scotland for anyone rejecting our values and standards. Our vigilance has never been stronger - rigorous recruitment, enhanced vetting, more visible conduct outcomes and a focus on prevention. The onus is on us, the police, to address gaps and challenge bias, known or unwitting, at every level, and wherever bias occurs, to maintain and build confidence with all communities’. Sir Iain will retire in August; his statement is the first of its kind by a police chief and a ‘watershed moment’ for policing in Scotland and the UK.

Ten Rochdale men charged with 76 crimes appeared in court on 19 May as part of an investigation into child sexual exploitation between 2003 and 2008. Jurors heard that the victims were 'mere objects' to be groomed, humiliated and sexually abused by the defendants. But on 23 May judge Tina Landale dramatically discharged the jury of seven men and five women. The trial, which will resume once a new jury has been sworn in, is scheduled to last up to 12 weeks. See All the defendants have pleaded not guilty, and deny all the charges brought against them.

The former Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, was ordered to step back from active ministry in the Diocese of Newcastle after he criticised a review into the church's handling of abuse allegations against a late priest. The Church has formally apologised to the victim of sexual abuse after the review found that senior figures - including Sentamu - failed to act appropriately when disclosures were made to them. The current Archbishop of York said that the diocese remains committed to the highest standards of safeguarding, placing victims and survivors at the heart of this work. The Church of England's lead bishop for safeguarding said, ‘We all have a bigger moral duty when it comes to safeguarding matters: to really look at it, refer to it, ask questions, hold each other to account, and be curious about how things have concluded. Because of that moral imperative I think that with good training we all would know we need to act differently'.

Independent Christian economist Bridget Rosewell, previously economic advisor to the Greater London Authority, said, ‘I'm expecting the economy to be in an uncomfortable place and we shouldn't lose sight of the long term, in the short term.’ The Bank of England has raised interest rates twelve times in a row and believes inflation will fall slower than predicted as food prices stay stubbornly high. Interest rates take a while to feed through into prices but more stable prices will eventually come through. People with mortgages should expect their interest payments to rise. Pray for people to not overextend themselves or take out loans if they are not sure how they will repay them. Ask God to remove envy and the love of mammon across the UK so that people do not think that they have to have everything that others have. 

The UK has agreed to send hundreds of long-range missiles and armed drones to Ukraine. This is on top of last week's decision to provide Kyiv with Storm Shadow cruise missiles. These moves mean the UK is going further than any other country in providing weapons with the potential to tip the war in Ukraine's favour. President Zelenskyy met Rishi Sunak at Chequers for two hours of talks as part of his tour of Western allies in preparation for the much-anticipated counter-offensive against Russia. If Ukraine can destroy Russia's command centres, logistics hubs and ammunition depots in occupied territory, it may prove impossible for Moscow to continue resupplying its frontline troops. Mr Zelenskyy said the Ukraine and UK are ‘real partners’.

If an illegal migrant woman gives birth to a child fathered by a British citizen, the baby is automatically British. The mother can then apply for a family visa, remain in the UK, and eventually apply for UK citizenship. Scammers are touting for British men on Facebook and offering them £10,000 to add their names to birth certificates to help pregnant migrants stay in the UK. Facebook says its rules ban this. A BBC investigator posing as an illegal pregnant migrant was told by an agent he had British men who could be fake fathers in a ‘full package’ for £11,000, saying the process is ‘very easy’ and he would get the child a UK passport and ‘concoct a convincing backstory to successfully dupe the authorities’.

Marriages between men and women were ‘the only possible basis for a safe and successful society’, said Christian MP Danny Kruger at the National Conservatism Conference in Westminster. In his speech, he emphasised the Christian notion of marriage as ‘a public act that wider society should recognise and reward’. But Mr Sunak's spokesman said although some ministers chose to speak at the event, that did not mean the Government endorsed its agenda. The remarks causing concern to Downing Street saw Mr Kruger making a bold defence of a traditional theological understanding of matrimony: ‘The normative family - held together by marriage, by mother and father sticking together for the sake of the children and the sake of their own parents and for the sake of themselves - this is the only possible basis for a safe and successful society.’