Cameron’s EU budget veto is a powerful tool for change
A motion will be debated on Wednesday 7th November in the British Parliament calling for a cut in the EU budget. The EU’s next long-term budget running between 2014 and 2020, will be discussed at an PEU summit on 22 and 23 November. David Cameron wants a ‘real terms freeze’ (based on the cash that was paid out from the 2011 EU budget). Wednesday’s Parliamentary debate is not binding, but if Labour MPs side with Tory backbenchers it could be embarrassing for the Government. The discussion is generally confused. The Times reported Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls and Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander, stating ‘Labour would argue against any proposed increase in EU spending and instead support a budget cut. We believe these goals are difficult but achievable with the right approach from the UK.’ (see http://openeuropeblog.blogspot.co.uk/ )
Pray: for the UK and other countries, with rebate or budget corrections due to expire in 2013, to experience a just and honest resolution to their disputes. (Pr.3:9-10)
Christians join in anti-austerity protests
A network of Christians working against government cuts have urged ministers to not ‘punish the poor for the sins of the rich’. Christianity Uncut http://christianityuncut.wordpress.com/ marched with thousands of people of many religions or none in London, Belfast and Glasgow on Sunday for ‘A Future That Works’. The group said that many churches are witnessing the effects of growing poverty, unemployment and homelessness in their own communities. They urge Christians to be at the forefront of campaigns looking for alternatives, such as a crackdown on corporate tax dodging, the cancellation of the Trident nuclear weapons system and a cap on private sector rents. Sally Rush, from Milton Keynes, joined the march in London and said: ‘As a Christian, as well as part of the wider society, I believe I have a responsibility to campaign against the causes of poverty as well as working to minimise the effects’
Pray: that as Christians we make it our responsibility to stand up for our Christian principles and ideals. (Ro.8:38a)
More: http://religiousintelligence.org/churchnewspaper/?p=28869
Scots Council removes prayer from agenda after threatsof legal action
Highland Council has removed prayer from its formal meeting agenda after secularists threatened legal action. The decades-old tradition will now be held prior to the formal meeting, in a move criticised by one Councillor as a ‘manifestation of political correctness’. The National Secular Society (NSS) wrote to the Council in the summer calling for the saying of prayers to be dropped or face legal action. A note was then written to all 80 Councillors in the Highlands stating that,‘Time for Prayer and Reflection will be undertaken at 10.30am in the chamber in future for those who wish to attend. This will be preceded by the bell to signal commencement. A second bell will ring to inform Councillors the meeting is about to start, five minutes later than normal, at 10.35am’. But Inverness Councillor Roddy Balfour criticised the move although he said the authority’s hand had been forced. (See Prayer Alert 28-2012)
Pray: that despite the move by the Highland Council these developments will be reversed in answer to our prayers. (Ps.119:169-170)
More: http://www.christian.org.uk/news/scots-council-removes-prayer-from-agenda-after-legal-threats/
NHS kills 130,000 elderly patients every year
Assisted suicide is illegal in the UK, but on the 10th anniversary of the first British citizen visiting Dignitas a senior NHS consultant claimed doctors are prematurely ending the lives of thousands of elderly patients because they are difficult to manage or to free up beds. Professor Patrick Pullicino said hospitals use a controversial ‘death pathway’ (equivalent to euthanasia) when there was no clear evidence for initiating a method of care designed for use when death is imminent. ‘Far too often elderly patients who could live longer are placed on the pathway and it had now become an assisted death pathway rather than a care pathway.’ The professor revealed he had personally intervened to take a patient off the pathway to be successfully treated and then live a further 14 months.
Pray: that this issue will continue to be highlighted in the media until action is taken to implement more appropriate techniques of care for those terminally ill in NHS hospitals. (Mat.25:36)
