Covid-19 vaccines
26 Nov 2020
British / Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca has announced promising results in developing a vaccine. An early analysis of some of its late-stage clinical trials, conducted in the UK and Brazil, showed that its coronavirus vaccine was 70.4 percent effective in preventing Covid-19, suggesting that the world could eventually have at least three working vaccines - and greater supply - to help curb the pandemic. However, doubts are being expressed about the results of the trials, mainly because they are based on a very small sample of people. British scientists are defending the validity of the findings, and look forward to further evidence becoming available in December. See
Assisted dying challenge
26 Nov 2020
Paul Lamb is paralysed below his neck apart from limited movement in his right arm after a car crash in 1990. He said he was ‘devastated’ after a Court of Appeal refused him permission to bring a legal challenge over assisted dying. He argued the current law, banning assisted suicide, is discriminatory and breaches his human rights. He said he felt ‘powerless’ and urged the government to launch an inquiry. The Ministry of Justice said any change in the law would have to be considered by MPs. In an open letter to justice secretary Robert Buckland, Mr Lamb said he was writing ‘to urge you to take notice of this decision and launch an inquiry into assisted dying, and ask if you might meet with me to discuss this important matter’. Humanists UK are supporting Mr Lamb in his case.
Spending review 2020
26 Nov 2020
At his spending review on 25 November, the Chancellor of the Exchequer set out the Government’s plans for public spending. It is an important fiscal event, with decisions made over hundreds of billions of pounds of public money. It is also an important political event, as the government sets out relative priorities and allocates funding towards achieving its policy objectives. The initial reaction from the Institute for Fiscal Studies was this: ‘Rishi Sunak has been spending truly astonishing amounts of money this year and plans to continue to do so next year in response to Covid. Yet this was a spending review in which he reduced planned spending into the future, cutting over £10 billion from departmental spending plans next year and for subsequent years.’ (See also the next article.) Pray for the 1.3 million public sector workers who will see their pay frozen in 2021-2 and for the projected 2.6 million unemployed by spring. See
Reactions to the cut in aid budget
26 Nov 2020
The Government has been criticised after announcing it will reduce its foreign aid budget from 0.7% to 0.5%. Rishi Sunak intends to return to 0.7% ‘when the fiscal situation allows’. Church leaders, politicians, and other public figures say the reduction was unnecessary and have taken to Twitter to express their opinions. The Archbishop of Canterbury tweeted, ‘The cut in the aid budget - made worse by no set date for restoration - is shameful and wrong. It’s contrary to numerous government promises and its manifesto. I join others in urging MPs to reject it for the good of the poorest, and the UK’s own reputation and interest.’ Baroness Liz Sugg has resigned as the minister for overseas territories because of the decision. The reduced aid budget will require a Commons vote: here is no assurance the Government will win. See also the article above, ‘Spending Review 2020’.
Christian girl forced to wed Muslim abductor
26 Nov 2020
A Christian charity has called on Boris Johnson to grant asylum to a 14-year-old Christian girl, Maira Shahbaz, who was abducted at gunpoint in April and forcibly married and converted to Islam by a married Muslim man. Aid to Church in Need, which supports persecuted Christians around the world, is urging concerned Christians to add their names to an online petition to the PM on Maira;s behalf. In August she fled the home of her alleged husband. The Lahore High Court ordered her to return to her abductor and ruled that she was legally married to him. Regardless of court decisions, her life will for ever be in danger from an honour killing by extremists considering her an apostate. See her video statement
Berlin: car crashes into Merkel’s gate
26 Nov 2020
A car with an anti-globalisation slogan on its side crashed into the gate of the office of German chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on 25 November. The driver is in custody, and Berlin police wrote on Twitter they are investigating if he hit the gate intentionally. Photographs from the scene of the incident showed a vehicle with the words ‘Stop globalisation politics’ written in white on the Volkswagen sedan’s right side and ‘You damn killers of children and old people’ scrawled on the other. The police have said they do not suspect an extremist attack. The chancellor was due to host a video call with federal state leaders on the day of the crash, during which a lockdown extension and additional restrictions to deal with the coronavirus pandemic over the holidays were expected to be discussed.
EU willing to be 'creative' to seal Brexit deal
26 Nov 2020
Ursula von der Leyen said the EU is willing to be ‘creative’ to get a deal with the UK and that European interests will best be served by leaders backing any compromise that emerges. There is concern among member states that the UK might successfully push the commission into making concessions which will give British businesses an advantage in the marketplace over the decades to come. Ms von der Leyen said she trusted Michel Barnier’s ‘skilful steer’. The EU’s chief negotiator is expected to go to London on 27 November in a last-ditch push for an agreement. ‘These are decisive days for negotiations with the United Kingdom’, von der Leyen said; ‘I cannot tell you today if in the end, there will be a deal.’ She said the commission’s negotiating team was open-minded as to how to bridge the gaps between the two sides, but that they were holding firm on key principles.
Peru: seven days of upheaval
26 Nov 2020
A lot can happen in seven days. A president was ousted. An interim president resigned. A new president was sworn in. The nation is in political upheaval, with Peruvians in protests marked by accusations of police brutality and a devastating economic decline. They also have the third highest per capita Covid mortality rate. Beneath these pressing issues lies an even more critical spiritual reality. Though 94% claim to be Christian, the majority have yet to know the life-changing love, freedom, and forgiveness of Jesus. Most adhere to traditional Catholicism, often mixed with indigenous beliefs. Fifteen people groups remain tragically unreached by the Gospel. See