UK News
UK News
UK News
Articles - The Misuse of Hate Laws
SCOTS SPEAK FOR ENGLAND ON RELIGIOUS HATRED BILL
British Christian Media Group Concerned About Scottish Debate
By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service
LONDON, ENGLAND / EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND (ANS)
-Jan 28/06- A leading Christian media group in the United Kingdom has
spoken out regarding their concern about the English Racial and Religious Hatred
Bill that lies in the hands of Scottish MPs.
Upon hearing that the Scottish Parliament are able to vote on the future of the
Racial and Religious Hatred Bill in England, London's Premier Christian Radio
contacted each Member of the Scottish Parliament in an attempt to dissuade them
from supporting the Bill in England.
According to a media release obtained by ANS, Premier Radio has repeatedly
campaigned against the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill in England, taking a
petition signed by over 35,000 British citizens to Ten Downing Street and
attracting media coverage from across the country.
Peter Kerridge, Chief Executive for Premier, reminded Tony Blair in October:
"If applied with the wrong motives, the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill
could undermine civil liberties in a democratic society; it could also stop
Christians legitimately proclaiming their faith and expressing accepted
Christian teachings."
Premier Radio was keen to remind Scottish MPs that when similar legislation was
considered in Scotland, it was rejected.
At that time, the Scottish Executive concluded that, "A law against
incitement to religious hatred could conceivably be used to prevent public
preaching that the adherents of other faiths were in error."
They continued: "A law against incitement to religious hatred might also
hinder people from discussing openly their concerns about particular religious
practices that they might regard as harmful, whether within their own or another
faith. We therefore concluded that no specific offence of incitement should be
proposed." (Scottish Exec Working Group).
Kerridge, commented: "In light of the rejection of such legislation in
Scotland, MPs with constituencies in Scotland are in an extremely difficult
position to defend their vote for such legislation in the rest of the UK.
Firstly this Bill does not affect their constituencies. Secondly, members of the
Scottish Working Group have quite clearly expressed their opposition to such a
law."
Rev. George Hargreaves, a member of the Scottish Christian Party, commented to
Premier: "It would seem morally wrong for Scottish Westminster MPs to vote
for an English and Welsh Bill that has already been dismissed as inappropriate
for Scottish constituents."
A final word from Kerridge: "Only the other day Gordon Brown and New Labour
encouraged British citizens to adopt an approach of unity to our values. What
could divide us more than separate laws for our freedom of speech?"
Oops: British government claims not to have known they would Wake
up radicals in Islamic World.
Blair
"Surprised"
by Scale of Insurgency
BRIGHTON, England - Sept 25/05 - YahooNws - Prime Minister Tony Blair defended Britain's commitment to stay in Iraq, calling it "crucial for security of the world" but conceded on Sunday he was surprised by the ferocity of the insurgency.
Blair, a firm ally of President Bush in the conflict, said he had not set a deadline for withdrawing some 8,500 British soldiers from Iraq. "There is no arbitrary date being set."
"But I have absolutely no doubt as to what we should do. We should stick with it," the prime minister told the British Broadcasting Corp. at the start of the annual Labour Party conference.
"There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that what is happening in Iraq now is crucial for our own security," Blair said. "Never mind the security of Iraq or the greater Middle East. It is crucial for the security of the world."
Blair conceded he had not expected it to be so difficult to restore order in Iraq following the U.S.-led invasion. "No, I didn't expect quite the same sort of ferocity," he said
Although Blair's party won a historic third term in office, its huge parliamentary lead was slashed, raising questions about Blair's leadership.
Blair insisted that two soldiers arrested last week after allegedly shooting two Iraqi policemen would not be handed over to Iraqi authorities. The men, operating undercover, were rescued from prison by a British armored patrol. Residents rioted, attacking a British patrol.
Full
Story Here
Opus Dei gains ground in England
NCR - Jan 21/05 - In a sign that an old wound may have healed in Catholic England, priests from
Opus Dei have been assigned a parish in the Westminster archdiocese, and the controversial group now counts the up-and-coming minister of education in the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair among its members.
"Opus Dei is coming in from the cold," one church official in England told NCR, referring to the more ambivalent reception the group had received under the late Cardinal Basil Hume.
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor of Westminster announced Jan. 9 that an Opus Dei priest, Fr. Gerard Sheehan, would take over as pastor of St. Thomas More Parish in London's Swiss Cottage neighborhood. The parish is located near a residence for university students operated by Opus Dei, called
Netherhall. The parish includes a nearby low-income housing project, as well as two middle- to upper-class areas, and has an estimated Sunday Mass attendance of 500.
St. Thomas More becomes one of a handful of parishes around the world entrusted to the clergy of Opus Dei. In the United States, the lone Opus Dei parish is St. Mary of the Angels in Chicago in Rome, Opus Dei is responsible for
Sant' Eugenio Parish, built by Opus Dei and presented to Pope Pius XII.
Prior to entrusting the parish to Opus Dei, Murphy-O'Connor consulted with his archbishop's council, the canons of the Westminster cathedral, and his brother bishops, all of whom, according to sources in England, approved the move.
Full Story Here:
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1141/is_12_41/ai_n9510524
Saturday, November 5, 2005
England's Last Stand ? MORE BRITONS BELIEVE IN GHOSTS THAN IN GOD
By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service
LONDON, ENGLAND (ANS) - Nov 5/05 - It may be Britain's inclement weather or the country's ancient Druidic and superstitious history, but more Britons believe in ghosts than in God, according to an informal survey published on Halloween.
Of 2,012 people who completed a questionnaire, 68 percent said they believed in the existence of ghosts and spirits, while 55 percent said they believed in the existence of a god.
According to a story circulated by The Associated Press (AP), the Halloween survey was carried out by retailer
ChoicesUK. However, since it was not a random sample, its findings do
not represent a statistically valid barometer of British opinion.
The AP story says that some 26 percent said they believed in the existence of unidentified flying objects, or UFOs, while 19 percent believed in reincarnation. Just 4 percent admitted believing that the Loch Ness Monster was more than a myth.
The survey reveals that of those who believed in ghosts, 12 percent said they had actually seen an apparition and 76 percent said that TV reality shows about the supernatural and films like the spooky "Blair Witch Project" had
played a part in convincing them that ghouls
exist.
"We want to believe in ghosts more than ever and are far more likely to take the word of a reality documentary or convincing movie than hearsay or ancient ghost stories," ChoicesUK spokesman David Rich said.
He added: "Seeing it with our own eyes helps feed our imagination and makes the unbelievable believable."
Honor Restored in WWII Military Service - Prisoner's list proves Gurkha lifeline
Remnants of the British Empire
Wartime records held by Captain O'Neal (c) helped hundreds of Gurkhas
BBC - Dec 30/05 - In November 2003 the British government decided to pay £10,000 ($17,000) to each of its soldiers who were interned in Japanese prisoner-of-war camps during World War II.
Among those who were eligible were the Gurkhas of Nepal, who fought for Britain. But the team sent to Kathmandu to discover which Gurkhas were eligible faced an almost insuperable task of identifying who had served in the war.
Many looked as if they would never benefit from the payout, since few had the papers necessary to prove that they had been captured.
And there the story might have ended, had an article outlining the problem not appeared in the UK's Daily Telegraph newspaper.
The sad tale of the Gurkhas was read almost by accident by Veronica O'Neal, the widow of Captain Peter O'Neal, who had served with the Gurkhas.
"I don't usually read newspapers," says Mrs O'Neal, "so it was quite extraordinary that I saw the article at all. But having seen it, I realised that I had a list of Gurkhas that my husband had kept, up in a suitcase in my loft. And I felt I had to contact someone and let them know."
Mrs O'Neal remembered the papers in her loft
In Mrs O'Neal's loft were sheets of thin paper, typed in Rangoon at the end of World War II. They contained the names of 1,000 Gurkhas who had been imprisoned by the Japanese.
Captain O'Neal was captured along with his men following the fall of Malaya (the former name for peninsular Malaysia) in 1942. He was interned in a series of prisoner of war camps, and made to work on the notorious Burma railway.
It is not known exactly how many Gurkhas were imprisoned by the Japanese, but Britain's Ministry of Defence estimates that they numbered around 3,000.
List buried
As adjutant of the Second Battalion, First Gurkha Rifles, Captain O'Neal felt it incumbent on him to keep a list of all the men under his command. So he recorded all his troops in a Royal Navy logbook. This had to be hidden, as any records were forbidden by the Japanese.
Finally, as the war drew to a close he was forced to hand it over to his captors, but not before he had made a copy, which he buried in a jar covered with tin, under his camp hut. When the war was finally over it was dug up, returned to Captain O'Neal and transcribed.
The list has allowed 790 compensation claims to be verified
It is this list that has now helped the British army to so far identify more than 790 Gurkha soldiers and their widows. Each will receive the promised sum of $17,000 - a fortune for most Nepalis.
And Mrs O'Neal's reward has been the thanks of so many old soldiers.
"I have had a letter from Nepal saying some of the Gurkhas are so happy they don't know what to say. Others openly weep with gratitude. And some would like to write to me, but don't have the skills. But that's enough thanks for me."
The Far East Prisoner of War team attempting to identify those eligible for the payments will finish its work in February 2006.
Gurkhas have fought for Britain for almost 200 years, and are an integral part of the British Army.
Record unrivalled
During World War I, 100,000 Gurkhas joined up, fighting in France, Belgium, Mesopotamia, Persia, Egypt, Gallipoli and Palestine. They served again during World War II and since then have fought in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Sierra Leone and Iraq.
There are currently 3,400 Gurkhas in the British Army. Their record of bravery is unrivalled, and Gurkha battalions suffered 43,000 casualties and won 26 Victoria Crosses in two world wars.
Joining the British Army is one of the few ways Nepalis have of escaping the poverty in their country, as well as being a prestigious profession. As a result there were more than 15,000 applicants for the 230 places being offered during this year's recruitment.
I asked Mrs O'Neal whether her husband, who died in 1975, was a brave man for maintaining the list despite Japanese threats.
"I think he was an honourable man, who felt it was his duty to do it. He didn't talk about it a great deal."
Full Story Here
OIL FOR FOOD: UK: Galloway fights new battle over oil cash claims
By James Langton in Washington and Melissa Kite
UK - TElegraph - Oct 29/05 - George Galloway is facing a new legal battle over claims that he benefited from Saddam Hussein's manipulation of the United Nations oil-for-food programme after it was revealed that prosecutors in the United States are to consider criminal charges.
