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In the News

  • Guardian: Government warns NUS to stop opposition to Prevent strategy
    September 17th, 2015
    The National Union of Students (NUS) has been told by the government to abandon its opposition to the Prevent strategy designed to counter the spread of extremism in England and Wales.
     
    The warning comes as David Cameron’s extremism task force meets for the first time in this parliament on Thursday, and peers prepare to vote on the new guidelines tightening the rules that allow extremists speakers on university campuses only so long as they are challenged.
     
    The Home Office is concerned peers could reject the regulations, which are due to come into force next week, on the grounds they inhibit free speech and thought on campuses.
  • Telegraph: British universities that give the floor to extremist speakers are named and shamed
    September 17th, 2015

    King’s College London, Queen Mary University and SOAS among institutions Prime Minister will name and shame for giving platforms to hate preachers who are determined to undermine British values.

  • Telegraph: Justin Welby launches 'last throw of the dice' to avert worldwide Anglican split
    September 16th, 2015
    The Archbishop of Canterbury is preparing to gamble his legacy on a high-stakes plan to overhaul the 80 million-strong worldwide Anglican church in what he sees as a “last throw of the dice” to avert a permanent split over issues such as homosexuality.
     
    The Most Rev Justin Welby has invited the heads of all the other Anglican churches – some of whom have not spoken directly to each other for more than a decade amid a deep liberal-conservative split – to a make-or-break meeting in Canterbury in January.

    He wants them not only to acknowledge the rift but effectively formalise it by scaling the Anglican Communion back into a loosely linked organisation – a step aides liken to “moving into separate bedrooms” rather than full-scale divorce.
  • BBC: First Irish same-sex marriage ceremonies expected within months
    September 16th, 2015
    The first same-sex marriages in the Republic of Ireland are expected within months after cabinet ministers were given details of the new legislation.
     
    It follows an historic referendum in May, when 62% of the electorate voted in favour of introducing gay marriage.

    Irish Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald brought the Marriage Bill before ministers on Wednesday morning.

    Her spokesman told the BBC the minister hoped the first ceremonies would take place "before the end of this year".
  • Mail: UK 'could quit human rights court'
    September 16th, 2015
    Britain's top law officer last night said he 'doesn't know' if the UK will still be signed up to controversial European human rights law by 2020.
     
    The comments by Attorney General Jeremy Wright are the strongest hint yet that the Government will quit if Strasbourg does not stop its meddling.
     
    Mr Wright also dismissed claims that Britain walking away from the European Convention on Human Rights would set a bad example to the rest of the world.
     
    He said there were many countries in the world with proud human rights records which were not members.
     
    His predecessor, Dominic Grieve, had insisted that leaving the Convention would turn us into 'a pariah state by European standards'.
  • Huffington Post: Kentucky clerk Kim Davis suffers yet another loss in federal court
    September 16th, 2015
    Rowan County clerk Kim Davis of Kentucky suffered another legal setback Tuesday when a federal appeals court denied her request to be exempted from a gubernatorial directive to comply with the Supreme Court's June decision on same-sex marriage.
     
    In a short order, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit noted that "Davis has not demonstrated a substantial likelihood of success on her federal constitutional claims."
     
    This dispute -- which is separate from Davis' legal challenge to an August court order instructing Davis to issue marriage licenses to gay couples -- stems from a countersuit she filed against Gov. Steve Beshear (D), whom she has argued is partly responsible for her present court troubles.
  • Guardian: Irish stars call for abortion reform
    September 16th, 2015

    Authors, directors, actors and musicians have joined the campaign for the repeal of Ireland’s eighth amendment, which gives a foetus the same constitutional rights as every other citizen in the Irish Republic, even at the earliest stages of pregnancy.

  • Christian Today: Christian lobbyists say Sunday trading proposals could harm family life
    September 15th, 2015
    Christian campaigners are making a final plea to stop the Government lifting restrictions on Sunday trading.
     
    In the summer budget, the government announced its intention of relaxing the Sunday trading laws to allow larger stores to remain open all day on Sunday. The Government's subsequent consultation on the proposals closes tomorrow and CARE are among numerous Christian lobbying groups to oppose the changes.

    "The government cannot devolve their responsibility to uphold and protect the family," said CARE CEO, Nola Leach.
     
    "They made it clear all policy proposals would be subjected to a family test, in order to guard against policies that might otherwise undermine family life but clearly that was not the case with the plans to extend Sunday Trading."
  • Life News: Planned Parenthood sells “fresh” aborted baby eyes, hearts and “gonads”
    September 15th, 2015

    This latest video from The Center for Medical Progress catches Planned Parenthood selling specific body parts — including the heart, eyes and “gonads” of unborn babies.The video also shows the shocking ways in which Planned Parenthood officials admit that they are breaking federal law by selling aborted baby body parts for profit.

    The 10th video by The Center for Medical Progress features several top-level Planned Parenthood executives discussing the organization’s secretive practices around aborted fetal parts harvesting. The video includes comments from Deborah VanDerhei, the National Director of the organization’s Consortium of Abortion Providers, describing the harvesting of fetal body parts as “donation for remuneration.”

  • Morning Star: Prevent strategy will destroy teacher and pupil relations - TUC 2015
    September 15th, 2015
    Britain's “disastrous foreign policy” is responsible for the rise in extremism among young people, teachers said yesterday.
     
    A motion arguing that the government’s counter-extremist Prevent strategy “could destroy relationships between teachers and learners” was unanimously passed by TUC Congress.
     
    Moved by teaching union NASUWT, it said that provisions requiring teachers to spy on and report pupils at risk of being polarised would “close down space for open discussion in a safe and secure environment and smother the legitimate expression of political opinion.”