Displaying items by tag: United Kingdom

Although Storm Arwen has abated, the widespread disruption has left tens of thousands of people in the north of England still without electricity. Damage to power equipment has been described as unprecedented. As repairs are being made, more faults are being discovered and it is expected that properties in Cumbria may not have electricity until 8 December. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59396135 On 30 November the Met Office reported, ‘There is an 80% probability of severe cold weather/icy conditions/heavy snow between 9am on Wednesday 1 December and midnight on Saturday 4 December in parts of England’. Prolonged periods of cold weather can be dangerous for older people, those with underlying health conditions, and young children. We can pray for a speedy return to full capacity electricity across all areas, and for friends, family, and neighbours to be aware of others who may be vulnerable and need support. See also

A quiet crisis has been unfolding in the homecare sector where the system is expected to reach breaking point this winter - unless urgent action is taken. Long-standing pressures on council funding meant that homecare providers were already operating on a shoestring with a limited capacity to withstand unforeseen shocks when Covid-19 hit. They face high fuel costs and unaffordable insurance, running the risk of closing. But demand for homecare is rising, with more complex requirements due to early hospital discharges. Workers face burnout. Unless additional funding is made available, we will likely see even more care staff leave this winter, at the worst possible time. Many disabled people choose to employ their own personal assistants to help them with tasks like getting out of bed in the morning and supporting them through the day so that they can work. There are 100,0000+ vacancies in the social care sector. See

Former first minister Arlene Foster has spoken out against those who say that religion and politics should never mix. When speaking at the St Patrick Centre to a live audience, she discussed her own faith as well as her political career. Expressing her frustration she said, ‘Christianity doesn’t call you to be neutral. It calls you to be salt and light about what you believe in. It does annoy me when people say you have to take religion out of politics and leave it at the door, or like it only happens at the weekend. It is part of who you are. Your Christianity and your faith is something that is with you all the time. You can’t just leave it at home on Sunday night and go out without it on Monday.’

When she checks her son at night, Sandy Birtles can hardly see her teenager for all the coats on his bed. The single mother of two says they have to be careful not to use too much hot water, and they do all they can to keep warm but the bills keep rising. ‘I do not have the heating on when the kids are at school. If I'm not running around and clearing up, then I'm wrapping up in a coat.’ She said that financial pressures mean she has been ‘penny-pinching all the time’, but rising energy bills have added to the strain. A charity has predicted that she - and millions of others - will face a particularly difficult bill shock early next April when domestic energy prices rise. Domestic gas bills will have doubled in 18 months. Pray for suppliers to give more support to struggling customers.

Days after 27 people drowned in the English Channel, the BBC discovered that smuggling gangs are still telling migrants it is safe to cross. One smuggler said that the drownings were a lie and that there was no danger in making the journey. The brutal journeys migrants make across the Channel are full of stories of crisis. Pray for the detection and removal of the guerrilla-style smuggling operations among the French dunes. Pray for authorities to have more compassion for the streams of soaking passengers washing ashore in Kent. Pray for this international criminal industry to be thwarted by even more sophisticated detection. Pray for an end to the supply of specially-made boats that refugees are packed into. New arrivals in French camps are given tips on how to find a people-smuggler. One young man from Afghanistan was told to look for ‘the Kurdish man’ hanging around during food distribution.

The British government will designate Hamas as a terrorist organisation, joining the USA, Canada and the EU. Hamas will be banned under the UK’s Terrorism Act of 2000, which would make it illegal to meet with Hamas members, fly its ,or wear clothing indicating support for the group. Supporters could face up to 14 years in prison or a fine. The approval of the ban in parliament is expected within a week. Priti Patel said, ‘Hamas is fundamentally and rabidly antisemitic. Antisemitism is an enduring evil which I will never tolerate.’ Jewish people routinely feel unsafe - at school, in the streets, when they worship, in their homes, and online. This step will strengthen the case against anyone who waves a Hamas flag in the UK. See

Pregnant women and three children were among 27 Kurds from Iraq and Iran who drowned trying to cross the Channel. Two male survivors are being treated for exhaustion and hypothermia in a Calais hospital. A criminal investigation has been opened; five men are suspected of direct involvement in the attempted crossing. The bodies were brought by boat and helicopter to Calais, where volunteers with local migrant aid associations lit candles and held aloft placards reading ‘How many more?’ Despite the terrible loss of life, crossings have continued. The next morning forty migrants were brought to Dover by a lifeboat. It is windy on the water and extremely cold, but the determination to get to the UK remains as strong as ever. Boris Johnson said that there are ‘difficulties’ persuading France ‘to do things in a way that the situation deserves’; it was clear French attempts to stop the migrant boats leaving ‘haven't been enough’.

Nikki da Costa, Boris Johnson's former director of legislative affairs, said senior advisors are letting Stonewall dictate the Government's trans rights policy. She believes the advice being given to the PM is undermining women's rights. She said there is no other organisation - no business, or charity, no matter how big - that can pick up the phone to a special adviser sitting outside Boris Johnson's office and get them to speak directly to the prime minister. 'But that is the kind of access that Stonewall has.'’ Ms da Costa alleged that a group of aides controlled the views that Johnson was presented with in government papers and stopping him from meeting people with differing views on trans issues.’ Carrie Johnson said Boris was an ally to LGBT people at a pro-Stonewall event in October.

150 Royal Engineers will be sent to help reinforce Poland's border with Belarus. The border is an entry point to the EU, and there have been tensions there in recent weeks. A small reconnaissance team of engineers had already gone to the area to assess the situation. The engineers are not combat troops but ‘guys with diggers’ who would be dispatched ‘within days or weeks’. They will be building or making fences, roads, or checkpoint observation posts, or putting in infrastructure to help the Poles and potentially other Baltic states to secure their border. The UK defence secretary said, ‘I'm particularly worried for the women and children and the vulnerable people who are being trafficked by the Belarusians into this game they seem to be playing. It's a horrendous thing to do to force migrants to be a tool in a game to try to destabilise their neighbours’.

The number of children in care, which has risen 36% in a decade, is putting ‘unprecedented pressure’ on local authorities' budgets. The Government provides councils with £4.8bn for ‘vital front-line services’, including children's care. Funding a child in residential care costs £4,000+ per week. In 2015, 69,000 children were in care: by March 2020, the figure was 80,080. The rise is explained by, among other things, foster carers not keeping up with increased demands. With local authorities spending more time on this growing need, they are unable to do more early family intervention rather than taking children into care. A trial scheme across five counties is looking to address this challenge. The No Wrong Door programme, funded by the Department for Education and the local authority, brings therapists, police and social workers together within the home to work with families before they reach crisis. Since April, the number of children in care aged 12-17 has reduced by 5%.