Police reported ‘significant increases’ in stalking in England and Wales during the pandemic; over 80,000 incidents were recorded last year. However arrests struggled to keep up - growing at half the rate of the rise in offences. Chris has been stalked for six years by a man she met briefly in a team meeting at a previous job. He has inundated her with messages ever since, and contacted colleagues about her over 2,000 times despite them both leaving the company. She made around fifty separate calls to the police during the pandemic. One visit the man made to the offices of her current employer was even captured on CCTV while current colleagues have recorded obscene calls he has made asking to speak to her. Despite her passing this evidence to the police and reporting at least fifty incidents, the man has never been charged. She is one of many feeling let down by the police.

Society has been shaken over the past year, revealing that we need wise leaders in the church and in the public arena more than ever before. The Evangelical Alliance is inviting Christians working in the arts, media, academia, business, education, civil society, politics, healthcare and all other sectors to enrol in their Public Leaders Course. A public leader is a Christian who is intentional about bringing their faith to their leadership wherever God has placed them. The ‘public’ element means they are open about their Christianity and their leadership role is not internal to the church. The ‘leadership’ refers to where they have influence: workplace, local community, online, a social group. We can pray for filmmakers, writers, entrepreneurs, educators, health workers, civil servants, lawyers and all in the secular workplace to hear God’s call on their lives to live out their faith and draw others into God’s kingdom.

Kristie Higgs, a Christian pastoral administrator, was sacked for two of her Facebook posts that raised concerns about transgenderism and sex education at her son’s CofE primary school. On 14 July she won the right to appeal her case and will challenge her dismissal at an employment appeal tribunal. She will argue that her dismissal breached her freedom of speech. We can pray that this appeal will successfully raise important issues on the approach currently adopted by tribunals regarding demonstrations and expressions of beliefs. The judge directed that the appeal be listed in ‘Category A’, which means the case will be heard by a full three-member panel because it is complex and raises points of law of public importance.

Record rainfall in parts of western Europe has caused major rivers to burst their banks In Germany; at least 33 are dead and dozens missing after record rain left homes and cars washed away. The Rhineland-Palatinate state chief described the flooding as a ‘catastrophe’. At least six have died in Belgium. Liège city urged all residents to leave. The Netherlands is badly hit, with more deaths and many houses damaged in the southern province of Limburg. A number of care homes had to be evacuated. More rain is forecast for these areas.