UK & Ireland in Brief

In July Pilgrims’ Friend Society’s assisted living complex in Evington, Leicester, won the ‘Housing our Ageing Population Panel for Innovation’ (HAPPI) award.

Just 13 out of 151 entries were chosen across various categories as winners of an award – and Pilgrim Gardens in Evington came first! Pilgrims’ Friend Society (PFS) has been asked if the government Housing & Communities Agency can make a site visit, with 20 attendees, as a learning exercise for their Vulnerable and Older Persons Housing Agenda (VOPAG).

Proposals to allow three-parent babies will be pushed forward by the government, despite more than 60% of people opposing the plans in a consultation, it was announced on July 22, as the responses to a 12-week government consultation were released.

Figures showed that, of 1,857 responses, 1,152 opposed the idea of three-parent babies, while 700 ‘expressed general support’. The remainder did not come down on either side.

Cornwall now has the Bible online, it was reported in late July.

The New Testament and Psalms are available in Cornish as a downloadable app. Translators say it makes the Bible ‘really accessible’ for people, who can now get it on their smartphones. There are an estimated 500 fluent Cornish speakers and a further 3-4,000 who can hold a conversation in Cornish.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) announced on August 14 that it wants to hear from individuals or organisations about actual experiences of how their religion or belief has affected them in the workplace and in using the services and facilities they need in everyday life

For example, have you ever felt prevented from expressing or talking about your faith at work or had a complaint made against you for doing so? The research will inform future advice to employers and government. Respond at www.equalityhumanrights.com

The Evangelical Alliance’s complaint about an offensive advertisement by the gambling organisation Sporting Index, which was published in June by City AM newspaper, was upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in August.

The ruling, published on August 6 on their website, found that the June 10 advertisement, in which the Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil was digitally altered, breached three sections of their code. The image of the statue was graphically altered and shown to be holding a bottle of booze in the right hand with the left arm around a bikini-clad model over the caption: ‘There’s a more exciting side to Brazil’.