Displaying items by tag: British Isles

A report compiled by two committees, containing MPs from all parties, revealed that the early response to stop Covid spreading was a complete failure. Attempting herd immunity led to a delay in introducing the first lockdown and cost over 150,000 lives. The report covers a variety of successes and failures in 150 pages. MPs Jeremy Hunt and Greg Clark, chairing the committees, said the nature of the pandemic meant it was ‘impossible to get everything right’. ‘The UK has combined some big achievements with some big mistakes. It is vital to learn from both’, they said. Stephen Barclay said scientific advice had been followed and difficult judgments had been made to protect the NHS. A full public inquiry is expected in 2022, and the Government will not shy away from any lessons to be learned. Pray for the inquiry to have bereaved families at its heart.

Church weddings have fallen to a historic low, with fewer than one in four choosing a religious ceremony. Reverend Sue Davies-Fletcher said a church is a beautiful and special place in which to make really big marriage promises, celebrate love, and be blessed. Many couples who come to church to marry find themselves becoming part of a church community that can support them through their married life. The county's 600+ Anglican churches are often Grade I listed in stunning locations. The Archdeacon of Exeter said couples who had married in the midst of Covid might now like to consider a church blessing to celebrate their wedding with family and friends who could not previously attend their special day. Such a blessing might also take place on a special anniversary. Pray that getting married in a church will be much more than just tradition, and that God will speak clearly to the many couples who don't yet know Him.

The murder of Sarah Everard by a police officer caused a national outcry over gender-based crimes, and a new question: should misogyny be considered a hate crime? Activists, criminal justice experts, and opposition lawmakers say the definition of a hate crime should be expanded to ensure greater punishment for crimes of harassment, domestic abuse and stalking. But the government has so far ruled that out. Boris Johnson said the legislation currently in place was ‘abundant’ but not properly enforced. Widening the scope would increase the burden on police. Ruth Davison, CEO of the charity Refuge, said, ‘When did we ever take the scale of a problem as a reason not to act on it?’ Government statistics reveal that one in four women have experienced sexual assault, one in three women will face domestic abuse in their lifetime, and a woman is killed by a man every three days, with many cases involving domestic violence.

The UK wants to change the Brexit process to allow goods to circulate more freely between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as current rules impose too many barriers to the sale of products. The EU have set out proposals that involve reduced checks on goods and medicines. The January post-Brexit arrangement, the Northern Ireland Protocol, was introduced to help prevent border checks between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Both sides agree in differing degrees that the protocol poses many difficulties. EU and UK talks to reach a better arrangement are likely to go on for several weeks.

Gareth Stace, the director general of UK Steel, said that now was ‘not the time’ for Mr Johnson to go on holiday in Spain. He told him to ‘bang ministerial heads together’ after a row broke out between different departments as to how to resolve the energy crisis and stop factories having to cease production. The business secretary was accused of making misleading claims about offering energy bailouts to factories struggling with soaring costs. Mr Stace said the Government should ‘shield’ the steel industry from soaring energy costs in the short-term, or risk ‘a bigger bill for the taxpayer’. He said that the industry was not seeking subsidies, but an end to ‘policy costs’ to cover the transition towards renewables which have been ‘piled on - making them uncompetitive’. See also

At the time of writing there are 16 days to the start of COP26 in Glasgow when leaders from 197 nations will assemble and decide what to do about climate change. This will be the largest gathering of world leaders ever to take place in the UK. We can pray according to 1 Timothy 2:1-2 that God will inspire all in authority with understanding, wisdom and discernment. May they be as the men of Issachar and understand the times and know what to do. Pray for God to give His church clear directions for prayer in accordance with His will in the days leading up to the conference and during the event, and for His Kingdom before and during the conference so that ‘as the ‘kings of the earth take counsel together’ they will know that ‘they are but men’ (Psalm 9:19-20) and that God’s sovereign purposes will prevail (Proverbs 19:21; Isaiah 66:18).

At the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in September, the Bible Society's 'Psalm 23’ garden attracted much attention (bit.ly/bspsalm23). Many were touched by the garden, by the psalm that inspired it, and by the Good Shepherd himself. One visitor said, ‘I suffer from paranoid schizophrenia, I saw the garden and wanted to pray there. I’ve got a deep faith in God now, it's helping with the anxiety and voices’ (bit.ly/bs23josh). Others are now creating Psalm 23 gardens in their localities. As individuals, schools and communities read the psalm and plan their own gardens, pray that they will hear the Lord speaking and come to know Him as their Shepherd and dwell with Him for ever. We can thank God that nature and gardens are attracting many different spiritualities and therapies, though some will need sifting to align with the truth.

Mohamed Amersi, who partially funded Boris Johnson’s campaign to become prime minister, also advised the telecoms firm Telia, which in 2010 made a controversial $220m payment to a secretive offshore company. Oil executive Victor Fedotov, who gave £900,000 to 34 Tory MPs, made $4bn from allegedly corrupt Russian pipeline deals, and is currently seeking government approval for a controversial energy link between the UK and France. Lubov Chernukhin has given over £1.8m to the Conservatives since 2012. The secret offshore wealth she shares with her husband, a former Russian minister, includes a London house worth £38m and a £10m Oxfordshire mansion. Mrs Chernukhin's lawyers say she is a British citizen and is entitled to do as she wishes with her money. High-profile foreign politicians and UK political donors have over 1,500 UK properties, bought secretly using offshore firms worth £4bn. See also

The Universal Credit extra payments helping people through Covid have ended, amid fears that many lives will get worse not better this winter. 29-year-old Lynton Lockett is embarrassed to show people his kitchen. A leaking kitchen tap caused mould on the floor and walls. The dampness has brought an infestation of fruit flies. Lynton showed the kitchen to plumber James Anderson who runs a community initiative called DEPHER CIC that provides free heating and plumbing services to people who can't pay for them. James anticipates a 50% increase in calls for help this winter. He has started giving food parcels to struggling families. He said that the end of payments, the higher cost of living, a rise in gas prices and the end of furlough puts too much financial pressure on families. He added, ‘You can't hide the truth. If this continues, people are going to die.’ See also

Mary Onuoha, an operating theatre specialist at Croydon University Hospital, was bullied and pressured to remove her cross necklace while on duty. Mary says she was forced out of the job she loved after working there for 18 years. She is challenging the NHS trust for harassment, victimisation, and constructive unfair dismissal as they had breached her freedom to express her faith under the European Convention of Human Rights and the Equality Act. In August 2018 bosses ordered her to remove the cross which was a breach of NHS dress code and a ‘health risk’ to her and to patients. Mary argues that the dress code was applied inconsistently. Other nurses were not asked to remove jewellery, hijabs, saris, turbans or religious bracelets. Also Mary wore several lanyards at the same time with no anti-strangle clasps, yet her cross supposedly posed ‘a risk of injury or infection’.