Displaying items by tag: United Kingdom

Parents have concerns over ‘highly inappropriate’ drag queen story time sessions for children as young as three. The Story Hour summer tour starts next week, performing to as many as 3,000 three- to eleven-year-olds at sixty public libraries in England and Wales. The sessions include reading children’s books about same-sex relationships. Outraged parents wrote to their local councils expressing their concerns about the highly sexualised events. Their letters, co-ordinated by the Family Education Trust, say, ‘Drag shows are adults-only entertainment and not suitable for school-age children’. The letters also criticised promotion of radical gender ideology and stated, ‘To try to blind children to a most basic fact of human existence is a form of child abuse. Children who experience gender identity issues need careful and sensitive care, not wholesale indoctrination.’ In response Drag Queens organised online fundraising for ‘Mermaids charity’, which promotes puberty-blocking drugs and surgery for children who are confused about their gender.

650 Bishops from across the Anglican Communion are debating at the Lambeth Conference if marriage is solely between a man and a woman. The once-a-decade conference ends on 8 August. There is now a three-way choice of voting options around homosexuality being incompatible with scripture. Originally bishops were asked to reaffirm a resolution of the 1998 Conference which considers homosexuality as ‘incompatible with scripture’. Now they can not only affirm it or abstain; they can vote against. This revised outlook has the potential to divide the church. A poll commissioned by the Ozanne Foundation found a clear majority of Anglicans believe that same-sex marriage is right, despite the church’s refusal to permit it. See

The two remaining candidates for leader of the Conservative party and our next Prime Minister are now criss-crossing the country engaging with party members and setting out their policies. This is a difficult and dangerous time for the UK. Boris Johnson lost his position primarily due to a lack of integrity and honesty - lack of ‘righteousness’. Proverbs 14:34 says, ‘Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.’ Whatever we may think of the candidates and their politics, we all must pray, as Paul exhorted Timothy, for ‘those in authority’ so that we may ‘live peaceful lives’. Scripture reminds us that even one person’s intercession can change God’s mind. The prayers of many affected the future of the UK during WW2. Today tens of thousands of people are praying over and for our ‘rulers’. We can trust Him to take all our prayers and through them reshape the future of our Government, Parliament, and nation for His purposes.

An MP social care report said the large number of NHS job vacancies is a serious risk to staff and patient safety. England needs 12,000 more hospital doctors (it takes six years to train one) and 50,000+ nurses and midwives, in the worst-ever NHS workforce crisis. Current projections estimate a million new jobs will need to be filled in health and social care by the early part of the next decade. Extra staff will be needed to keep up with rising demands as the population gets older and healthcare becomes more complex and technologically advanced. The situation is compounded by the absence of a long-term plan by the Government to tackle it. 28% of staff experienced at least one incident of bullying or abuse in the past year. Sajid Javid said the Government was not on track to deliver its manifesto commitment to increase GPs in England by 6,000, and NHS pensions arrangements allow senior doctors to retire or reduce their hours and become better-off.

Last week's wildfires across London showed lessons learned tackling rural blazes must urgently be applied to built-up areas after grass fires spread to forty houses and shops nearby. Prolonged dry weather parching gardens, verges and green spaces followed by temperatures of 40C sparked blazes normally seen in the countryside. 500 wildfires have been reported so far this year, compared with 237 last year. The group commander for Hereford and Worcester Fire Service said, ‘Everything is bone-dry and services need to recognise the risk they've now got. If they don't, then they're naïve. There are very urban services that think wildfires are low down on the risk list. I understand their need to prioritise resources, but there must be a review.’ A 2021 risk assessment report for the government found that two out of eight fire services made no reference to wildfires in their risk management plans.

Conservative MP Kemi Badenoch wrote in the Times, ‘I'm putting myself forward in this leadership election because I want to tell the truth.’ The Christian MP for Saffron Walden supports lower taxes to boost growth and productivity, and is accompanied by tight spending discipline. Her role as minister for local government, faith and communities included being the government’s liaison for the country’s faith leaders. She was born in Wimbledon, brought up in Nigeria, and has a range of faith traditions to draw upon. Tom Tugendhat, a Catholic, is MP for Tonbridge and Malling and chairman of the foreign affairs committee. He appealed to Boris Johnson on behalf of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and asked UK churches to negotiate her release from an Iranian prison. As of 14 July, he is one of the five remaining candidates, but Kemi has been eliminated.

The outgoing health secretary, Sajid Javid, has said that being at the National Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast inspired him to quit his role. The Street Pastors founder Rev Les Isaac spoke about the responsibility that comes with leadership, to serve the interests of others above your own, and to seek common ground of your party, your community, and above all, your country. Sajid said, ‘It doesn't matter what your political perspective is, in this house. I believe that we are all motivated by the national interest, and that the public expects us all to maintain honesty and to maintain integrity in whatever we do. This is not an abstract matter.’ Rev Isaac said, ‘God gives His people the capacity to be compassionate, not living for themselves but for others, such as the weak and the poor, the marginalised, and those in distress.’

The UN secretary-general has warned that war in Ukraine, climate change, the pandemic and inequality have produced an ‘unprecedented global hunger crisis’ already affecting hundreds of millions of people. UK’s April inflation was the highest in forty years, food costs increased by nearly 9% and the number of foodbank users has doubled in the last year, but tonnes of produce have been ploughed back due to labour shortages. Jesus told us to pray collectively and daily for the Father to provide ‘our daily bread’ (Matthew 6:11). Pray for leaders working to combat the global food crisis, for all who are suffering drought and hunger, and for ourselves to be generous and give (Psalm 37:21). The Bible emphasises our dependence on, and gratitude to, God for our daily bread, stewardship of the earth, and respect for one another. But our priorities easily become skewed in favour of selfish gain.

The Met Office has issued an extreme heat weather warning (Level 3 Alert) for most of England and parts of Wales, with temperatures building, especially from 16 to 19 July when the maximum could reach 38C. There could be a danger to life or potential serious illness; there could be widespread impact on infrastructure, with road closures and cancellations or delays to rail and air travel. Health minister Maria Caulfield said that a heatwave plan is being actioned; also a NHS hot weather plan is in place. Pray for health and social care workers to pay particular attention to the elderly and vulnerable. Pray for councils and boroughs to conduct welfare checks on vulnerable street people and rough sleepers. Pray for parents to watch young children for signs of heat exhaustion. In England, there were 2,500 excess deaths in the summer of 2020 as a result of hot weather.

A second-year history student at Cambridge University died in March 2022, three other students died in May, and another in June. The history student was ‘on course to finish as one of the most accomplished students in his year’. The coroner said there was ‘absolutely no indication that he was struggling’. He had had no contact with college counselling services, and his GP confirmed there were no mental health issues. Prof Graham Virgo said that after the fourth death they approached the NHS and public health agencies to investigate and review what had happened and what lessons could be learned. He said, ‘There was no common cause behind these student deaths, but after reflecting on the review, we have considered various aspects of our practice and implemented training in suicide prevention.’ Across the UK there is an increase in the number of young adults experiencing mental ill health. Pray for the bereaved families.