British Isles

2019: small businesses

21 Dec 2018
As Brexit negotiations hit critical stages, the Federation of Small Businesses has published a guide which outlines the main outcomes and describes what good contingency plans should cover. Pray for our business leaders…

2019: potential agriculture labour shortage

21 Dec 2018
Machines can replace human hands in some farming but not when harvesting many types of fruit or vegetables. Growers rely heavily on people for all these jobs in season and out of season.…

Pray for our prodigals

21 Dec 2018
Tens of thousands of people have prodigal family members. The dictionary defines a prodigal as extravagant, a big spender. The word describes the son in the well-known parable: does it also describe the…

Homeless people's deaths up 24%

21 Dec 2018
597 homeless people died in England and Wales in 2017, compared to 482 in 2013. 84% of this figure were men, and over 50% were because of drug poisoning, liver disease caused by…

Drones cause chaos at Gatwick

21 Dec 2018
Gatwick Airport reopened on 21 December, after drones caused it to shut down for 40 hours. Thousands of passengers remain stranded, while police have not yet found the operator, who could be an…

Important role of cyber security

21 Dec 2018
Unfortunately cybercrime is increasing. We are twenty times more likely to be robbed while at our computer by overseas criminals than in the street. On 18 December a new security operations centre for…

Brexit - what might happen?

14 Dec 2018
On 12 December, a majority of Conservative MPs declared their confidence in Theresa May as party leader. The next day she went to Brussels to talk to EU leaders, who have told her…

The Nolan principles and our leaders

14 Dec 2018
The Government website states, ‘The Nolan principles are the basis of the ethical standards expected of public office holders’. Let’s pray for our leaders to conform to these seven principles as they walk…

UK cyber-security

14 Dec 2018
Recently, questions were raised around UK complacency regarding cyber-security. Australia and New Zealand have refused to allow the Chinese firm Huawei to supply mobile networks with 5G equipment, saying it posed ‘significant security…

Homelessness at Christmas

14 Dec 2018
Solicitors working on legal aid housing contracts have to turn people away every day, but there is nowhere to send them, so many become homeless (see). In Scotland on 8 December, Sleep in…