These articles were first published in our December edition of the newspaper, click here for more.
On 31 October, under the Serious Crime Act. it became a criminal offence not to report incidents of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
Children are often taken abroad for this practice to be carried out. However there is a belief that the law is now inconsistent, as there is no compulsion to report other forms of child abuse. A public consultation on mandatory reporting is pending.
WEST appointed in November Dr Robert Letham as Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology and Dr Michael Reeves as Professor of Theology, in acknowledgement of the high level of academic scholarship and international standing they have both achieved in their field.
WEST recognised the exceptional quality of all in the Faculty, within which they aim to see continued growth with the ongoing development of Union, the online theological resource site launched in Sept 2015.
David Cameron told MPs that children will remain protected by ‘family-friendly filters’ online, despite a European Parliament vote in November threatening pornography blocks.
Responding to a question from Conservative MP Amanda Solloway, Mr Cameron said that the Government would act to help parents. The European Parliament had backed a regulation which said Internet companies must treat all traffic equally, ‘without discrimination, restriction or interference’.
Nearly half of all Christians have put a legacy gift in their will compared to just seven per cent of the general population, it was reported in October.
However, according to a study by Christian Research, only five per cent of Christians see legacy giving as a way of impacting future generations. Howard Barker, Head of Legacy Giving at Bible Society, said: ‘It’s surprising that so few people realise how important these [legacy] gifts are to charities. At Bible Society, one in three of the Bibles we provide are paid for by legacies.’
As en went to print, the Government was caused to put on hold its proposals to amend Sunday Trading laws that would allow big shops to open for more than six hours on Sundays.
This was in response to a threat by 56 SNP MPs to join up to 30 Conservatives in voting against the move. The Government denied a U-turn and said they were ‘considering the next step’ to be announced ‘in due course’.
A pro-life healthcare centre opened in Belfast in mid-October directly to oppose Northern Ireland’s only private abortion clinic.
The Stanton Healthcare clinic is on the same street as the Marie Stopes branch, which was opened amid widespread criticism in 2012. The pro-life centre is the first Stanton clinic to open outside of America, providing free medical support including ultrasounds and post-abortion counselling.
On 1 December, Aisling Hubert is seeking a judicial review of costs associated with her bid to hold gender-abortion doctors to account.
In March, a judge awarded £25,000 in costs against Aisling, after the Crown Prosecution Service intervened and dropped her case. ‘This is another example of prohibitive cost orders being used to deter important legal challenges’, said Andrea Williams.
The Government has blocked controversial plans to build a mega-mosque in east London, it was reported in late October.
Radical Islamic sect Tablighi Jamaat has been campaigning for 16 years to build the huge mosque but ministers have upheld Newham council's decision in 2012 to reject the plan.