Senator Norm Coleman says he has a 'convincing case'
Evidence purportedly showing that cash was funnelled into accounts belonging to the Respect MP's wife and his charity, the Mariam Appeal, will be put before the US Justice Department.
Senator Norm Coleman told The Sunday Telegraph that he will send details of what he calls "a convincing case" within days. The senate report claims to document evidence that $150,000 (£84,500) in oil profits had been paid into the account of Mr Galloway's
[palestinian] wife, Amineh Abu-Zayyad, by a Jordanian businessman who was a friend of the couple.
Mr Coleman claims that his allegations are based on testimony given by Tariq Aziz. But Mr Galloway said after meeting lawyers acting for Mr Aziz that the former Iraqi foreign minister flatly denies saying that he benefited from oil deals. The allegations were "completely false" and part of a "grand lie" against him. Ron McKay, a friend of and spokesman for Mr Galloway, said: "George demands to be charged and if there are no charges brought then it will display the paucity of the case against him.
Full
Story Here
Uzbekistan-born teenager becomes first Muslim
Miss England
(AFP)
Thursday, September 08, 2005
LONDON: An Uzbekistan-born teenager last weekend became the first ever Muslim girl to be crowned Miss England and will compete in the Miss World pageant in China in December. Hammasa Kohistani, 18, says she was delighted but surprised to learn she was the winner and hoped she would not be the last Muslim girl to receive the honor.
"When they announced that I had won...
Spyware 'rampant' in UK computers
BBC - Oct 20/05 -The UK has one of the highest rates of computers infected with secret programs that can track what people do with their machines, research shows.
Only Thailand and the US had more infected PCs, found a study by security firm Webroot.
It was released to coincide with a meeting in London of MPs and computer experts to discuss what can be done to combat so-called spyware programs.
These hide themselves on hard drives and can gather information about users.
'Endless trouble'
According to anti-spyware firm, Webroot, almost 55% of consumer Windows PCs are infected with so-called adware.
UK Subsidizes Irish Sinn Fein - Sinn Fein Getting Back British Funding
DUBLIN, Ireland - Oct 18/05 - AP- Britain said Wednesday it will restore taxpayer funding to Sinn Fein, the Irish Republican Army-linked party, in response to an experts' report confirming IRA peace moves, including a halt to so-called "punishment" shootings.
Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain revealed the step during a visit to Dublin, where he discussed a newly published report from the Independent Monitoring Commission with Irish government officials.
Protestant leaders condemned Hain's action and said it would make them even less likely to cooperate with Sinn Fein, which represents most Roman Catholics in Northern Ireland. Britain hopes that IRA inactivity will spur the revival of the major goal of Northern Ireland's 1998 peace accord: a joint Catholic-Protestant administration involving Sinn Fein.
The four-man commission, which includes former senior officials from the CIA and London's Scotland Yard, reported that the IRA has halted a range of activities in keeping with its July 28 peace declaration.
But the commissioners cautioned that major questions remain over whether the IRA will withdraw from crime and lift long-standing death threats.
The Irish government welcomed the report but noted that it covered the March-August period, allowing for an assessment of barely one month of IRA behavior since its declaration.
Irish Justice Minister Michael McDowell said the commission's next scheduled report in January "will provide a greater test over a longer period of the extent to which the Provisional movement (Sinn Fein and the IRA) has abandoned criminality in all its forms."
Full
Story Here
Protestants reject IRA disarmament, say power-sharing won't return for years
SHAWN POGATCHNIK
Sept 27/05
BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) - Protestant politicians rejected the Irish Republican Army's mammoth act of disarmament as inadequate and forecast on Tuesday they would not form a power-sharing government with the IRA's Sinn Fein for years - if ever.
A day after international weapons inspectors announced they had overseen the IRA's full disarmament following eight years of effort, the Rev. Ian Paisley led his deeply skeptical Democratic Unionist Party into talks with the disarmament chief, retired Canadian Gen. John de
Chastelain.
At stake is the central dream of Northern Ireland's 1998 peace accord: a stable Catholic-Protestant administration. One coalition led by a moderate Protestant fell apart in 2002 after the IRA stuck to its guns. Today's ascendant Protestant hard-liners emphasized they wouldn't revive power-sharing until the IRA disbanded.
A Democratic Unionist lawmaker, David Simpson, said Protestants suspected the IRA had kept weapons in reserve, including handguns that the IRA smuggled from Florida in 1999 and 2000.
Simpson said de Chastelain and his American and Finnish deputies were "taking the word of the IRA that everything has been given to them. We don't believe that."
He said the Democratic Unionists, which represents most of the province's British Protestant majority, would not form a coalition with Sinn Fein, the major Irish-Catholic-backed party, in response to international pressure.
"Over the next week, fortnight and months, the pressure will come on the Democratic Unionist Party to set up some sham of a government with Sinn Fein-IRA. My party will not make that mistake," he said.
Full
Story Here
Half of all laws imposing "burdens" on UK businesses come from Brussels.
Footage Contradicts London Police Reports
LONDON - AP - Aug 17/05 - A Brazilian shot to death a day after botched bombings in London had walked casually onto a train before being gunned down by undercover officers, according to leaked footage that appeared to contradict earlier police reports that said the man disobeyed police orders.
Jean Charles de Menezes, a 27-year-old electrician, was shot eight times last month in front of terrified commuters on a subway train, after undercover police tailed him from a house under surveillance.
Police first said the shooting was related to the failed bombings on the London transit system July 21 — two weeks after four suspected suicide bombers blew themselves up in three Underground stations and aboard one double-decker bus.
Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, called the death regrettable, but said it appeared "the man was challenged and refused to obey police instructions."
Citing security footage, a British television station reported Tuesday that Menezes entered the Stockwell subway station at a normal walking pace, stopping to pick up a newspaper before boarding a train and taking a seat.
The ITV News broadcast, citing an investigation report into the shooting, also said Menezes was wearing a light denim jacket when he was shot seven times in the head and once in the shoulder. Witness reports described a terrifying scene of the man — wearing a bulky jacket on a warm July day — running through the train station, being tackled by a group of undercover police officers, then being shot several times at close range.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission, which is investigating the shooting, refused Wednesday to comment on the veracity of the documents cited by ITV News.
Story
Here
Iraq: Britain Seen As Important Link In
Iraqi Islamic Jihadist Networks
By Jan Jun
30 June 2005 (RFE/RL) - Terrorism experts say Britain appears to be an important link in an international network that is recruiting suicide bombers and jihadists for Iraq. They say the network has links via Damascus to the Iraqi border.
London, 30 June 2005 (RFE/RL) -- The problem was brought into focus after British police questioned a man detained in the northern city of Manchester recently. The man allegedly provided shelter to 41-year-old Idris Bazis, a French-Algerian who died as a suicide bomber in Iraq in February.
Bazis came to Britain from France one year ago and was allegedly smuggled through Syria to the Iraqi border province of Anbar.
"The security services in a number of different European countries know individuals that may have traveled out. They have disappeared. They have received information they're crossing into specific countries that are launch pads into Iraq," says Magnus Ranstorp, director of the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. "Also, we have investigations from Iraq of individuals, and we can trace back those individuals. They have a sort of potential network in individual countries."
London police have also arrested another man, 32-year-old Racid Belkacem. He is wanted by the Netherlands on charges of terrorist recruitment, possession of firearms, and forgery.
Amer Haykel, a Briton of Lebanese origin, was arrested in Mexico. He is thought to have links to Al-Qaeda and those who plotted the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States.
Ranstorp says the terrorist recruitment process is of great concern to the European Union. He says the bloc is working to prevent the next generation from "joining up to radical jihadist ideology."
"I think that Britain has expended a lot of energy in this area," Ranstorp says. "They are particularly working hard on the issue of terrorism finance. And I think this has been very successful in unearthing a number of different networks that have been engaged in the more logistical area or providing the building blocks for terrorism."
But David Carlton, a senior lecturer in international relations and a specialist in terrorism at the University of Warwick in Britain, takes a more critical view.
"There are considerable numbers of people who regard Britain as a relatively safe place in which to operate," Carlton says. "The French security services are very critical of the British. They speak of Britain as the kind of safe haven for people from North Africa who would not be allowed to move around freely in France.""There are considerable numbers of people who regard Britain as a relatively safe place in which to operate. The French security services are very critical of the British. They speak of Britain as the kind of safe haven for people from North Africa who would not be allowed to move around freely in France."
Ranstorp points out, however, that several individuals holding French passports have been identified within the insurgent network in Iraq. He also points to Britain's Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, which he says is performing "excellent" coordination among different agencies. The task, however, is not easy.
"I think it's very difficult for them. They're expending resources on all sorts of other different threats that are in the vicinity, not just individuals going to Iraq," Ranstorp says. "They have to worry about elements that may pose a real and present danger to British security."
Also, no one knows exactly how many islamic extremists there are. Ranstorp says their numbers, although small, can only be approximated.
"We should also remember that the European dimension is very, very small in comparison to the real bulk of all the foreign jihadists," Ranstorp says.
"And most of them come from Saudi Arabia, and also from the Arabian peninsula, as well as, of course, from Syria and from North
Africa."
Carlton says a combination of diplomatic pressure and better border controls could be used to close the European link through Syria. This, however, may not solve Iraq's border infiltration by terrorist networks.
"If for some reason the Syrian conduit were closed, maybe there are other conduits that cannot be easily controlled," Carlton says. "After all, Iraq has quite a significant number of neighbors, few of which are reliably pro-Western."
He says closing the North African link through Europe will be much more difficult.
British Christians need to place their Faith in God and not in Human Institutions
FAITH IN GOD DECLINING FASTER IN THE UK THAN CHURCH ATTENDANCE
A new study claims that the belief in God is declining even faster than church attendance, despite the popular belief that most people still "believe without belonging"
By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries
LONDON, UK (ANS) - Aug 17/05- Contrary to popular opinion, the belief in God in the United Kingdom is declining even faster than attendance in church, a new study claims.
According to a story written by Maria Mackay and posted on the christiantoday.com website, “The academics who conducted the survey argue that the results dispel the widely accepted theory of ‘believing without belonging.’ This theory held that religious belief was fairly well-grounded despite shrinking congregations. The academics allege that all measures of religiousness have now fallen.” (Pictured: Dr. David Voas, who led the research team).
