BBC to review editorial policies
27 May 2021
BBC chairman Richard Sharp said failures of ‘accountability and transparency’ existed until 2020. The BBC will review editorial practices and investigate how journalist, Martin Bashir, was re-hired as religion editor in 2016, after an inquiry found he used ‘deceitful behaviour’ to secure an interview with Diana, Princess of Wales. The BBC accepted the findings and reiterated its apology. The Duke of Cambridge said his mother was failed ‘not just by a rogue reporter’ but by BBC bosses. An enquiry found Bashir had faked bank statements to suggest Princess Diana was under surveillance - to win the trust of her brother Earl Spencer, and eventually gain access to the princess for the 1995 interview. Then as media interest in the interview increased, the BBC covered up its knowledge of how Bashir secured the interview. Now the BBC board ‘hopes to ensure the mistakes of the past could not be repeated’. Pray for truth, humility and justice run through all reporting and commentaries.
Churches Together respond to Holy Land violence
27 May 2021
Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, along with the World Council of Churches and other churches, have expressed their concern and prayers about the situation in Israel and Palestine: ‘Almighty and everlasting God, our days are in your hands. We lift up all those in the Holy Land who are victims of violence and injustice, that You will empower Your Church to bring healing to the wounded, relief to the suffering, and comfort to those who mourn. We pray also that You will soften the hearts of all those involved in the recent conflicts, that they may be led to work for justice and lasting peace in the land where Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, first came to bring hope and abundant life to all people. These things we ask in his Holy Name. Amen.’
Dominic Cummings and Matt Hancock
27 May 2021
On 26 May Dominic Cummings made ‘unsubstantiated allegations’ against health secretary Matt Hancock, describing him as ‘completely incapable of doing the job’. The next day Mr Hancock clarified the Government's handling of the pandemic and accused him of lying. He said he was ‘straight with people in public and private throughout’, and the handling of the pandemic has been ‘unprecedented’. When asked if the PM still has confidence in Mr Hancock, No 10 said. ‘Yes, the health secretary is working closely with the prime minister and has been fully focused on protecting the health and care system and saving lives’. See Conservative Christian MP Gary Streeter said, ‘Last summer when Dominic Cummings was in the headlines for all the wrong reasons for breaking the lockdown rules, constituents were telling me how unfit he was to be so close to the Prime Minister. Now he is giving evidence against the Government. I think, going back to my old lawyer days, he might be described as a witness lacking credibility.’
Soldiers’ cocaine binge
27 May 2021
Ten British soldiers stationed in Cyprus binged on cocaine during a night out in Paphos. It is one of the biggest single cases of cocaine abuse in British army history. A military spokesperson said, ‘The Army does not tolerate drug abuse within its ranks. It is incompatible with military service and operational effectiveness. Army personnel caught taking drugs will be discharged.’ Military police have launched an investigation into drug-taking by soldiers on the island, which an observer said is ‘rife’. The 500-strong battalion was given an ‘experimentation battlegroup’ role, with special forces officers drafted in to oversee the transition. It is also responsible for guarding an airbase which launched bombing missions to Iraq and Syria. It sits at the vanguard of the army’s approach to ‘prototype warfare’, which involves new technologies of drones and robots. The drugs binge by the soldiers is particularly embarrassing for army command, given the battalion’s high-profile role and the investment being poured into it.
2021 housing crisis
27 May 2021
A lack of effective and sustained government action and funding is partly to blame for a crisis in the quality of England’s homes, according to a new report entitled ‘Past, present and future: housing policy and poor-quality homes’. It finds that while the government has a crucial role in protecting the nation’s housing stock, dramatic funding cuts and failure to act have left England’s homes crumbling. Today, an estimated ten million people in England are at risk because they live in a home which doesn’t meet basic standards, with the majority of these homes posing a serious risk to their inhabitants’ health or safety. Previous research by the Centre for Ageing Better and the King’s Fund highlighted the link between poor-quality housing and Covid-19; those who are most at risk of the disease are more likely to be living in non-decent homes.
Belarus: fear for blogger’s life
27 May 2021
Roman Protasevich, 26, a prominent critic of Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko, and his girlfriend were taken off a Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania after it was diverted by a Belarus fighter jet to Minsk under the pretext of a bomb threat. He was arrested to 'confess' organising protests against the regime, and has been imprisoned in a detention centre. His father saw a video of him after his arrest and said his son’s nose appears broken and he wore heavy makeup to disguise bruising. Some is still visible. Many fear for Mr Protasevich's life. The dissident journalist/blogger has almost certainly been tortured. Past prisoners received broken bones, smashed teeth, skin lesions, electrical burns, brain traumas and kidney damage. Police in balaclavas would hold people for three sleep-deprived days, during which time they suffered electrocutions, stress positions, sleep deprivation, and starvation as guards pressurised them to sign confessions.
Switzerland: Geneva summit for Biden and Putin
27 May 2021
US president Joe Biden and Russia's president Vladimir Putin will hold their first summit on 16 June in Geneva, setting the stage for a new chapter in their fraught relationship. The leaders will discuss the full range of pressing issues, seeking to restore predictability and stability to the US-Russia relationship. The Kremlin said that Putin and Biden would be discussing ‘issues of strategic stability,’ as well as ‘resolving regional conflicts’ and the Covid-19 pandemic. Biden, making his first international trip as president, will go to Geneva immediately after separate summits with his key Western allies in the G7, NATO, and the EU. To prepare the ground, US secretary of state Antony Blinken and veteran Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov met last week in Reykjavik. After their meeting, a Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said that repairing ties ‘will not be easy’, but he saw ‘a positive signal’.
Christian persecution
27 May 2021
Across Nigeria 1,470 Christians have been murdered and 2,200 abducted since January. The most recent offence was in Kaduna State when eight Christians were killed and a church was burned down. Pray for an end to such attacks by Fulani Muslim herdsmen and jihadists. In Burkina Faso jihadists ambushed a baptism and killed 15 of the Christians. Al-Qaeda and IS have been growing in West Africa since January. Pray for God's peace for the many who are living in fear and protection over those who ran away. In India’s Rajasthan state 15 radical Hindu nationalists carrying swords, sickles, and a gun attacked the family of a pastor after they all refused to renounce their Christian faith. The assailants killed the pastor’s 52-year-old father. Pray for God to strengthen and encourage church planters and house churches in different Hindu-dominant villages. Armenian Christian gravestones are used to build roads in Azerbaijan as they seek to eradicate evidence of Armenian culture and identity.