Bereavement: Workers 'Should Get Paid Leave'
25 Nov 2013Campaigners are urging the Government to give workers the legal right to paid leave if they have been affected by a family bereavement amid growing public support for the move. Two thirds of people said it was unfair that bereavement leave was unpaid, a survey of more than 1,500 adults showed. TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: "Most people will be surprised to learn that unless they have an understanding employer, they may not be able to take much time off work following a death in the family, and if they are, any compassionate leave will almost certainly be unpaid. Coping with the sudden loss of a loved one is traumatic enough without having to worry about work too. The Government should do the right thing and give people a legal right to paid time away from their jobs after someone close to them has died.“
Pray: for carefor all those who are bereaved and appropriate support for those who are temporarily unable to work following bereavement. (2Co.1:3-4)
More: http://news.sky.com/story/1173159/bereavement-workers-should-get-paid-leave
Benefit cuts are 'unjust', say Churches
05 Apr 2013Churches say the benefit cuts which came into place April 1 are ‘unjust’ and hit the poorest hardest. The changes include the introduction of the so-called 'Bedroom Tax', which will mean cuts to housing benefit for some social housing tenants with a spare room. Around a third of families in social housing will be affected by the change. The up-rating of working-age benefits and tax credits at around a third of the rate of inflation will mean a real-term cut in payments, affecting especiallythose on the minimum wage and people out of work. The Government hopes to make savings of 20% by replacing the Disability Living Allowance with the Personal Independence Payment. The warning has come from the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Methodist Church, the United Reformed Church and the Church of Scotland, who say that the most vulnerable are paying a ‘disproportionate price’ in the Government's austerity measures.
Pray: that the Government will consider those that are most vulnerable and make allowances and be prepared to listen. (Is.10:1)
More: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/benefit.cuts.are.unjust.say.churches/32004.htm
Belfast: a familiar pattern continues
23 Jun 2011
Violence at the Lower Newtownards Road interface is a recurring theme in the history of sectarian trouble in Northern Ireland. On the cusp of east Belfast, the nationalist enclave of Short Strand sits beside estates and streets populated almost exclusively by loyalists. The only thing separating the two communities are several ‘peace walls’ - high artificial barriers which physically separate Catholic and Protestant homes. Across Belfast, there are now more such walls than there were when republican and loyalist paramilitaries first went on ceasefire in 1994. In some areas, including the Newtownards Road interface, political progress has not meant an end to sectarian strife. Police officers and civilians were regularly injured while some residents chose to move to other parts of Belfast rather than continue to live in an area blighted by violence.
Pray: against this further outbreak of sectarian violence and pray that peace would prevail. (Ps.34:14)
More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-13860978
Belfast riots: Appeals for calm
14 Jul 2011Police and community representatives are appealing for calm after trouble in west and north Belfast. An investigation is under way into the possibility that shots were fired in west Belfast during the trouble. Petrol bombs and other missiles have been thrown at police during rioting in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast. The trouble broke out after police in riot gear took up position ahead of an Orange parade walking past the Ardoyne shops on Tuesday evening. Stones, bottles and fireworks were thrown at police. Water cannon was used to push back the crowd of about 200 people. Community worker Robert McClenaghan, from the Falls Residents Association, said the violence was organised by nationalist youths. Crowds of nationalists threw petrol bombs and masonry at police who fired plastic bullets in the Broadway and Oldpark areas. Mr McClenaghan said the violence was ‘nothing but thuggery’.
Pray: against this annual violence and pray for a cessation of hostilities and reconciliation. (2Co.5:19)
More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-14128807
Belfast riots and the peace process
20 Sep 2012The recent outbreak of rioting in North Belfast was an indication that the political peace process had not yet completed the transformation of society in the area, according to Methodist minister the Rev Dr Gary Mason. In an article for last week’s Methodist Recorder (‘Displaying grace and building community’, September 7) Dr Mason had written presciently that peacemakers were ‘haunted’ by the notion that the peace process ‘could simply result in a form of benign apartheid, with segregation now worse than it was when the conflict began in 1968. The reality is that on the ground in the inner city that is pretty much the picture.’ He also said that many ‘peace walls’ had been built separating communities since the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.
Pray: that the peace process will not cease but continue to move forward to complete its transformation. (Ro.12:2)
More: http://www.methodistrecorder.co.uk/mrhlines.htm
Belfast flag protest riots 'a disgrace'
14 Dec 2012Rioters have been warned against ‘holding Belfast to ransom’ after a petrol bomb attack on a police officer by suspected loyalists which is being treated as attempted murder. A gang of 15 men targeted, surrounded and smashed the unmarked vehicle on Monday night outside the offices of Alliance Party MP Naomi Long in Newlands Road. It was the worst incident in nine nights of violence in parts of east and south Belfast involving loyalists who took to the streets again in protest against a decision to restrict the flying of the Union Flag at Belfast City Hall. In a statement to the House of Commons, Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers said that while the matter was a sensitive issue, the clashes would not be tolerated. ‘There can be absolutely no excuse or justification for this kind of thuggish and lawless behaviour,’ she said. ‘It is a disgrace. We condemn it unreservedly and it should stop immediately.’
Pray: that God would stay the hand of the enemy and bring about a peaceful resolution to this situation. (2Th.2:9-10)
More: http://news.sky.com/story/1023570/belfast-flag-protest-riots-a-disgrace
The ongoing conflict in Syria has prompted a number of prayer and worship events around the globe, with Belfast next to have a special Day of Prayer for the country locked in civil war. St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast will be hosting a Day of Prayer for Syria on Wednesday 23 October. An estimated quarter of Syrians have left their country in huge numbers for neighbouring countries. According to the Lebanese government, it has received nearly a million as refugees. St Anne's Cathedral is inviting people from across Belfast and beyond to visit the cathedral at any hour of the day to pray and hear readings from a number of guest speakers. To end the day, a Service of Reflection will take place with Psalms-based prayers for those affected by conflict and persecution.
Pray: that the call to pray will lead many to seek the Lord for Syria and the refugees in neighbouring countries. (Eph.6:18)
More: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/belfast.cathedral.to.host.day.of.prayer.for.syria/34341.htm
Bedroom tax should be axed, says UN investigator
19 Sep 2013During a visit to the UK the United Nations' special investigator on housing has told the British government it should scrap the bedroom tax, after hearing ‘shocking’ accounts of how the policy was affecting vulnerable citizens. Britain's record on housing was also worsening from a human rights perspective, Raquel Rolnik, the UN special rapporteur on housing, said in a Guardian interview after presenting her preliminary findings to the Government. After speaking to dozens of council house tenants in Britain during her visit over the past fortnight, Rolnik said she was particularly concerned by the impact of bedroom tax, officially known as the new spare room subsidy. The policy was introduced by the Government in April, and is designed to charge tenants extra for under-occupying homes that are supposedly too large for them.
Pray: that the Government will reconsider its decisions on the so called bedroom tax. (Lk.20:22)
More: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/sep/11/bedroom-tax-should-be-axed-says-un-investigator