The research was carried out by the University of Manchester, who also found that between 1991 and 1999 actual belief in God has decreased
even more than affiliation to a particular religion and attendance in services.
The story continued by saying, “The number affiliated to a particular religion fell 2.9 per cent to 59.1 per cent, while attendance fell 3.5 per cent to 16.8 per cent. Belief in God dropped a considerable 5.3 per cent to 32.5 per cent overall.
“The study also showed that the religious behavior of parents has a highly significant impact on children. The academics found that institutional religion has a “half-life” of one generation meaning that two religious parents have a 50-50 chance of passing on their beliefs.
“Likewise children are more likely to grow up with no faith at all if both parents are non-religious, while ‘one religious parents’ do half as well as two religious parents.”
Maria Mackay added, “One factor which might be able to slow down the rate of declining faith is that religious parents tend to have more children, said the study, which also used figures from the British Household Panel and British Social Attitudes surveys.”
The study said that “believing without belonging” had become the “catchphrase” of much European work on religion in the past decade.
Dr David Voas, who led the research team, predicted that although religion in Britain would not die out completely, it would reach “fairly low levels” before very long.
Friday, July 8, 2005
LONDONERS UNBOWED
IN FACE OF ATTACK
Brits show that English Courage is not dead
By Mark Ellis
Senior Correspondent, ASSIST News Service
LONDON (ANS) - July 8, 2005 - I was attending a meeting with evangelical pastors in Wales when a young hotel worker burst into the room and informed us bombs were going off in the underground train system in London.
Everyone in the room stood up at once, formed a circle, and began to pray their hearts out. Only days before our family was touring London, using the underground “tube” as our primary means of transportation. (Pictured: London twilight).
The thought of bombs exploding in that dimly lit nether world far beneath the streets was unthinkable. The air in the confined space of the underground system seemed too warm and stale to add the product of terrorism—black billowy smoke and burning wreckage.
As we drove into the city today, we found Londoners displaying a plucky determination to “get on with it,” unbowed in the face of barbarity, as if assuming the mantle of the generation who endured Hitler’s bombs.
The day after the attacks schools were closed and many stayed home from work. Traffic flowed relatively normally around the city. But blood-spattered images filled the airwaves nonstop, adding uneasiness to the calm. An unattended package left in one of the underground stations this morning led to a wholesale shutdown of the surrounding area. (Pictured: Poster in London underground train system a few days before attacks).
Beefy policemen with thick, bulletproof vests ringed the entrance to Heathrow airport. Near the first security checkpoint inside the terminal, a dozen men in business suits stood abreast and chatted as they scanned the faces of the entering passengers looking for known terrorists.
As we departed a city where civilized men once devised chambers of horror in London’s medieval dungeons, the terrors inflicted by modern medievals lingered in my mind.
U.K.: Government Proposes Controversial, Tougher Antiterrorism Legislation
By Jan Jun
Blair has been criticized over the proposed bill
27 May 2005 (RFE/RL) - The British government is proposing legislation that would toughen antiterrorism measures in the country. The proposed legislation includes creating two new punishable offences. The first new offence is the committing of "acts preparatory to terrorism," such as taking part in the planning of terrorist attacks. The second new offence is the "glorification and condoning of acts of terrorism," such as inciting others to violence. But these and other elements in the proposed new legislation from the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair are running into some criticism even as the bill starts its course through parliament.
London, 27 May 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Fighting terrorism is one of the first priorities of Britain's third, recently re-elected, Blair government.
As part of that fight, the government is putting forward a new tougher antiterrorism bill intended to close what London sees as gaps in the laws.
The government maintains Britain needs the new categories of offences to enable the police and courts to apprehend and try terrorists before they commit their crimes. And also to stop extremist clerics from preaching that incites others to terrorism.
But the new bill is getting only lukewarm welcome by some experts.
One is professor Paul Wilkinson, who chairs the Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland."Our view is that Britain already has a whole raft of legislation capable of dealing with preparing, plotting, conspiring to cause terrorist offences." -- National Association for Civil Liberties spokesman Doug Jewell
"It sounds to me that if it is applied as a general tool for use in terrorist cases, then it might well be useful," Wilkinson says.
Other experts are more skeptical. Some point out that the new categories of offences that are being introduced -- such as "acts preparatory to terrorism" or "glorification or condoning acts of terrorism" -- already exist under previous provisions.
Professor Bill Bowring is a legal expert at London's Metropolitan University.
"'Acts preparatory to terrorism' is already covered in the terrorism legislation, and particularly in what's recently been going through on control orders. Exactly those phrases," Bowring says.
Bowring adds that the new legislation may not be much better than the existing one. It is allegedly so imprecisely worded that it could implicate some organizations that have nothing to do with terrorism.
"I think the criticism in general is that the definitions are so broad in the legislation from the year 2000 onwards that in principle the activities of Amnesty International and Greenpeace are caught by the antiterrorism legislation," Bowring says.
Doug Jewell is a spokesman for the National Association for Civil Liberties. He says his organization is looking forward to studying the new bill's proposals in detail. He also maintains, however, that there is no need for them, as there are already similar clauses in the existing legislation.
"Our view is that Britain already has a whole raft of legislation capable of dealing with preparing, plotting, conspiring to cause terrorist offences. So, we would be very interested to see what is actually in the new [category of] offence," Jewell says.
Jewell also disagrees with some other elements in the proposed legislation. One is to replace the current burden on courts to show proof that is "beyond reasonable doubt" with a lower-threshold definition of the burden of proof as a "balance of probabilities."
He says this has already happened anyway to the detriment of the fairness of court proceedings and must not be made part of the new law. "We're very concerned at this particular proposal. We were amazed to see it in the Labour Party's Manifesto, and we feel it is a very broad power, which will lead to miscarriages of justice if it is actually put on the statute book," Jewell says. He adds that he hopes "wiser heads will prevail."
Professor Bowring is also critical of this proposal, saying it could be against current European legal standards.
"For criminal offences that would be an extremely serious backward step. It would be part of the restrictions on right to jury trial, and the restrictions on the right to silence. To have any lower standard of proof in criminal cases would be very dangerous, and would almost certainly also violate the European Convention on Human Rights."
Some other legal experts seem to support Bowring's view. For example, Jane Henderson, a law lecturer at London's King's College, has told RFE/RL that the "balance of probabilities" proof for criminal cases would be "extremely harsh and against British tradition."
Still another element in the proposed legislation is to review the operation of "control orders." These measures enable terrorist
suspects who have not been charged with any offences to be
tagged, monitored, and have their freedom of movement restricted.
Wilkinson says he doubts whether the "control orders" have really worked and what the proposed changes may do. He says that some of the measures -- which require very demanding police supervision -- would be hard to properly enforce and supervise.
"You would have to also sever communications with the outside world, so there would be no telephone, there would be no computer -- quite comprehensive isolation of an individual. More importantly, I think, this is what worries the police, the houses would then become magnets for supporters of the people who have been detained," Wilkinson said.
And Wilkinson stresses that this could lead to tremendous disturbances and a security threat. "A bit of a nightmare for the police," he concludes.
Bowring says that in "his own personal view" the existing criminal law is "absolutely sufficient and effective for combating terrorism."
It remains to be seen whether Parliament will share all these concerns and what changes it will make before the new bill becomes a law.
Monday, July 4, 2005
BRITAINS' SECOND LARGEST CITY HOSTS WORLD CONFERENCE OF BAPTIST WOMEN
By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service
BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND (ANS) -- Almost one-third of the
registrations for the Baptist World Alliance Women's Leadership Conference to be
held on 23-26 July 2005 in
Birmingham, England, Britain's second largest city, have come from Africa.
About 800 women from 63 countries will gather at Aston University in Birmingham
for the conference. Through speakers, Bible study, focus groups, and cultural
celebrations they will be challenged to see themselves, the world, and their
place in it with new eyes.
The Women's Department of the Baptist World Alliance sponsors these conferences
every five years in conjunction with the Baptist World Congress. The 2005
congress will be held in Birmingham 27-31 July 2005.
The conference presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for British Baptist
women, who are welcome to attend the Sunday and Monday sessions as day visitors.
The programs begin at 8:30 a.m. in The Great Hall.
Speakers from around the globe will bring a variety of perspectives to the
leadership conference theme, "Seeing with new eyes."
On Sunday morning, Ksenija Madga of Croatia, a Langham scholar reading for a PhD
at The London School of Theology, will lead a Bible study on women's identity.
This will be followed by a paper on the subject presented by Dorothy Selebano,
an internationally-recognized women's leader and educator from South Africa.
Atola Subong, a journalist and director of a ministry to young women in India,
and Thelma Chambers-Young, an African-American pastor, will respond.
On Monday morning, a Bible study led by Amparo Medina of Colombia, a
psychologist, professor, and author of Freedom from Violence in the Family, will
set the stage for discussion of changing roles in the family. The paper on this
subject will be presented by Lois Mitchell, a sociologist who is Canadian
Baptists' voice on public issues in Ottawa. Clover Jarrett of Jamaica, a nurse,
teacher, and counsellor who co-leads marriage enrichment retreats, will respond.
FOCUS GROUPS WILL LOOK AT AIDS, CHILDREN AT RISK, AND MORE
On Monday afternoon, ten focus groups will take a closer look at major issues of
concern to women, such as poverty, injustice, HIV/AIDS, children at risk,
trafficking of women, women's health, and the difficult Scriptures regarding
women's role. Participants will see new ways to respond; they may even begin to
develop leadership networks in each area of concern. The groups will be led by
an outstanding roster of experts and practitioners from around the globe. These
include:
Lauran Bethell, an international consultant to Christian ministries to female
victims of sexual and economic exploitation. Lauran is based in the Czech
Republic. Marion Carson, lecturer in New Testament and pastoral care at
International Christian College in Glasgow, Scotland, and Femi Okunlola, faculty
member of the Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary in Ogbomoso, Nigeria. They
will test the lenses through which people read what the Bible says about women.
Wanda S. Lee, executive director/treasurer of Woman's Missionary Union,
Auxiliary to Southern Baptist Convention (USA), and Linda Koromo of Sierra
Leone, who has worked with major NGOs. They will explore issues of injustice
that women experience in daily life.
