'Suicidal calls' made to tax credits firm
30 Sep 2016
A firm used by the Government to cut tax credit payments has received calls from ‘suicidal’ clients. A whistle-blower said most staff weren't even trained to deal with such calls and staff were not offered counselling but were instead told, ‘Have a smoke - you'll be fine.’ But US firm Concentrix said that its staff are trained in accordance with Government guidelines, and ‘are supported as much as possible where we have encountered this type of scenario.’ Concentrix was awarded a £75m contract by the department responsible for collecting taxes and paying out certain benefits to help cut tax credit fraud and overpayment. It will not have its two-year contract renewed next year. A member of the company's Belfast office said, ‘The 600 workers were yelled at every day by clients, with people crying down the phone to you that they're down to their last bag of wipes or have no food in the fridge to feed their kids’.
Brexit and Scotland's global standing
30 Sep 2016
Brexit will ‘enhance’ Scotland's standing in the world rather than diminish it, Theresa May has said. In a column in Holyrood magazine, the Prime Minister said the Brexit talks were an exciting chance to forge a new role in the world. Mrs May said Scotland's financial expertise, shipbuilding prowess and food and drink could be global leaders. The SNP said this was jaw-dropping hypocrisy, accusing her government of chaos and confusion over Brexit. In June's EU referendum, Scottish voters backed Remain by 62%, the stated preference of Nicola Sturgeon's government. Writing in the Daily Telegraph Alex Neil, formerly a member of Ms Sturgeon's cabinet, said leaving the EU provides a ‘golden opportunity’ to win new devolved powers for Holyrood.
Prevent anti-extremism strategy
30 Sep 2016
British Muslims should be given a new way of reporting hate crimes that bypasses the police because the Government’s controversial Prevent anti-extremism strategy has ruined trust between the two parties, Andy Burnham has suggested. Labour’s shadow home secretary called for a root and branch review of the system, and said the true scale of Islamophobic hate crimes was being hidden because Muslims were reticent to report such crimes to Prevent. He compared Prevent to the French ban on the burkini swimming costume and said it singles out one community for different treatment. He said such an approach risked legitimising or inspiring Islamophobic hate crime. Pupils are afraid to speak up in class in case they're seen as extremist. Earlier this year the UN special rapporteur on the right to freedom of assembly warned that Prevent could actually end up promoting extremism, describing it as a ‘Big Brother’ approach.
Poland: law banning all abortions?
30 Sep 2016
Currently, abortion is illegal in this predominantly Catholic country except in cases of rape, incest, if the life of the mother is in danger, or in cases of severe foetal deformities. Polish legislators are considering a bill that would ban abortion and make getting or performing an abortion a punishable offence. Pro-abortion groups have raised support for a bill which would legalise abortion on demand up to twelve weeks’ gestation. They claim that restricting abortion and punishing doctors who perform abortions and women who get abortions force women to choose between giving birth to an unwanted baby or going to jail. Their pro-abortion bill has gained about 215,000 signatures. Meanwhile, this spring a pro-life bill was introduced. It is citizen-led, and has collected about 450,000 signatures of support. The new bill, if signed into law, would make abortion illegal in all cases except when the life of the mother is endangered.
France: the Great Wall of Calais
30 Sep 2016
Building work has begun on a wall in Calais to prevent migrants from stowing away on cars, trucks, ferries and trains bound for Britain. Dubbed ‘The Great Wall of Calais,’ the concrete barrier half a mile long and 13 feet high on both sides of the two-lane highway approaching the harbour will pass within a few hundred metres of ‘the Jungle’ housing more than 10,000 migrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East trying to reach Britain. The wall is due to be completed by the end of 2016. Around 200 migrants from Calais are successfully smuggled into Britain each week according to police estimates. Migrants create roadblocks to slow trucks. When trucks stop, they climb aboard the vehicles heading to the Channel Tunnel or ferries. Many of the migrants who are turned away move to the Jungle and try over and over again. The image of Calais today in the media is very negative.
Sounding the shofar for Rosh Hashanah
30 Sep 2016
In Hebrew, ‘Rosh Hashanah’ means ‘Head of the Year’ and it's known as the Jewish New Year, celebrating the completion of creating the world and highlighting the relationship between God and humanity. This year Rosh Hashanah falls on 2 - 4 October. The shofar (horn) has been and is continuing to be sounded every morning (except Shabbat) in many Orthodox Jewish communities, stirring hearts to seek God and repent of sin. Maimonides, a respected Jewish sage of the Middle Ages, likened the sound of the shofar to an alarm call: ‘Sleepers, arise from your slumber, and those who are dozing, awake from your lethargy. Review your actions, repent from your sins, and remember your Creator!’ (Hilchot Teshuvah 3)
Trumpet Call South Africa
30 Sep 2016
From north to south, east to west, Africa faces enormous challenges and presents equally enormous opportunities. In recent years leaders from the South Sea Islands have followed a vision to see the ‘Welcoming of the King of Glory’ into each continent; last year they came to Europe and combined their visit with the European Trumpet Call in Romania. This year brothers and sisters from several countries, together with representatives of the Khoi, the indigenous people of South Africa, went to the most southerly tip of Africa, Cape Agulhas, for Trumpet Call South Africa. They stood on the shore where the Indian Ocean meets the Atlantic Ocean. The roar of the wind and seas added to the stones on the prayer altar built there over the years as they declared the Sovereignty of Christ, laid a red carpet on the beach, broke bread and in worship and praise welcomed the King.
10/40 Window Sunday
30 Sep 2016
This Sunday is a special opportunity to focus prayer on regions of the world that are home to the majority of the world’s Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists; the majority of the world’s least-reached people groups; the poorest of the poor; 45 of the 50 nations where Christians are most persecuted. This happens every year on the first Sunday of October. People are invited to celebrate and pray in their homes, in small groups, large groups, at Church and anywhere where Christians gather to seek the Lord, because the 10/40 Window is the ‘final frontier’ of world missions in order to finish the task given to the Church. Pray for powerful intercession this weekend to inspire more people to continue praying beyond October using nation profiles and prayer points. Pray for more Christians to learn about how to get involved in reaching the people of the 10/40 Window.