Peter Tatchell: Gays and Muslims Unite!

14 November 2016

Peter Tatchell addressing LGBT Humanists at the Conway Hall

Homosexuals and Muslims must unite in solidarity against ‘oppression’, Peter Tatchell has urged.

The veteran gay activist issued his clarion call at a meeting of LGBT Humanists at London’s Conway Hall on Friday night (11th November 2016).

Ethics and Tango

Over fifty attended the meeting deep in the bowels of the bastion of anti-Christian thinking. Conway Hall is the headquarters of what was the South Place Ethical Society. Incongruously, a tango-dancing club was meeting in the main hall.

Only about a quarter of those attending were women. Around half of those were clad in Islamic dress.

Peter Tatchell firstly tried to draw an artificial distinction between Muslims, Islam and Islamism. Islam is a religion and Islamism a political system, he suggested. Muslims, he appeared to say, were innocent, powerless bystanders to the excesses of the one and the atrocities of the other.

The Conway Hall, bastion of 'humanist ethics,' if there is such a thing. — The Conway Hall, bastion of ‘humanist ethics,’ if there is such a thing.

The Quran, he declared, said nothing derogatory against sodomy. It was only in the Hadith where homosexuality was outlawed and penalties prescribed. The Hadith were the sayings of Mohammed, ‘a mortal man’, whereas the Quran was divinely-inspired. One presumes he meant ‘divinely-inspired according to Muslims’. The thought of something being inspired by someone or something supernatural does not immediately appear to be a secularist concept.

Peter Tatchell does not get Islam

Therefore, what Mr Tatchell tries to tell those Muslims he comes across, and it seems he comes across many, is that homosexuality is just fine if you will only go to the roots of Islamic faith.

This is wrong for two reasons. Firstly, the Hadith are not the ‘sayings’ of Mohammed, they are accounts of Mohammed’s life. The word ‘hadith’ is Arabic for ‘story’. Secondly, the Hadith carry equal authority with the Quran. Mr Tatchell was thinking along Christian indeed along Protestant lines, where the Bible is the sole authority in matters of doctrine. It isn’t like that in Islam. You cannot appeal to the silence of the Quran in matters where the Hadith wax eloquent.

As to his central premise that both homosexuality and being a Muslim are oppressed in Britain today, Mr Tatchell offered no evidence. But he wanted to give his audience hope that gays and Muslims could indeed unite against the imaginary oppression. Therefore he told us that 17% of Iranian students claim to be homosexual. The figure is of course ludicrous and has been rubbished online.

Seven of the Muslim family of twelve wore burkas, then complained people 'lloked at them'. — Seven of the Muslim family of twelve wore burkas on their trip to Skegness, then complained when people were negative about them.

Love in the Quran!

However, his relentless lobbying of the Muslim Council of Britain bore fruit in 2007 when they did not oppose the Sexual Orientation Regulations. Inevitably the change of heart was fleeting. MCB reverted to type in 2012, when they opposed same-sex marriage.

Although some homosexuals had experienced hatred from Muslims, Muslim hearts and minds were changing, Peter Tatchell claimed. Young Muslims in schools had been positive about gays, citing some imaginary ‘love and compassion in the Quran’. He was working with ‘British Muslims for Secular Democracy’, a fringe group if ever there was one, founded by the notorious ex-Muslim secularist and talking head Yasmin Alibhai-Brown. He was also proud to be a patron of ‘Tell Mama’. This grievance group never stops looking around for real – or imaginary – discrimination against Muslims. A recent ludicrous non-example was that experienced by the Skegness twelve.

Asia Bibi: still facing execution on a trumped-up charge of blasphemy in Pakistan

So last year his Peter Tatchell Foundation launched ‘LGBT-Muslim Solidarity – Fight All Hate’. You really would need a heart of stone not to laugh at the infantile way ‘progressive’ people cast their political opponents as motivated by ‘hate’ – as if they themselves aren’t. On the other hand, Peter Tatchell is an intelligent guy. Maybe he is sending them up.

Demographic reality

Now to demographic reality. Atheists and Christians alike in the United Kingdom are barely replacing their population. Homosexuals, without outside intervention, do not have children. Because they cannot procreate they have to recruit or adopt, but that is another story. The only group in the British population who are growing is Muslims, whose women are simply doing what their bodies were created to do. It may be only a matter of some thirty years before Muslims, and that means Islam and Islamists, gain political control in this country. The best advice for Christians and homosexuals alike is: ‘keep your passports up to date.’

On a positive note, those assembled did allow me to ask a question. In response Peter Tatchell was gracious enough to concede, to the dismay of sections of his audience, that Christians rather than homosexuals or Muslims are indeed the most persecuted group around the globe. He spoke in particular of Pakistan and the ordeal of Asai Bibi, who cannot find a judge with the courage simply to release her. Judges in Pakistan are all in fear of their lives. From Islamists, not Muslims, no doubt.

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President Trump – America does a Brexit

Stephen

9 November 2016

So it’s President Trump heading for the White House as America does a Brexit.

Our prayers for the best candidate for peace in the world to be elected have been answered. Just as in the Brexit vote, the polls underestimated ordinary people and their votes.

Even right now, NATO is sabre-rattling against Russia. Hillary Clinton would have exacerbated that. We now call on President Trump to rein in the Pentagon and its assorted gung-ho generals, arms manufacturers and vested interests in war and make the world a safer place.