Iren Halasz, a dentist from Romania, and Kaa Simon, a public health nurse
working to lower the high maternal death rate in her homeland of Papua New
Guinea. They will focus on women's health issues such as childbearing,
fertility, menopause, and female genital mutilation. Sally Smith, a former
Baptist Missionary Society missionary in Nepal who now works for UNAIDS for the
Global Coalition for Women and AIDS, and Harriet Nokuri, the Cameroon-born
founder and director of a U.S.-based agency that is addressing HIV/AIDS in
Africa. They will look at the feminisation of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Kihomi
Ngwemi of Haiti. She will show how women are coping with poverty in a very
severe and difficult environment.
"I expect that some of the most significant learning will take will take
place in the focus groups", says Audrey Morikawa, a Canadian who is
completing her five-year term as the Women's Department president. The
successors to Audrey [Dr. Morikawa] and her teammate, Women's Department
secretary-treasurer Alicia Zorzoli (an Argentinian living in the United States)
will be announced near the close of the conference.
The conference evening programs promise to be cultural festivals. They will
feature performances by the 24-voice Shalom Choir from Korea, a praise choir
composed of women from 17 Native American tribes, a dance ensemble from the
Republic of Georgia, and the Serenity Praise Liturgical Dancers from America.
Bev Foster, a Canadian recording artist, will lead an international worship
team.
"We hope that this will be a great celebration of unity in the midst of
diversity," Audrey [Dr Morikawa] says. Olwyn Dickson of New Zealand has
chaired the program planning committee.
Angela Almond of Leicester is coordinating the Local Planning Group. She is the
national secretary of Connexion, an organization for spouses of pastors.
A day pass costs £28. Pre-registration can be done by contacting Linda Evans at
johnlindaevans@tiscali.co.uk.
The BWA Women's Department brings together women from 132 countries and 229
affiliated national Baptist women's organizations.
U.K.: Parliamentary Report Warns Of Rising Communal Tensions
By Jan Jun
The report urges Prime Minister Tony Blair's government to pay more attention to communal tensions
8 April 2005 (RFE/RL) - A new report in Britain says tensions are rising between ethnic communities there. The report, issued by the British Parliament's home affairs committee, says there is a growing perception among Muslim residents that they are being stigmatized as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the war on terror. The report urges the government and police to take a more active role in assuring British Muslims they are not being targeted for special scrutiny. It also says universities and the media can do more to fight Islamophobia
(???) and other problems affecting minority communities.
London, 8 April 2005 (RFE/RL) -- The report is the result of a five-month inquiry looking at Britain's minority communities and their relations with the white majority, local government and the police at a time of increased concerns over terrorism.
Bob Russell, a member of the committee that issued the report, says it's clear that problems exist.
"I believe the Home Affairs Select Committee recognizes that there is a problem," Russell says. "And it’s important, I believe, that we try and cool the atmosphere. So that we as a community recognize that those who are not white and who are not Christians are not therefore terrorists and a danger to this country."The report noted rising suspicion among some segments of the majority population toward ethnic minorities, particularly Muslims.
The report noted rising suspicion among some segments of the majority population toward ethnic minorities, particularly Muslims.
Russell says the hostility appeared limited to what he called "fringe elements" of the white majority, but adds it has still had a damaging impact on many Muslim communities.
"Sadly, since 9/11, members of the Muslim community in the United Kingdom tell us that they feel that they are more subject to attention by the white population -- that part of white population which is looking for an excuse to single them out as being potential terrorists and so on," says Russell.
Muslim organizations say Britain's new anti-terrorism laws and media sensationalism have only added to the problem.
Inayat Bunglawala, a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, says the intense focus on terror issues has sparked a rise in Islamophobia.
"This has served to create a real fear and dislike of British Muslims in the wider population. Just last week, the British Psychological Society found that 43 percent of Britons are now saying that they have an increased dislike of Islam and Muslims, because of the recent events, because of the atmosphere around them, and the accompanying media coverage -- which was also criticized heavily in the [parliamentary] report," Bunglawala says.
The relationship between law enforcement and minority communities was among the issues examined in the parliamentary report.
Ultimately, the report asserted that British police do not appear to be "unreasonably" targeting Muslims. But Russell acknowledges such a judgment is extremely difficult to ascertain:
"Some members of the Asian community thought they were being targeted. And certainly evidence was given which tends to both support and refute that. It was a very difficult one to call (eds: to judge) for the committee, because we had conflicting evidence. My view is that the perception [that the police are targeting Muslims] is probably greater than the reality. That doesn’t mean to say we then dismissed the perception, because the perception can quite often be more damaging than the reality," says Russell.
The report says rising tensions could be soothed by community leaders who condemn violence and extremism. It also says proponents of terrorism must be dealt with effectively not only by authorities, but -- in the words of the report -- "by the Muslim community itself."
Bunglawala says such sentiments are insensitive. "We believe all British citizens should be involved in a cooperative effort to help safeguard the security and safety of all the inhabitants of this country. No one sector of the population has a greater responsibility than any other. All of us should be involved. And by singling out Muslims in this manner, this report has actually contributed to even further stigmatizing British Muslims," says Bunglawala.
The report's authors, however, defend its findings. Bob Russell says the report gives a realistic picture of the situation, and offers practical suggestions for how to move ahead.
"We have to ensure that no member of the community, regardless of the color of their skin or the faith that they believe in, should feel that they are being discriminated against -- that they are actually being discriminated against, or whether there is a perception that they are being discriminated against," says Russell.
British society should have no room, he adds, for any form of discrimination -- real or perceived.
Thursday, March 10,
2005
HUGE UK CHURCH SURVEY SAYS PEWS EMPTYING BECAUSE
CHRISTIANITY NO LONGER PREACHED
British Public Wants Churches To Cease Being ‘Silent’ And ‘Lukewarm’ In
Face Of Moral Collapse
By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service
LONDON, ENGLAND (ANS) -Mar 10/05 - Current conventional
wisdom in Britain says that with Christian moral values and legal protections
under assault on all sides, the reason pews are emptying is that traditional
religion is not relevant.
But, according to a story circulated by LifeSiteNews a new survey of thousands
of churchgoers in the United Kingdom says the opposite and indicates that the
emptying of the churches has been caused mainly by preaching and pastoral care
that has been emptied of moral or doctrinal Christian content.
The survey addressed questions about why
church attendance was falling so dramatically in
the UK but growing elsewhere, even though two-thirds of the British
population believes in God.
The results of the year-long survey of 14,000 UK residents by the
interdenominational Ecumenical Research Committee has been called 'surprising'
by mainstream secular and Christian media.
The overwhelming response is to call on churches "to robustly defend moral
values with conviction and courage and cease being
'silent' and 'lukewarm' in the face of moral and social collapse."
In an introduction, Lord Bromley Betchworth said: "Those
who spoke, did so with one voice…an alarming indication that there are
multitudes of people across Britain and Ireland who feel that their views are not
being heard or represented."
The vast majority of the people in Britain and Ireland, he says, are still
morally conservative. "They are appalled that moral values and treasured
beliefs are being stood on their head and want churches to play a leading role
in standing up for these things."
The survey itself asked four simple questions and avoided 'tick-box' responses
in favor of written letters. The huge response was a surprise in itself and
reflected a growing frustration and anger felt by many ordinary people about the
direction of churches and society in general.
Responses displayed a widespread sense of frustration and anger at what was
happening to the churches in Britain and Ireland.
Many gave variations on the response, "Why hasn’t a survey like this been
done before, so we can speak?" "At last, someone is listening, thank
you so much," and "Thank you for the chance to express our beliefs
without fear."
Several 'traditionalist' Anglican clerics said that they had "to keep their
own views to themselves in case their bishop, who held opposing beliefs, would
remove them from their diocese."
Many Catholics in North America have written that a similar situation exists
there in which the churches are controlled exclusively by bishops and lay
administrators who brook no Christian opposition to their officially sanctioned
left-liberal dissent from the faith.
Ninety-one percent of responses followed a uniform theme that the decline in
traditional Christian moral and doctrinal teaching has caused the outflux of
congregations.
They listed the lack of apologetics, the reasoned defense and explanation of
Christian doctrine, as one of the main reasons for the collapse. "It’s a
myth today that the people of this country have rejected Christianity; they
simply haven’t been told enough about it to either accept or reject it,"
wrote one respondent.
Thousands of letters also cited the lack of emphasis on the holiness of God and
the need for personal moral conversion. The desire for teaching on holiness, was
prevalent and has been influenced, said the authors, by Mel Gibson’s film, the
Passion of the Christ. Many responded that the churches now teach easy
forgiveness; an attitude that 'God loves me anyway,' and that there is no need
to attend church or live a morally demanding Christian life.
The overwhelming majority of respondents were vehemently opposed to ordaining
homosexuals and blamed the churches for the rise in pedophilia scandals because
of the prevalence of homosexuals in the clergy.
Some celibate homosexuals wrote saying that the prevalence of support for
homosexuality in the churches is undermining their efforts to live chastely.
One young man wrote, "For sections of the Church to suddenly say that my
struggle (to remain chaste)…was for nothing and that it would have been OK to
have given in, would be to deny my personal cross for Christ and mock the
faithfulness I have shown Him."
Two-thousand letters asked for a return to traditional liturgy and pointed out
that attempts to attract younger people with jazzed-up offerings had failed and
had alienated older parishioners. Over 450 said they drove vast distances to
attend a traditional liturgical celebration. 1,500 letters complained that the
modern liturgies "bordered on entertainment rather than worship."
The survey has supported what Christians themselves have been saying for
decades, that there is little point in attending a church whose message is no
different from that of the materialistic secular world.
Read the Survey at: http://www.plain-truth.org.uk/churchsurveyreport.pdf.
(PDF format, Adobe Acrobat required.)
London becoming India-centric
March 05 - Hindust-T - London has become so India-centric that I some time forget that home is thousands of miles away. In the last few days, an Indian-origin owner of a travel agency was adjudged the richest woman in London, another rich list is on the roll with a dinner at Hilton in which it is claimed that Asians are worth billions of pounds, and then there was a grand party by Lord Swraj Paul, for which a galaxy of the most powerful, eminent and affluent had come from all over the country. The ambience was like back home, everyone seeming to know each other, the colour of the skin hardly mattered.
The impending visit of Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat, has generated heat that reminded one of the political wrangling on home turf. It attracted attention of BBC and quite a few prominent groups. One could call it in-sourcing of Indian politics.
