These articles were first published in our November edition of the newspaper, click here for more.
Coalition for Marriage (C4M), the UK’s largest pro-marriage organisation, appointed a new Campaign Director in late September.
Thomas Pascoe, a former journalist and manager of an international development project, replaced Colin Hart. Mr Pascoe has been advising C4M on its campaign strategy
More than a quarter of English secondary schools are failing to offer religious education, research by the Department for Education (DfE) indicated in September.
Data gathered by the DfE and obtained under a Freedom of Information request shows that 26% of secondary schools are not offering RE lessons. Among academies, which comprise most secondary schools, 34% do not offer RE to 11-13-year-olds and 44 % are not offering it to 14-16-year-olds.
A quarter of young women believe sending sexual pictures is a ‘normal part of relationships’, while 16% have felt pressure to send such images, a poll revealed in mid-September.
The figures from Girlguiding also expose concerning levels of sexual harassment at school and a strong belief that the advertising industry should curb its use of sexualised images. Nearly 2,000 girls and young women, ranging in age from seven to 21, were questioned for the Girls’ Attitudes Survey 2017. In August a Bluewater shopping centre branch of Missguided, the clothes store, was asked to remove a sign saying ‘Send me nudes’.
Over 650 doctors (10% of all doctors in this one medical field ) signed a letter stating how ‘completely unacceptable’ it was that the majority of doctors were denied the chance to take part in a vote on 22 September which resulted in support for the removal of criminal sanctions associated with abortion.
Just 33 council members of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) voted. The RCOG issued a statement saying they were pleased with the result.
Schools in the UK will be rated for how ‘trans-friendly’ they are by an education review group, it was announced at the end of September.
Bernadette John, a director at the Good Schools Guide, announced the move and said the issue of transsexualism in schools has been ‘building up’ in recent months. John said ‘inspectors’ from the guide will ‘certainly be asking headmasters [sic]’ in the future about their treatment of transsexual pupils.
The BBC responded to complaints about comments made of the Christian group Christian Concern on the Victoria Derbyshire show in September.
Likening them to ISIS, the comment made by Jane Fae, a transgender activist, went unchallenged. The broadcaster conceded that ‘it would have been better if Victoria had challenged this comparison, but as the item was live and in its final seconds, the opportunity passed’.