A High Court judge in May granted permission for a Judicial Review of the liberalisation of the prosecution policy in relation to the law on assisted suicide.
An October amendment to the policy made the prosecution of healthcare professionals in assisted suicide cases less likely. Granting permission, Lord Justice Bean said that the granting of this review said nothing about the strength of the claim, except that it was not frivolous.
Greens and polygamy
Pink News / Christian Concern
Natalie Bennett said in May that the Green Party is ‘open’ to considering the recognition of polyamorous relationships.
She told a man describing himself as in a ‘stable relationship’ with two other men: ‘At present, we do not have a policy on civil partnerships involving more than two people ...[but] we have led the way on many issues related to the liberalisation of legal status in adult consenting relationships, and we are open to further conversation and consultation.’
Lost in translation
Archbishop Cranmer
It was reported that a service in Westminster Abbey which included an exhortation in Turkish included a reference to ‘The Chosen One’ with the ‘one’ not being a reference to Jesus, but to Mohammed.
The name ‘Mustafa’ was used, which is an epithet ascribed by Muslims to Mohammed which translates as ‘The Chosen One’. The Abbey did not offer a translation of this term, which, rendered in English during a Christian service, would have caused undoubted offence.
NI: abort ethics
Christian Concern
It was reported in early April that Northern Ireland’s Justice Minister plans to change the law to allow abortion in certain circumstances.
David Ford says that abortions would only be allowed when doctors believed the baby would die in the womb or soon after birth due to fatal abnormalities.
Price of justice?
Christian Concern
Aisling Hubert, has been hit with a £25,000 bill in her attempt to bring a private prosecution against doctors who offered ‘gender abortions’ as the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) took over and derailed her case.
A judge ordered Aisling to pay the legal costs of one of the doctors, effectively punishing Aisling for seeking justice for unborn children. The CPS holds a key piece of evidence which it says she needs to proceed with the case, but the CPS has refused to hand over that evidence.
Porn warning for teens
The Christian Institute
An NHS psychiatrist has warned that teenagers who watch pornography may struggle to recognise that it does not portray normal sexual behaviour.
Writing for the Daily Mail, Dr Max Pemberton said he was ‘horrified’ and ‘worried’ by what teenagers are seeing online. Young people are vulnerable to the effects of pornography because their brains are still developing.