Then what is India and who is the real Indian, subject of Pavan K. Varma's best-selling book was analysed by a panel headed by Lord Bikhu Parekh, in front of almost 100-strong audience in one of the Committee Rooms of the House of Commons. Could one imagine it 50 years ago? The audience participation made me realise how much the "outside" world is now interested in the " inside" of India. But what was most striking was the "attachment" to the roots expressed unequivocally even by those who have had not much to do with India and who have been there just a couple of times.
Worse is the report about the rise in the so-called honour
killings.
Tuesday, February 1, 2005
Loss of
Religious Freedom in England
UK - BARNABAS
FUND - A Human Rights Group - BRIEFS BRITISH MPS ON RELIGIOUS
HATE LAW: WARNS OF THREAT TO FREE SPEECH
By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries
LONDON, UK (ANS) -- The UK-based Barnabas Fund has just
issued a briefing pack for all British Members of Parliament warning of the
dangers to free speech posed by proposed new laws banning incitement to
religious hatred.
MPs are due to debate the proposal next Monday February 7 when the Serious
Organised Crime and Police Bill goes through Report Stage and receives its Third
Reading in the British House of Commons before entering the House of Lords.
“Schedule 10 of the Bill proposes extending existing laws which already ban
incitement to racial hatred to cover religious hatred as well,” said a
Barnabas Fund spokesperson. “The government argues that the law is needed to
prevent far-right groups and extremists of all religions whipping up hatred
against the followers of other faiths.
“However, a broad based coalition of journalists, senior
lawyers, MPs, peers, human rights groups, civil liberties organizations,
religious organizations, secularists and actors, amongst others, co-coordinated
by Barnabas Fund fear that far from achieving this laudable aim the law will
instead effectively end up banning all legitimate criticism of religion and
religious practices.”
Barnabas Fund is alerting MPs to our concern that those who speak out on behalf
of millions of people who suffer as a result of particular religious teachings,
such as Muslims who convert to another faith (who should be executed according
to Islamic law) or Dalits (treated as "untouchables" in the
traditional Hindu caste system), could be silenced.
“At least one senior barrister has argued that if such a law had been in place
sixteen years ago, instead of protecting Salman Rushdie from extremist Muslims
who sought his life for writing The Satanic Verses, the government could have
prosecuted him themselves,” said the spokesperson.
Sent to MPs along with a full briefing and summary of areas of concern is a
joint statement signed by Barnabas Fund and a number of other prominent
organizations and individuals including the Evangelical Alliance, the National
Secular Society and the actor Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) expressing their shared
concern about these proposals.
Paul Cook, Barnabas Fund's Advocacy Manager, said "The government says the
law will not be used to prevent missionary activity, religious debate or jokes.
However, there is absolutely nothing in the text of this legislation to
guarantee this. Government promises are no substitute for a clear distinction
between language that incites hate, and legitimate criticism to be written into
the law. The law, as it now stands, is wide open for possible misuse by those
who would silence reasonable debate."
The Fund's International Director Patrick Sookhdeo said, "We are urging MPs
to think carefully and vote against Schedule 10 of this Bill. Many of those who
have called the loudest for this law have made it quite clear that they intend
to use it as a pseudo-blasphemy law to silence any criticism of their
faith."
Politically Correct
Police: United Kingdom: British Police Forces To Recruit More Muslim Officers
By Jan Jun
30 November 2004 (RFE/RL) - Britain's police forces are planning to recruit more
Muslim officers and staff all over the country.
The new drive follows a general improvement in relations between the police and Britain's large Muslim community. Police and Islamic groups are now meeting regularly with each other to ease tensions. As more Muslims join the police, uniforms have been modified to allow female officers to wear headscarves.
London, 30 November 2004 (RFE/RL) -- More Muslim police officers are on the streets in Britain and greater efforts are being made to improve relations between the police and the general Islamic population.
Tim Mahony, spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), said that "we're clear that we're going in the right direction, but we're not content that
enough has been done to bring the police and Muslim communities better together. There are a lot of tensions around terrorism, for example, and the way in which police powers are interpreted or perhaps misinterpreted."
Efforts to bring the Muslim community and police closer together were spurred by increasing complaints that Muslims were being targeted by police, and that they were the victims of frequent "stop and search" actions merely on the basis of their appearance.
The hope was that more Muslim police officers and regular dialogue between the police and Muslim groups would help to dispel some of the tensions.
Muslim leaders are cautiously optimistic.
"It's a beginning," said Abdulrahman Jaffar, a representative of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), a Muslim group that holds regular discussions with the police. "One cannot say we've reached what is our desired result yet. I think we still have a long way to go. But, I think there are people on both sides who are willing to talk, and who are willing to listen, and who have a genuine intention of doing something at that level. So it is positive."
It's hard to know how far the police have come in integrating their forces, since there are no reliable figures on the numbers of Muslims among police ranks. Mahony said, however, that he's certain progress is being made.
"The representation within the police forces, it's been slow-going. But then assimilation of Muslims into wider communities in this country has in some respects also been slow-going," Mahony said. "But we are making progress, and we are reaching a greater understanding with local communities; also with the national groups. For example, the Muslim Council of Britain and a number of other groups. And, we bring these together under a group known as the Muslim Safety Forum."
The Muslim Safety Forum is an umbrella group with representatives from the main national Muslim organizations. It meets every two months at the national level with senior police officers "to discuss matters of mutual interest and concern."
Jaffar said he believes the Muslim Safety Forum is an important body.
"The MCB has been working very closely with the Forum in tackling a lot of the disproportionality in the actions of the police in terms of stop and search, and in terms of antiterror raids on the community," Jaffar said. "It's also been working very closely with the police, so that the police work more closely with the community, and work with the community rather than against the community."
Mahony stressed that to help recruit more Muslims, even police uniforms have undergone changes.
"The basic police uniform is adapted to take into account diversity and religious affiliation," Mahony said. "For example Sikhs, they wear turbans. The option of a headscarf is available to Muslim women staff, and some choose to use it, and some don't."
Mahony concluded that all this should not only help improve relations between the police and the Muslim community, but also better reflect the multicultural nature of today's Britain.
Jaffar agreed, saying: "Things are moving, I think. Considering where we were, which was quite negative and very backward before, we are making progress. But we still have a long way and a lot of hard work to put into it."
LOOSELY DRAFTED MENTAL CAPACITY BILL PROVIDES INADEQUATE PROTECTION FOR VULNERABLE PATIENTS, WARN CHRISTIAN DOCTORS AND LAWYER
British Government efforts to force Bill through could allow euthanasia in by the ‘back door’
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Media enquiries: Allen Moxham
EA Media Consultancy
www.media-consultancy.co.uk
LONDON, UK (ANS) -- The Mental Capacity Bill, which begins its report stage in the British House of Commons on Tuesday, December 14, is loosely drafted and in its present form leaves open a door whereby some mentally incapacitated patients could be starved, dehydrated and left to die, the Christian Medical Fellowship and Lawyers’ Christian Fellowship have warned.
Peter Saunders, General Secretary of the CMF, which represents over 4,500 UK Christian doctors, said; “The Bill gives statutory force to ‘advance refusals’ and ‘proxy decisions’, meaning that doctors will be legally required to withhold food and fluids in some situations where they believe such action clinically inappropriate. CMF believes that advance refusals should be only
advisory, not legally binding, or they could force doctors to practice with a hand tied behind their backs.”
Saunders continued, “Clinical circumstances exist where it is entirely appropriate to withhold food and fluids: when their burden outweighs any benefit to life or health, or when they confer no clinical benefit for example, but this should never be on a long term basis as it will inevitably lead to the death of the patient.”
“CMF is concerned that patients will make unwise and hasty advance decisions to refuse food and fluids without being properly informed about the diagnosis and the expected
course their illness will take or the treatment and palliative care options. It is too easy for patients to be driven by fears of meddlesome treatment and ‘being kept alive’, into making advance decisions that later might be used against them.
“Commonly patients change their minds about what care they would like, as their condition changes, and for this reason advance decisions must be kept constantly under review. It is also noteworthy that the majority of patients who make advance refusals actually prefer doctors to override those which they feel prejudice their care.
Andrea Williams heads up the Public Policy department for LCF, a body that represents 1,500 lawyers in the UK. She said; “The Mental Capacity Bill leaves
far too many loopholes that could be abused by unscrupulous doctors
and other health professionals or those with an interest - financial or otherwise - in the patient’s death. Other doctors may feel pressure to abide by advance refusals, against their better judgment, in order to avoid the possibility of prosecution”
“Advance refusals of food and fluids should not be legally binding nor should food and fluids be withdrawn without strong clinical indication. Mentally incapacitated patients should not be experimented on when the research provides no clinical benefit to them. Several key amendments1 enacting these provisions are needed to tighten up the bill and alleviate the legitimate concerns raised by CMF and LCF, but the Government has so far been reluctant to listen”, Williams commented.
Both Saunders and Williams concluded; “It would be a great tragedy if the Government used its large majority to force through this Bill without a proper opportunity for MPs to hear the arguments for themselves and debate appropriate amendments. If this happened we might look back and see this as the moment when euthanasia entered the UK by the back door.”
NOTES:
Christian Medical Fellowship was founded in 1949 and is an interdenominational organization with over 4,500 British doctor members in all branches of medicine. A registered charity, it is linked to about 60 similar bodies in other countries throughout the world. The CMF exists to unite Christian doctors to pursue the highest ethical standards in Christian and professional life and to increase faith in Christ and acceptance of his ethical teaching.
Self-Loathing takes toll on British view of Army: Anti-war sentiment in Britain worsens army recruitment problem: report
LONDON (AFP) - Sept 18/04 - Senior British army commanders believe popular opposition to the war in Iraq (news - web sites) has worsened existing problems in recruiting young people for the armed forces, a newspaper reported.
"The anti-war movement is exacerbating our recruitment problems," one senior source told the The Observer.
"The effects have been particularly noticeable in Scotland, but are spreading to the north of England and we're beginning to see it as well in the west," according to the source who was not named.
Senior officers also blame the recruitment crisis on social changes, including a more mobile workforce, greater access to further education and a change in the expectations of young people, The Observer said.
However, they said it has been worsened by an anti-war movement led by parents who have lost sons in Iraq and supported by celebrities and political figures, according to The Observer.
Other sources have reported parents refusing to sign consent forms for junior soldiers to sign up, the newspaper said.
