“We really want to try and keep charities and voluntary groups out of the realms of politics,” Brooks Newmark MP, the new Minister for Charities said. “The important thing charities should be doing is sticking to their knitting”. We agree. So last month, up and down our country, thousands of …
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‘Gambling: Sin, Vice or Legitimate Leisure Activity? Challenges for thoughtful Christians’
The 2014 Beckly Lecture took place on Tuesday 1 July at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel, alongside the Methodist Conference. Philip Graf CBE, Chair of the Gambling Commission delivered the lecture entitled ‘Gambling: Sin, Vice or Legitimate Leisure Activity? Challenges for thoughtful …
Theology and other ways to waste time
In the second of this week’s blogs on child poverty, Nigel Varndell from The Children’s Society explains why they waste time on theology. According to the story, an American theologian once challenged his student class and his congregation to shout out the first word that came into their mind …
Why do we focus poverty on the young?
In the first of this weeks blogs on child povertywe look at why the youngest are also the poorest – and why this trend is set to intensify Children are the age group most likely to live in poverty. Children are the age-group hardest hit by austerity. We now have multiple reputable analyses – …
Churches respond to Government’s draft Child Poverty Strategy
The Baptist, Methodist and United Reformed Churches have responded to the UK Government draft “Child Poverty Strategy”. The Child Poverty Act requires the government to update and publish its plan to end Child Poverty by 2020. This target was agreed by all parties and subsequently enshrined in law, …
The Scottish Referendum debate – it’s transforming politics
With over four months still to go to the referendum on Scottish independence, you might be forgiven for thinking that people have had enough of it. It’s true that since the SNP landslide in 2011 there has been a bit of a ‘neverendum’, with the question overhanging everything relating to public …
Freud, Foodbanks and Deliberate Ignorance
Lord Freud, the Minister for Welfare Reform, has again been asked for an explanation of the extraordinary rise in Foodbanks use. Remarkably he managed to produce another implausible answer which also contradicted his two previous contradictory and implausible answers. He stated to the House of …
Truth and Lies… about foodbanks
Last week I was sent a link to two blogs about food banks, both on highly reputable websites. As co-ordinator of JPIT’s work on this subject the sender thought, rightly, I’d be interested. Indeed, my heart leapt when I saw the title of one – by Katie Hopkins – was ‘The Real Reason Food Banks Have …
Five Christians on trial today
The United Reformed Church (URC) has issued a statement on the Arms Trade as five Christians go on trial today for blocking the London Arms Fair in September 2013. The DSEI fair describes itself as “the world leading defence and security event” and entertains arms buyers from around the globe, …
Dear Daily Mail, This isn’t a competition
The Daily Mail has joined the call for the UK 11 billion overseas aid budget to be used to aid people affected by floods in the UK. Of course we are concerned for those in the UK whose homes have been flooded or who find themselves cut off. Every day we hear people’s distress and despair at the …