A report on 25 April suggests the prime minister is planning to bring forward a law next week to enact her withdrawal agreement, even though it has been rejected by MPs three times. The law is expected to include new guarantees that the government hopes will entice both Tory Eurosceptics and wavering Labour MPs to vote for the deal. An attempt to force another vote of no confidence in Mrs May was scuppered after senior Tories refused to change party rules to allow another ballot to be held. We can continue to pray for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 17:20 that if a person has faith as small as a mustard seed, they can say to a mountain, ‘Move from here to there’, and it will move.
Children’s food insecurity
25 Apr 2019
4.1 million UK children live in poverty, but how many of these children experience food insecurity? How does it affect their lives and what could be done about it? The Trussell Trust gave food parcels to 500,000+ people in 2014/15 - half went to children. On 25 April 2019, at Westminster, young people joined actor Dame Emma Thompson, ambassador for the Children’s Future Food Inquiry, to launch a report calling for urgent political action on child food insecurity. The CFFI spent a year investigating this problem across the UK, and its final report compiles the experiences of hundreds of young people, academics and experts. Sharon Hodgson, its co-chairwoman, said, ‘Children are falling through the safety net. They need support from the Government in order to have access to healthy and affordable food’. See
Trump to visit UK in June
25 Apr 2019
Buckingham Palace has announced that US president Donald Trump will make a three-day state visit to the UK from 3 to 5 June. Mrs May said that the visit was an opportunity to strengthen our already close relationships in trade, investment, security and defence, and discuss how we can build on these ties in the years ahead. But shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said that on the very day Trump threatens to veto a UN resolution against the use of rape as a weapon of war, Mrs May is planning to honour him with a state visit. His last visit saw tens of thousands of protesters fill central London's streets to tell him what they thought of his visit. Instead of a red carpet, there was a sea of people, in two large marches led by Women's March London and the Stop Trump Coalition.
CAP online imposters
25 Apr 2019
Supporters of Christians Against Poverty (CAP) are being warned against scams, with online fraudsters posing as the charity. Anyone receiving an email purportedly from CAP but sent from a free email service, such as Google or Outlook.com, is being urged to be suspicious. Posting on Twitter, CAP said, ‘Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so the saying goes and, it turns out, there are scammers pretending to be CAP. The vast majority of this is happening online. Warning signs to spot you are not dealing with CAP include requests for money in US dollars or references of orphanages.’ The advice also said, ‘We are Christians (with an S) Against Poverty. If it reads Christian Against Poverty - fake! There are loads of us’. CAP charity contributes £32 million to the UK economy annually and anyone who has received anything suspicious is urged to contact Action Fraud, on 0300 123 2040.
Extinction Rebellion protests continue
25 Apr 2019
A retired parole officer in his eighties was among climate change protesters arrested on 25 April, after climbing on top of a train in London’s rush hour. Extinction Rebellion want politicians to realise that climate change is actually a ‘climate crisis’. The following are twitter suggestions by environmentalists for transformation: cancel Heathrow expansion and impose graduated taxes on frequent fliers; insulate UK's draughty housing stock; and make electric cars work. They say the Department for Transport is failing to deliver a vitally important charging network as part of its long-term climate plans. Other suggestions are: get farmers to cut emissions, and start widespread rewilding so that trees can capture CO2; stop tax breaks to North Sea oil and gas; ban fracking; and bring back cheap, effective onshore wind power. Many said if we really want to tackle climate change we should be going as fast as we can, not setting arbitrary target dates like 2050.
Ukraine election result: Russia’s reaction
25 Apr 2019
Russia's prime minister says there is a chance for improved relations with Ukraine after Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a comedian with no political experience, was elected president in a landslide victory. Russian state media presented the elections as a total mess. However, Russia's lower house of parliament said that ‘there are hopes in Russia that something constructive could come out of the election’. There is a chance for Ukraine to improve relations with Russia with honesty and pragmatism. One of the main problems is the conflict with Russian-backed rebels, in the east of the country, that has so far taken 13,000 lives.
Russia: Kim’s visit
25 Apr 2019
President Vladimir Putin was ‘pleased’ with the outcome of his 25 April meeting in Vladivostok with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, saying he would discuss the results with his Chinese counterparts when he travels to Beijing later. Many believe that after the diplomatic failure with Trump at Hanoi, Kim wants to prove he is still being sought after by world leaders; he does not want to look too dependent on Washington, Beijing, and Seoul. Also 10,000+ North Korean labourers working in Russia’s logging industry have to leave by the end of 2019, as UN sanctions take effect. The workers provided a revenue stream of hundreds of millions of dollars that Kim’s regime would like to keep flowing. As for Russia, the Putin-Kim summit will reaffirm Moscow's place as a major player on the Korean peninsula, and improve Russian international prestige. See also
Australia: prayer for national election
25 Apr 2019
Now that a federal election has been called, Australian Prayer Network has initiated a season of prayer which will last up to and including the eve of the elections, on 18 May. Churches are encouraged to include the daily prayer points and readings in their notices each Sunday, to promote prayer for the election. Permission has been given for these prayer points to be distributed across other networks interested in having their people pray. Each Wednesday until the election, new prayer points will be released for the following week. We can pray for a mighty wave of Holy Spirit righteousness and justice to sweep across Australia, drawing Christians into a greater place of authority and integrity in an increasingly secular society.