In some cases, local officials who have strong anti-war sentiments are also refusing permission for recruitment officers to put up stands at certain venues, it added.
New figures reveal that the number of recruits joining Scotland's six regiments has fallen sharply this year, it said.
British army is 'dangerously small', says former top general
LONDON (AFP) - Dec 11/04 - The former head of Britain's armed forces has warned against planned cuts in the standing army, saying they would leave it "dangerously small and over-committed."
Lord Charles Guthrie told The Sunday Telegraph that the British army "has become dangerously small for what it is being asked to do."
"Of course, if you have too small an army you can't react," said Guthrie, a former chief of both the army general staff and the defense staff who holds the title of colonel commandant of the Special Air Service.
His comments were published a day ahead of the expected announcement of government restructuring plans for the armed forces.
Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites)'s Labour government has already detailed its plans to reduce troop numbers and merge several regiments, in reforms which are expected to save 250 million pounds (480 million dollars, 360 million euros) per year, according to The Sunday Telegraph.
Brits loose their way: Brits denied Legal protection for Home self-Defense
Let public defend itself from criminals: top British police chief
LONDON (AFP) - Dec 3/04 - People should be able to use whatever force is necessary to defend their homes, Britain's most senior police officer said in an interview.
Sir John Stevens, the outgoing commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police, made his observation just days after a financier was fatally stabbed during an attempted burglary in his home in a chic part of the capital.
"My own view is that people should be allowed to use whatever force is necessary and that they should be able to do so without any risk of persecution," Stevens told the Daily Telegraph newspaper.
He said the current legal test of "reasonable force" seemed to be weighted against householders, leaving the public confused about their rights in the face of an assailant.
"Of course you don't want to have gratuitous or excessive violence... I'm not talking about guns, but people being allowed to defend themselves ... against someone who may well be armed with a knife," he said.
John Monckton, 49, died in hospital Monday after he was stabbed in his home in Chelsea, west London by knife-wielding intruders who also wounded his wife. The couple's nine-year-old daughter put in the call to police.
Paul Sykes (UK Author & Critic) on the EU constitution
BBC- OCt 28/04 - "Tony Blair says the battle for the European constitution will be a fight between myth and reality. On this much, at least, he and I can agree."
But it is Mr Blair, and the advocates of ever closer political and economic union in Europe, who are deploying the weapons of myth, not us their opponents.
And I'll tell you why. It is because the architects of what I call the "European project" know that if they were ever to tell the people the truth, their grandiose designs would be rejected by the citizens of Europe.
This isn't something new. Remember 1975? Back then, the people of Britain thought they were joining a Common Market. But that was just a convenient myth.
The reality, written into the small print, was very different: this made it clear that the real goal was not a Common Market but a common country.
But who reads the small print?
Chamberlain?
The same has been true of every European treaty since.
From the Single European Act to Maastricht
and Amsterdam, our political leaders have tried to present each giant step down the road to a federal Europe as a victory for British common sense: a Europe of nations, not a nation of Europe.
Remember poor old John Major coming back from Maastricht like Chamberlain returning from Munich declaring "game, set and match?"
That was meant to spell the end of the drive to federalism. It wasn't even a pause.
Now we have the EU Constitution. And once again our political leaders are telling us that it is a victory for Britain, a triumph for Whitehall diplomacy.
Nearly half of Britons never heard of Auschwitz
LONDON (AFP) - Dec 2/04 - Nearly half of Britons have never heard of the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz in southern Poland, according to a BBC television poll that was conducted just ahead of the 60th anniversary of the camp's liberation
Forty-five percent of the 4,000 people questioned for the survey by BBC Two said they had never heard of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, the television channel said Thursday.
The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) is due to broadcast several documentaries on the "Final Solution", the Nazi's plan to obliterate European Jewry, including on Auschwitz, for the 60th anniversary of the concentration camp's liberation on January 27, 2005.
"Our series is not only about the shocking, almost unimaginable pain of those who died, or survived, Auschwitz. It's about how the Nazis came to do what they did," said producer Laurence Rees.
Could a photograph have saved thousands from the gas chamber?
UK - Nov 28/04 - David Smith on a TV documentary that examines the Allies' failure to spot the Nazi's extermination factory
It is the photograph that showed the true horror of Auschwitz extermination camp: murder on an industrial scale.
A train convoy can be seen bearing thousands of new inmates to the site; there are five crematoria, in which corpses from the gas chambers were burnt, and a huge plume of smoke spews from bodies burning in open pits.
Yet the picture, from 23 August 1944, was taken by accident, and Britain's war leaders did not realise what it meant. Allied air reconnaissance planes flying at 15,000ft had been on a mission to photograph the Nazis' IG Farben chemical factory, four miles away near Monowitz. The images were examined by Allied interpreters, who studied the plant in minute detail but failed to identify the rows of huts, gas chambers or crematoria. They then filed away the image without further analysis.
Brits Asked to Trade Sovereignty in Joining E.U. : Euro referendum gets green light
BBC- Nov 25/04 - The government has signalled its intention to push ahead with a referendum on the EU constitution.
A bill to incorporate the constitution treaty into UK law, subject to a public vote, came in the Queen's Speech.
Labour says the treaty is needed to streamline decision-making but the Tories fear an EU super state.
A vote is not expected until 2006, after the next election. But the No Campaign is already threatening legal action, saying the rules are unfair.
'Full debate'
The constitutional treaty was signed last month by Tony Blair but there will be months of parliamentary debate, and the referendum, before it is ratified by Britain.
The government said the bill paving the way for a referendum was "central to the government's belief that the UK should remain a strong and influential power in a peaceful, effective and flexible Europe".
In a statement, the Foreign Office said: "Once Parliament has debated the major issues and after an extensive public debate, the British people would have their say on the Treaty in a referendum.
Islam second biggest religion in Britain
Dec 27/03 - Although Britain remains an overwhelmingly Christian country, Islam is the second most popular religion.
This may be dismaying for many in the current situation but the fact is that Islam has grown faster with the immigration of Mirpuris in a sort of planned manner in the 70s. The rate of birth is high among them and the Bangladeshis, according to sources.
Census 2001 published on Thursday reveals there are more than 1.5 million Muslims in England and Wales, constituting 3.1 per cent of the population. There are 558,746 Hindus and 336,040 throughout UK. There are 267,711 Jews and 149,237 Jews.
Iqbal Sacraine, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain said the figures were a landmark event and social history in the making. "Up to now, Muslims have been statistically invisible, and thus easily
marginalised. The census output is a strong signal to central and local government, social services and employers in particular that the needs of all sections of Britain's multicultural society must be fairly and equitably addressed."
In London, Tower Hamlets in East London has the highest proportion of Muslims, with Islam claiming four out of 10, or 36.4 per cent of the population. Harrow had the largest population (19.6) of Hindus, while Slough had the highest concentration of Sikhs constituting 9.1 per cent of its population.
The highest concentration of Jews was in Barnet (14.8 per cent) and Buddhists in Westminster (1.3 per cent). However, in Leicester one out of seven people is Hindu.
Full
Story Here
Britain is losing Britain
Is immigration in Britain out of control? Our correspondent, an immigrant's son, says it is — causing social tension, cultural clashes and economic strain
A well-known commentator once told me: “It is almost a case of the empire strikes back.” But it’s not just the former empire, it is pretty much the entire Third World and Eastern Europe.
About a quarter of a million people are coming to Britain from the Third World each year: a city the size of Cambridge every six months, an unprecedented and sustained wave of immigration to one of the world’s most densely crowded islands, utterly transforming the society in which we live against the wishes of the majority of the population, damaging quality of life and social cohesion, exacerbating the housing crisis and congestion, and with questionable economic benefits.
What the new 'super police squad' replaces
Nov 24/04 - UK - A new Serious and Organised Crime Agency (Soca) was first announced by David Blunkett on February 9, to take over duties currently performed by several different agencies. It will become operational on April 1, 2006
The Soca replaces the National Criminal Intelligence Service (http://www.ncis.co.uk), which gathers and analyses information on crime, and feeds information to law enforcement agencies like the police forces and the National Crime Squad. It currently has 1,200 staff and a centrally--funded annual budget of £93m.
It also takes over from the National Crime Squad (http://www.ncs.police.uk), which was formed in 1998 by amalgamating the six regional crime squads, with a remit to fight serious and organised crime. It has 1,330 detectives, 420 support staff and an annual budget of £130m.
In addition, the Soca will take over the duties of the 1,850 HM Customs and Excise officers, in various arms of the organisation, whose task is to investigate fraud and serious drug trafficking, and to track down the assets of the criminals involved in it.
The Soca will also supersede the duties of those parts of the Home Office which deal with organised people trafficking.
Sir Stephen Lander, who retired as the Director General of MI5 in 2002, has been appointed as the chairman of the Soca, and Bill Hughes, formerly Director General of the National Crime Squad, has been appointed as the Director General, effective from September.
The New London: London has no more charm -Where has London of monopoly gone?
It is not very happy tidings despite the festive season in full bloom. And it's not very dark phase for only the Home Secretary David Blunkett, who is facing an embarrassing inquiry whether he used his position to get his former lover's nanny a visa for permanent residency within 19 days, but most Londoners seem to be going through a fearful and uncertain time. London is no longer the eternal city of joy, variety, hot, exciting curry and youthful adventures.
Stabbings and killings during peak, busy hours in most upmarket and hitherto safe residential areas have made Londoners not only more scared and cynical but have marred the build up to Christmas, which is just round the corner. Most of us feel that now New York is safer than London. If a top financier can be stabbed to death at 7 pm in Chelsea, no place is any longer safe.
Lights, Christmas trees and decorations have created the festive ambience, but rising crime graph and fear of being attacked anytime, anywhere is haunting the shoppers and stores equally. How long can one keep looking over one's shoulders?
Crime and security dominate Queen's Speech
Nov 24/04 - UK - Tony Blair today defended the emphasis on crime-fighting and counter-terrorism in the bills the Government plans to introduce in the next parliamentary session.
Brushing aside accusations that the new laws in the Queen's Speech created a climate of fear rather than offering a vision of hope for the future, the Prime Minister said that tougher measures were needed to cope with a changing world.
"In every area, we recognise that the future is posing fresh challenges - the traditional ways of meeting them no longer do," said Mr Blair.
"If we want to help the British people cope with economic globalisation, terrorism, organised crime, the pressures of modern work and family life, we have to change radically the way public services, the welfare state and the criminal justice system work."
