Richard Chartres, Bishop of London, has said that the Church must be ‘vision-led, not problem-led’ in the post-denominational phase we are now entering, seeking street-level co-operation between the Anglican Church and the wider Church body. The key to growth, according to Chartres, is ‘refusing to see the many divisions in Church life, between High Church and Low Church, between Catholic and Protestant tradition. There is only one division that truly matters, and that is the division between dead church and live church. That can embrace almost any expression of Christian faith.’ Strong ecclesial identity is now history, according to Chartres. Rather, we are in a post-denominational phase. ‘Very few of the hundreds of thousands of students studying in London arrived with any clear ecclesial identity. They are looking for churches and congregations of varied and contrasting styles that are living and not dead,’ he said.

Christian Tory MP Mark Pritchard has urged ministers in the UK Government to speak to their Israeli counterparts about reducing the number of attacks on Christian religious sites in Israel. He spoke out just months after the Church of the Multiplication on the Sea of Galilee was victim to an arson attack. Shortly after the blaze, Bishop Declan Lang said, ‘Attacking, desecrating and damaging any church or house of worship anywhere in the world is an inexcusable act. This is more so in the Holy Land that is home to followers of the three monotheistic traditions.’ There have been a number of attacks on Christian sites in recent years as well as a rise in anti-Christian graffiti.

The Government’s counter-extremism strategy could seriously backfire and damage the values it is intending to uphold, a range of critics have warned. A senior police chief, a national newspaper and a legal commentator have all highlighted flaws in the strategy, which includes controversial Extremism Disruption Orders (EDOs). Concerns have been raised that the terms for the orders are being ‘far too broadly drawn’. Writing for the Guardian online, legal commentator Joshua Rozenberg noted that according to the Government, extremism is the vocal and active opposition to values such as the rule of law. But he said expressing ideas that offend is an ‘essential part’ of our fundamental values. Rozenberg also criticised part of the strategy which proposes an extremism community trigger, whereby anyone will be able to complain about extremism to the local council or the police. This might mean the police turning up at a street preacher’s home to question them.

The head of Ofsted reports that employers are offering poor-quality, low-level apprenticeships that are wasting public funds and abusing the trust placed in them by the Government and apprentices. Retail and care workers are particularly likely to be signed up for low-level apprenticeships that do not provide them with sufficient training, stretch them, or improve their skills. Instead, they are frequently being used as a means of accrediting existing low-level skills, like making coffee and cleaning floors. In a major report published this week, Ofsted concludes that many courses are failing to give learners the skills and knowledge employers are looking for, or add value to the economy. Some interviewed for the report were not even aware that they were on an apprenticeship programme. The Government intends to deliver three million apprenticeships over the next five years, but poor-quality courses have devalued the brand.