Sixteen potential human trafficking victims were rescued in south Armagh. Officers searched premises in Newtownhamilton last Friday and spent a number of days working with colleagues in partner agencies to identify the individuals who may have been trafficked. The operation focused on eastern Europeans working in the agricultural sector. Detectives from the PSNI Human Trafficking Unit are working with colleagues in HM Revenue and Customs, the Gangmasters’ Licensing Authority, the Health and Safety Executive and local police. The potential victims, men and women aged between 18 and 45, are being cared for by Migrant Help and Women's Aid as part of the Department of Justice's human trafficking support network. They will be assessed for referral to the UK Human Trafficking Centre, which is run by the National Crime Agency. In a separate investigation, in Belfast, five potential victims of trafficking were identified and are being looked after by police and partner agencies.

David Cameron has set out the Government's strategy to defeat the ‘poison’ of Islamist extremism in the UK. He pledged to tackle conditions that lead to hundreds of Britons joining IS militants. Mr Cameron said the four areas needing attention are: countering warped extremist ideology, the process of radicalisation, the drowning out of moderate Muslim voices, and addressing the ‘identity crisis’ among young British-born Muslims. The BBC assistant political editor noted, ‘Tackling the ideology of IS in the UK involves confronting people over intolerance, prejudice and hostility to British values, and Mr Cameron’s speech offered relatively few specific policies’. The Muslim Council of Britain urged the Prime Minister to ‘put his words into action’ and engage with ‘all sections of the community including mainstream Muslim organisations and those who have differing views’. See also article below.

One of Great Britain's Paralympians has said that wheelchair services across England are failing on every level. There are 1.2 million wheelchair users across the UK. Some wait years for the right wheelchair (an ill-fitting chair causes hip dislocations and pressure sores, and may worsen disabilities). There are stories of people with life-limiting conditions, such as Motor Neurone Disease, dying before they get their wheelchair. Krystyn Jarvis, of the National Wheelchair Managers' Forum, said wheelchair services were not seen as an important part of the NHS. ‘We have been asking for change for 20+ years. We know the situation isn’t acceptable.’ NHS England agreed the whole system needed change. Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson has launched a national charter to improve wheelchair services across Britain. Pray that services, clinical commissioning groups and NHS trusts will sign up to it.

In recent years, defence has fallen low on the list of national priorities. While other government departments have ring-fenced budgets, that of the MoD is completely unprotected. On Monday Lord Richards, a former chief of the Armed Forces, said, ‘Britain must accept that sooner or later ground troops and tanks will have to be sent into combat to overcome IS.’ He said that David Cameron needed to put the country on a ‘war footing’ and rethink its military strategy to extinguish the threat posed by Islamic State militants. See also: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/politics-blog/11722780/By-not-spending-enough-on-defence-Britain-puts-the-West-at-risk.html