But Michael Howard condemned the Government's legislative programme, saying that hard-working families had "heard it all before".
The Opposition leader said: "What does it say about this Prime Minister's priorities when he talks about protecting children from sweets and crisps, but he won't keep them safe from cannabis?"
The Queen's speech introduced a dozen Home Office bills, he went on, but why "after seven and a half years, and five months before an election, should we believe this Government is suddenly going to fix crime?"
In fact, the Queen's Speech included 32 bills and five sets of proposals on the theme "security and opportunity for all", with legislation to introduce ID cards, criminalise drug use, give police stronger powers of arrest and search, and to set up an FBI-style agency to fight serious crime.
Later there will also be proposals on counter-terrorism, although no measures were specified in today's speech. They could include Diplock
[Secret] courts for terrorist cases, and the admission of phone-tapping evidence in court for the first time.
A new Road Safety Bill will toughen the penalties on motorists using mobile phones while driving. Police will also have the power to use roadside breathalyser tests as proof of guilt, instead of having to test suspects at a police station. The Bill will also ensure that foreign drivers cannot escape punishment in Britain.
The Queen said in her address: "My Government recognises that we live in a time of global uncertainty with an increased threat from international terrorism and organised crime. Measures to extend opportunity will be accompanied by legislation to increase security for all."
...
A Drugs Bill will allow the police to test anyone for drugs once they are arrested, irrespective of whether they are later charged with an offence. But a Home Office spokesman denied reports that testing positive for drugs would become a criminal offence.
And Tony Blair has fulfilled his promise to introduce a new offence of corporate manslaughter when workers or customers die as a result of a company's slipshod practices, although trade unions complained that as it was only a draft Bill there might not be time for it to pass into law before the next election.
ID cards for all "to fight terrorism"
Nov 24/04 - UK -IDENTITY cards will be issued within four years after ministers yesterday made them the centrepiece of their programme for the run-up to the general election.
A fierce battle over the issue became certain when Tony Blair backed compulsory ID cards as essential to the fight against terrorism, illegal immigration and organised crime.
From 2008 people applying for passports will have to accept an ID card. Eventually people will need them to obtain public services, such as healthcare. Mr Blair admitted that it would be a “big change” for Britain but added they were “long overdue”. The aim is for everyone to have cards by 2010-12.
The measure has been put at the top of the Government’s legislative queue so that ministers can challenge the main opposition parties to help them to rush it through before an election if and when Mr Blair names May 5 as the date.
He is likely to call the election at the end of March, or the beginning of April and will use the ID cards Bill to try to outflank his opponents over crime. Labour has been buoyed by internal polls suggesting that eight out of ten people back ID cards. The combined passport-ID card will cost £85.
After overriding opposition from within the Cabinet, Mr Blair and David Blunkett have ensured that the Identity Cards Bill, one of several law-and- order measures in yesterday’s Queen’s Speech, is given prior-ity, with a Commons second reading shortly and the Bill reaching the Lords early next year.
The Liberal Democrats will oppose the Bill and the Conservatives said last night that there were serious tests to be passed — on cost, civil liberties, privacy and technology — before they could back the plan. If the Bill fails to get through before the election it will be reintroduced immediately if Labour wins.
Applicants for the new passports and ID cards will have to go to a special centre to provide biometric details, such as a fingerprint, or to have their face or iris scanned and converted into a machine-readable chip. The cards will then be linked to a national register. People will not be required to carry them all the time, but they would have to possess one.
ID cards for everyone in Britain
Middle Eastern Studies in the United Kingdom
UK - City law firms must wipe out Oxbridge bias, minister says
BBC - Jul 6/04 - About 750,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost since Labour came to power, a Trades Union Congress report has said.
The UK gives less support to industry than any other European country, and has become the "weak wildebeest" of European industry, it claims.
This would remain the case while the British workforce was "easy to flog and easy to sack", the TUC said.
But the government defended its record, saying subsidies were not the best way forward for UK industry.
Separately, official figures showed manufacturing output grew for the second month in a row in May.
'Dramatic' decline
Output grew by 0.5% in May from April, outstripping analysts' expectations of a 0.3% increase, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported.
The annual rate of output growth was 2.0%, the highest since October 2003, the ONS said.
United Kingdom: Civil Rights Groups Concerned Over Radical New Antiterror Proposals
By Jan Jun
4 February 2004 (RFE/RL) - British Home Secretary David Blunkett is proposing radical new antiterrorism
laws. Many politicians, religious organizations, and civil-rights groups say the proposals threaten to undermine the fundamental values of a free society.
London, 4 February 2004 (RFE/RL) -- Under the new proposals, British terrorism suspects could go on trial behind closed doors in an effort to protect intelligence sources. Pre-emptive charges could be brought so that suspects could be put on trial before they mount an attack.
And in one of the most controversial items, defendants could be found guilty on weaker evidence. Jurors are now told they must be sure "beyond reasonable doubt" that a defendant is guilty. Under the new proposals, judges could convict on "the balance of probabilities."
British Home Secretary David Blunkett says the threat of suicide terrorist attacks makes it necessary to debate ways to deal with what he called "these delicate issues of proportionality and human rights." He said authorities need the power to act on intelligence information while protecting sources.
Britain needs to "strike a balance between the absolute need for security and democratic traditions, as everyone is entitled to be presumed innocent until proved guilty."Some observers say Blunkett's proposals are designed to reassure the public that the threat of terrorism is being approached with all the required toughness. Others argue that Blunkett is simply yielding to pressure from the overstretched security apparatus.
While acknowledging the difficulty of protecting the public from terrorist threats, many politicians are worried the traditional values of a free society, such as the presumption of innocence, are being abandoned.
Humphrey Malins is a Conservative member of Parliament and until recently the party's Home Affairs spokesman.
"When one comes forward with proposals which are quite radical -- and, as I understand it, [Blunkett's] proposals about the balance of proof in a criminal trial are radical -- I think it's up to the proponents of the change to make the case for it. And at the moment, I would need some persuasion by the home secretary that he needs to take these powers."
Malins says Britain needs to "strike a balance between the absolute need for security and democratic traditions, as everyone is entitled to be presumed innocent until proved guilty."
Inayat Bunglawala of the Muslim Council of Britain tells RFE/RL that Blunkett's proposals go too far. "We are very surprised, because not even at the height of the [Irish Republican Army] bombing campaign in the U.K. mainland in the 1970s and 1980s did we see the government of the time introduce measures such as the ones that David Blunkett is proposing. Holding people, and holding British citizens, and putting them before a judge, and not even allowing them to see the evidence that is being used against them because it is based on intelligence material -- this is a very worrying development. And we hope that the government will not accept it, and that these proposals will be thrown into the dust bin where they belong."
Other critics of the new proposals feel the threats from terrorism should be handled differently. Mark Littlewood is a representative of the British civil-rights watchdog Liberty.
"We passed a whole new package of antiterrorism laws just after the 9/11 atrocities, and there doesn't seem to be much compelling evidence to my eyes that by having this package of laws, by being the only country of the 40 or so signatories to have opted out of [Article 5 of] the European Convention [on Human Rights, which bans illegal detention], that we are actually any safer than the other countries in Europe. I think if we are serious about protecting ourselves against the terrorist threat, then what we need to do is to actually look at how our security and intelligence services operate."
John Upton, a U.K.-based civil rights lawyer, cautions against the state assuming almost dictatorial powers. "There are a number of issues there -- first of all, being what is actually the threat. And the fact is that the general public aren't in a position to know what that [threat] is. Secondly, I think that if we compromise totally our democratic processes, from that leads on the fact that the state has never said it does not want power, the state will always ask for power for itself. And so we are creating a situation of social hysteria in which the state will gather power into itself, and I think that is what we should be very, very careful about."
Upton says the defeat of such fundamental values of free societies is part of what the terrorists are striving for, and politicians should not help them achieve their aims.
Blunkett's proposals come at a time when Britain remains on high terrorist alert. Heavily armed police units still patrol the main airports and guard important buildings. Several trans-Atlantic flights were again canceled this week because of fears of a terrorist attack.
The public, however, seems to be tiring and discomforted by the frequent alarms. British Transport Secretary Alastair Darling had to assure Parliament recently that things will be handled differently in future: "The House [of Commons] will recognize there is an increased threat, and we have to deal with that in a balanced and proportionate way. Our objective is to ensure that we deploy all the security measures available to us, as and when appropriate, whilst at the same time enabling people to go about their day-to-day business."
Blunkett says he hopes to have the new legislation in place by the next national election, which must be held by mid-2006.
Monday, 12 January 2004
BBC Attacks Freedom of Speech - Caves in to
P.C. movement
U.K.: BBC Presenter's Comments On Arabs Cause Uproar
By Breffni O'Rourke
12 January 2004 (RFE/RL) - British state television, the BBC, has suspended a well-known talk show because the presenter, Robert Kilroy-Silk, made what are seen as disparaging comments about Arabs, and by inference, about Muslims in general. The comments have caused an uproar among human rights activists. Kilroy is largely unrepentant, and says he is disappointed with the BBC for not supporting him.
Prague, 12 January 2004 (RFE/RL) -- British television talk show host Robert Kilroy-Silk ignited a national controversy with remarks seen as derogatory to Arabs.
Kilroy-Silk, whose decisive manner and mop of white hair have made him a well-recognized personality on BBC television, said in an article in London's "Sunday Express" on 4 January that Arabs were "suicide bombers, limb amputators and women-oppressors."
As the storm broke, the BBC suspended the talk show and opened an investigation into the comments.
The British Commission for Racial Equality demanded Kilroy make a "proper apology," and commission chairman Trevor Phillips said Kilroy should admit that his remarks are "very offensive."
The Muslim Council of Britain called Kilroy's article an "anti-Muslim and anti-Arab outburst" and has urged the BBC to "take the same kind of robust action" that would be taken if an employee had made anti-black or anti-Jewish remarks. A complaint has been filed with the Press Complaints Commission, and also with the police. A spokeswoman for the Muslim Council, Sarah Joseph, says "Thankfully, the BBC has suspended [Kilroy Silk] and is taking very seriously this incident, and also the CRE -- the Commission for Racial Equality -- has taken the matter seriously and has brought the incident to [the attention] of the police."
Joseph says because of the current international climate, Muslim minorities are particularly likely to be the target of discrimination, and people in the public eye should realize this.
