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In the News

  • Guardian: Churches and charities fill asylum vacuum left by 'lukewarm' state
    April 3rd, 2017

    In what was once a vicar's living room, tucked behind a church in Newcastle upon Tyne, three-year-old Farah Alhrahshi chose from a crate of plastic toys while her mother, Kafa, picked through racks of secondhand clothing for anything warm and roughly the right size.

    "All the clothes we have come from here," she said, gesturing at her outfit.

    'Here' is the West End Refugee Service (WERS), one of hundreds of groups and initiatives that have become more and more crucial in providing support to asylum seekers and refugees in the face of scant government involvement.

    Read more.

  • Mail: Watch porn before a first date for success
    April 3rd, 2017

    Watching porn before a first date makes it more likely to go well, a study has found.

    'Sexual priming' before a date can make men and women more open and outgoing.

    The study of 246 heterosexual undergraduates by psychologist Professor Birnbaum found that merely thinking about sex makes people more likely to disclose personal information.

    Read more. 

  • Iona Institute: More evidence of the immense importance of marriage and biological parents
    April 3rd, 2017

    Evidence keeps accumulating about the importance of marriage, and the importance of being raised by your biological parents. This should matter to us if we want to live in a society that is truly pro-child and is not in reality organised around the wishes of adults first and foremost.

    Three articles have just been published that further point to the importance of marriage and biological parents. The first shows that in Europe, just like in the US, marriage is a lot more stable than cohabitation.

    The second shows that children born to single mothers benefit more by having their biological father join them than when another man does so.

    Read more.

  • Herald Scotland (£): Think tanks says Catholic state schools 'no better' than non-denominational sector
    April 3rd, 2017

    CATHOLIC schools are no better at providing education than their non-denominational counterparts, according to a think tank.

    Many denominational state schools have a good record of tackling inequality and some are amongst the best in the country for exam results.

    However, a study by left of centre think tank the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said there was no evidence to suggest Catholic schools did better overall once pupil intake had been taken into account.

    The report concluded that devolving more power to all state schools was the best way to raise standards.

    Read more. 

  • Telegraph: Religion now the butt of workplace humour as sexist jokes have become taboo, survey finds
    April 3rd, 2017

    Religion has become the butt of workplace jokes as workers who would never make sexist or racist comments mock belief instead, a survey has found.

    A study by ComRes found that up to a million workers may have faced harassment, discrimination or bullying because of their religion or belief.

    The report's authors suggested that this tended to be in the form of "lower level exclusion" which people did not bother to report because they did not feel it was serious enough.  

    Read more. 

  • BBC: Row as tampon tax cash goes to anti-abortion charity Life
    April 2nd, 2017

    A £250,000 grant to an anti-abortion group - using money raised from the tax on sanitary products - has been criticised.

    MPs and campaign groups said it was wrong that Life received one of the largest amounts from the government fund that comes from the 5% VAT on tampons and towels.

    Life said the money supported a project for homeless pregnant women in London.

    The government said the latest £12m of funding benefitted 70 UK charities.

    Read more. 

  • Life: Life welcomes more resources for vulnerable women
    April 2nd, 2017

    Life welcomes the announcement that it is among a list of charities to receive money from the Tampon Tax fund to support vulnerable women in crisis.

    Life has been awarded a grant of £250,000 which will be used to develop our services for women which includes housing, practical help, non-directive counselling and life-skills training for pregnant and homeless women.

    Read more.

  • BBC: Extremism in prisons to be tackled by specialist task force
    April 2nd, 2017

    A specialist team of counter-terrorism experts aimed at tackling extremism in prisons is being launched on Monday.

    The 100-strong task force will train staff on how to deter offenders from being radicalised and advise jails on how to deal with dangerous prisoners.

    It will be the "nerve centre" for all counter-terrorism work across prisons and the probation service.

    The Ministry of Justice said the team builds on progress already made to address extremism in prisons.

    Read more. 

  • Gatestone Institute: Londonistan: 423 New Mosques; 500 Closed Churches
    April 2nd, 2017

    "London is more Islamic than many Muslim countries put together", according to Maulana Syed Raza Rizvi, one of the Islamic preachers who now lead "Londonistan", as the journalist Melanie Phillips has called the English capital. No, Rizvi is not a right-wing extremist. Wole Soyinka, a Nobel Laureate for Literature, was less generous; he called the UK "a cesspit for Islamists".

    "Terrorists can not stand London multiculturalism", London's mayor Sadiq Khan said after the recent deadly terror attack at Westminster. The opposite is true: British multiculturalists are feeding Islamic fundamentalism. Above all, Londonistan, with its new 423 mosques, is built on the sad ruins of English Christianity.

    Read more.

  • Deutsche Welle: CSU plans family-centered campaign, as Germans warm to gay marriage
    April 2nd, 2017

    While the Bavarian premier is proposing an election targeted at traditional families, a poll has shown a large majority favoring "marriage for all." German law currently prevents gay couples from adopting children.

    In an interview with the "Bild am Sonntag" newspaper, the head of the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU), the partner to Chancellor Merkel's CDU, has set out what he believes should be a central theme of the election campaign for the September federal vote.

    Read more.