PA: British Isles & Ireland
Friday, 03 January 2020 09:57
Youngsters with knives at school
Between April 2017 and December 2019, Kent police investigated 109 children for possessing, or threatening with, an offensive weapon or blade at school. Two children, aged seven and nine, were not prosecuted for knife-related offences because…
Friday, 03 January 2020 09:54
Personal debt crisis
Britain's personal debt mountain is growing. Households borrowed an extra £20bn on credit cards and have £45bn more personal debt than they did a decade ago – an increase of 25%. In 2019, total unsecured debt…
Friday, 03 January 2020 09:51
Church discourages bias against women
CofE staff are being given ‘unconscious bias training’ in a bid to see an equal gender split across its leadership by 2030. The Bishop of London, Sarah Mullally, said, 'I certainly think that having women as…
Thursday, 19 December 2019 23:39
‘Let the healing begin’
1 Timothy 2:2 tells us to ‘pray for all who are in high positions’. Boris Johnson’s first speech after the election urged ‘everyone, on either side of an increasingly arid three and a half year argument,…
Thursday, 19 December 2019 23:37
Quakers challenge the new government
Quakers in Britain are challenging Boris Johnson’s new government to give priority to its promise to take action on climate breakdown. They are urging him to ensure that the economic transition puts the most marginalised people…
Thursday, 19 December 2019 23:34
Children told not to sing ‘Lord’ in carol
The headteacher of a London primary school ruled that children should sing ‘baby boy Jesus’, not ‘little Lord Jesus’ in the carol Away in a manger (so that pupils of all beliefs could join in). Children…