"People who are in public positions have a greater responsibility to make sure they do not fan the fires of hatred -- against Muslims, against Arabs, against any group, but particularly against a group which is very vulnerable at this moment in time, and that is why it is so outrageous of Kilroy-Silk to make these comments," says Joseph.
Kilroy-Silk has said he's sorry that his remarks caused offense, but says he was not referring to all Arabs, but instead to those Arab regimes which are "evil and tyrannical and dictatorial."
He says he clearly does not believe "all Arabs are suicide bombers," and that he was "actually telling the truth" about some Arab regimes.
He has expressed disappointment that the BBC has not given him more support, and he said the state broadcaster had caved in to pressure from a "lobby" that wants to see him resign.
The center-right "Daily Express" newspaper, which is a sister publication to the "Sunday Express," says it stands by the 4 January article, and in a strident front-page headline declared that the British public is solidly behind Kilroy. It says 97 percent of the public supports Kilroy, who it says was "gagged" by the BBC. An unnamed spokeswoman for the "Daily Express" declined to explain how this figure was arrived at.
"At this stage we are not commenting at all, any further than what has been said. There is no comment at all, we are not discussing or talking about it," the spokeswoman said.
The controversy raises the issues of freedom of speech and freedom of the press, as well as constraints on racially prejudiced comments. Tim Gottshill, the media spokesman of the British Union of Journalists, says, it is not a question of muzzling opinions, but of identifying the basis of what is being expressed.
"Free speech does allow the robust expression of views, as strong as you like, as long as it is based on reason, as long as you are criticizing somebody for something which is real, and can be sustained," Gottshill said.
He says that judged by this standard, the Kilroy comments are a "borderline case."
"We [as journalists] are in favor of the robust expression of views, but a robust expression of views that are based on reason rather than prejudice -- and that is why this [Kilroy affair] is not the most serious of all breaches, to be quite honest, because obviously some Arab states do chop people's hands off and behead people, so there was an element of truth in it, it was not just straightforward racist abuse," Gottshill said.
The BBC itself says it does not want to comment on the affair until after its own internal inquiry is completed.
England Tries to Bans Christians from Media
(old news - but not outdated)
Saturday, August 2, 2003
DISCRIMINATION RECEIVES ROYAL ASSENT
By Gareth Littler, Director, the Center for Justice and Liberty, UK
Special to ASSIST News Service
LONDON,
ENGLAND (ANS) -- UK Christian
broadcasters rejoiced and thanked God when the House of Lords voted to remove
“disqualification of religious persons,” from the Communications Bill, on
Wednesday, July 2nd. (And, an Early Day Motion, welcoming the decision, was
signed by 106 MPs in only 1 week). (Pictured:
Gareth Littler).
But 12 days later, the Government re-imposed the religious disqualification in
the Commons. All the speeches were for our freedom, but the Government majority
voted against freedom.
BISHOP’S ‘U’ TURN
Before the final July 16th House of Lords debate, we were disappointed when the
Bishop of Manchester, who had spoken and voted for removal of the
disqualification, was telephoned at the General Synod by the Secretary of State,
Tessa Jowell, and then let the Christian broadcast Industry down by supporting
the Government. We were also very disappointed to find this action supported by
Churches Advisory Council on Local Broadcasting/ACLB. We paid our subscriptions
to a grouping, which opposed us – an anomaly if ever there was one!
The Bishop of Manchester, Roman Catholic Bishop of Portsmouth, Rev David Deeks
of the Methodist Church, Peter Blackman of CACLB, and Andrew Barr (formerly BBC
Scotland), signed a statement to Parliament, siding with a Government amendment,
re-imposing our religious disqualification. So, where does that leave the rights
of all the other churches and religious faiths, and hundreds of thousands of
people, who asked for Christian radio and TV?
Public service religious broadcasters compete with the independent sector for
audience (you can’t listen to Premier and BBC religion at the same time), and
have a conflict of interest if they purport to speak to independent religious
broadcasting, with the Government, in the absence of, and without agreement of
the independent religious broadcasters themselves.
The Liberal Democrats followed the Bishops’ example, to side with the
Government and virtually apologized to both Conservatives and Centre for Justice
and Liberty in the debate, referring to “shoddy compromises” in politics.
One Member of the House of Lords told us that the religious freedom debate was
lost, as soon as a Bishop opened his mouth.
RESULTING DISCRIMINATION
If the Bishops had encouraged the rest of the House of Lords to hold firm,
Government Ministers and officials would then have had little choice but to meet
with us and, for the first time, negotiate a way forward for the independent
religious broadcasting industry.
Well we did our best, and had to trust God; we have worked with some wonderful
MPs and Peers, who are also very disappointed. The Evangelical Alliance is
trying to put a positive spin on this, but the new Communications Act is still
discriminatory. We have taken legal advice and tried to produce a rough initial
assessment of the practical effect of this Act.
The Act still discriminates against Christian broadcasters and Christians, and
any other professional or other religious persons who hold office in a church or
religious body or religious charity, or who own or hold responsible board
director’s level positions of, or who are chief executives of; any company
that is a license-holder in the broadcast media.
The Communications Act, that will govern us for up to 10 years, discriminates in
4 areas:
1. Religious persons, bodies and broadcasters are ‘disqualified persons’ so
that, for example, a lay minister or church elder cannot (a) apply for a license
for; (b) be the Chairman of; (c) be the Chief Executive of; (d) hold over a 5%
shareholding in; (e) hold a responsible board director’s level position in:
(i) ITV Channel 3; (ii) Channel 5 TV; (iii) Additional national TV services;
(iv) Additional local TV services; (v) Public teletext services; (vi) National
TV multiplexes; (vii) Local TV multiplexes; (viii) National sound broadcasting
services; (ix) National radio multiplexes; (x) Local radio multiplexes.
[Communications Act 2003, section 348]
The Government justified this, claiming spectrum scarcity, but this is
misleading with regard to, say, the 46 local radio multiplexes, in plentiful
supply and no longer scarce.
This religious discrimination means that professionals, who hold office in
church, can’t hold certain director’s level jobs in national radio, TV, and
multiplex services at the BBC.
It is also an unnecessary double disqualification, because the public interest
test enables a Government Minister to refuse a license, if it is not in the
public interest.
2. Religious persons, bodies and broadcasters have a new problem!
They are not to hold any other Broadcasting Act license unless the Ofcom
regulator, upon an application for that purpose, makes a determination that they
are satisfied that it is appropriate for that person to hold a license of that
description.
Ofcom will publish ‘guidance’ on the principles they will apply for making
determinations, but can revise this, by publishing it in whatever manner that
Ofcom consider appropriate.
[Communications Act 2003 schedule 14, paragraph 15]
These determinations covering licenses that Government say we can now apply for,
(as they are no longer in short supply) - are oddly justified on grounds of
spectrum shortage.
3. We may never reach a point where there is an end to some ‘frequency
scarcity’!
The Government suggestion to review, as more spectrum becomes available, omits
to mention that the list, which includes national TV and radio multiplexes, may
never reach a point where there is an end to some spectrum scarcity. The
‘disqualification of religious persons’ can thereby become a permanent
feature of the Law of the United Kingdom.
4. Offering a disqualification ‘forum’ to discuss religious broadcasts as an
alternative
After refusing to meet, or discuss the needs of the independent Christian
broadcast industry, why are Government Ministers suddenly offering us another
committee, as well as the Central Religious Advisory Committee – instead of
freedom to broadcast?
Good news for those who work on committees, not so much for Christian
broadcasters!
Where does this leave the long-standing Central Religious Advisory Committee,
which advises the BBC, Independent Television Commission and the Radio
Authority?
What will the forum do, if it includes public service religious broadcasters,
who compete for audience with, and support disqualification of independent
religious broadcasters?
IS THERE ANYTHING POSITIVE FOR CHRISTIANS IN THE COMMUNICATIONS ACT 2003?
We welcome the encouragement for our public service religious broadcasting
counterparts.
The Secretary of State and Parliament can revise disqualification. This was
accepted when Centre for Justice and Liberty gave evidence to the Puttnam
Committee on Wednesday 24th June 2002, but what sort of lobbying campaign will
be needed to change this law, in view of Government’s treatment of a 13 year
lobby, supported by hundreds of thousands of people?
The Government will remove digital radio programme service licenses from the
list of disqualifications, but only under determination. This is no
“seachange” by the Government, it was accepted back in the White Paper on
the future of communications, but Christian/ religious broadcasters have had to
wait 7 years after the Government were caught out, and admitted that this was
due to their own legislative omission in the 1996 Act. Would Sky or ITV have
been kept waiting so long, if they were subject to a Government mistake?
EXTRAORDINARILY, THE NEW COMMUNICATIONS ACT ALSO RE-DEFINES “BELIEF”
This is how it is defined...‘“belief” means a collective belief in, or
other adherence to, a systemized set of ethical or philosophical principles or
of mystical or transcendental doctrines’
[Communications Act 2003, section 264 (13)]
This new definition omits key aspects of Conviction; Faith; Trust and most
importantly – God!
WHERE DO CHRISTIAN BROADCASTERS GO FROM HERE?
Now, we are left with a host of problems for UK Christian broadcasting
companies, and also for the next generation of aspirant Christian broadcasters.
If you want good Christian music, on ordinary radio across the UK, don’t watch
this space!
However, the Centre for Justice and Liberty will not let the matter rest, and we
are exploring the possibility of a legal challenge to the Act, on grounds of
religious discrimination.
Center for Justice and Liberty - at:
http://www.justiceandliberty.co.uk/index.php?Article_ID=44
EUROPEAN CENTER FOR LAW AND JUSTICE - http://www.eclj.org/
Conservative
Politics in Australia
Find the Roots of your Christian Heritage through Great Books
THERE IS NOT ONE CHRISTIAN NATION ON EARTH WHERE MUSLIMS ARE PERSECUTED.
Yet in most nations where the majority of the population are Muslims, there is systematic government persecution of Christians.
"Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance."
--Article 18 of the Universal
Declaration of
Human
Rights--
Christian Conversions - According to the Bible - Can NEVER be forced.
Any Conversion to Christianity which would be "Forced" would NOT be recognized by God. It is in
His True and KIND nature, that those who come to Him and choose to believe in Him, must come to Him OF
THEIR OWN FREE WILL.
Don't Let anyone tell you that Christians support Forced Conversions.
That is False. True Christianity is NEVER forced.