Hillary Clinton was solidly in the Neo-Con camp that gave us the War on Terror, incursions into Afghanistan, hundreds of thousands of deaths in Iraq, the ruin of Libya, the destabilisation of Syria and the rise of first Al-Qaeda then ISIS. Her old friend Madeleine Albright urged here to pick a ‘fight’ with President Putin. She would have continued the George Soros doctrine of ‘Responsibility to Protect’ – or ‘Excuse to Interfere’, as it should properly be called.

NATO troops on an muscle-flexing exercise in Poland earlier this year.

At this moment, according to the Daily Mail (well, OK, but they have quoted The Times) NATO chiefs are embarking on a 300,000 troop build-up in Europe and saying: ‘Relations between Russia and the West have plunged in the last year, with Moscow’s insistence on backing its Syrian ally, President Bashar al-Assad, at all costs leading to serious tension with the US, Britain and France.’

Yes, because those like Cameron, Hague, Hammond and Fallon went along with Soros and the US to agitate for regime change in Syria. By supporting and arming the jihadist rebels they have all but destroyed that country and caused thousands of deaths and displacement, the virtual eradication of Christians in areas where the rebels seized control and brought about the European migrant crisis.

If President Trump engages, as Sean O’Grady thinks he will, writing in the Independent, in ‘realpolitik’, de-escalation of tension is possible. Trump understands that Russia offers no threat to the United States (or its allies, for that matter). So if the Russians want a naval and an air base in the Med, or a presence on the Black Sea, they can have it.

Jonathan Powell, former chief of staff to Tony Blair, says his “biggest fear under Trump is the United States will become more isolationist, it will be less willing to intervene in the world than it has been.” Yes, exactly! It’s great news! Just maybe the world might now become a bit more stable.

Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the UK Labour Party, has issued a statement in which he called Trump’s victory a “global wake-up call”. Does he not understand that the spirit which saw him elected as Labour leader and delivered the Leave vote in the Brexit referendum is the same spirit that elected Donald Trump? It’s called, ‘rejection of the global elite and the status quo.’ He that sitteth in the heavens is laughing this morning (Psalm 2!).

Praise God today for answered prayer. And pray for protection and wisdom for President-elect Trump.

Psalm 120:7 I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war.

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USA – don’t vote for war

Stephen

7 November 2016

President Obama has warned the fate of the world is at stake in the USA presidential election tomorrow.

He is surely right. Wherever we are in the world, we need to pray that Americans make the right choice.

Firstly, there has probably never been an American election where the choice was between two more unlikeable characters.

But looking beyond that, which candidate will be better for peace in the world?

If we ignore internal US matters and just look at US foreign policy, the way in which we need to pray becomes very clear.

Madeleine Albright wearing her 'war' badge — Madeleine Albright wearing her ‘war’ badge

Hillary Clinton is solidly in the Neo-Con camp that gave us the War on Terror, incursions into Afghanistan, hundreds of thousands of deaths in Iraq, the ruin of Libya, the destabilisation of Syria and the rise of first Al-Qaeda then ISIS. Her old friend Madeleine Albright continues to urge a ‘fight’ with President Putin. She is totally sold out to the George Soros doctrine of ‘Responsibility to Protect’ – or ‘Excuse to Interfere’, as it should properly be called.

In her determination to squeeze Russia out of Syria and the Mediterranean and her endorsement of Pentagon and NATO sabre-rattling in Europe, she could quite easily start world war three. Remember, had it not been for Oleg Gordievsky’s intelligence on the USSR, a provocative NATO exercise in 1983 could have provoked a Russian nuclear strike.

There are many in the US Pentagon who stand to benefit from increased spending on armaments and they are dreading the election of Donald Trump.

Why? Because, as Sean O’Grady put it the Independent, Donald Trump ‘get’s it’. He does ‘realpolitik’. He understands that Russia offers no threat to the United States (or its allies, for that matter). So if the Russians want a naval and an air base in the Med, or a presence on the Black Sea, they can have it.

Donald Trump, despite his aggressive persona and his bullish comments about walls and suchlike, is the candidate for peace.

That is why I shall be praying for a Trump victory to tomorrow, and why I invite you to join me.

Psalm 140:1 Deliver me, O LORD, from the evil man: preserve me from the violent man; 2 Which imagine mischiefs in their heart; continually are they gathered together for war.

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Limited consultation on sharia courts

Stephen

16 September 2016

Kadhis (judges) of the Sharia Council delve into Islamic law — Kadhis (judges) of the Islamic Sharia Council delve into Islamic law

The Governments’ consultation into sharia courts opened in July and closed in August. It was said to be ‘part of an independent review into its use in England and Wales’.

Professor Mona Siddiqui, a Muslim herself, was appointed to lead it, ‘investigating the treatment of women in cases involving divorce, domestic violence and child custody’.

NO INFIDELS NEED RESPOND

It was not, as so many thought it should be, a consultation into the principle of whether a rival law system should operate under the established legal system in England and Wales. The Home Office only wanted to hear from ‘people with experience of sharia law.’

Muslim women are not all opposed to Sharia

That meant ‘Kadhis’, sharia judges, and those on the receiving end of Islamic justice.

The consultation page said:

‘We would like to hear from you if you have knowledge, expertise or experience on the use of sharia law, especially if you:

‘work or have worked as part of a sharia council in the last 5 years

‘have used a sharia council in any capacity in the last 5 years,’

It meant only Muslims could respond and no-one, including a Muslim with misgivings about sharia councils, who had not paritcipated in such a court would be admitted to the consultation.

ARBITRATION SYSTEM

Sharia courts operate within the arbitration system which was set up in the nineteenth century by the Arbitration Act 1889. Arbitration is especially useful in commercial disputes and cases involving land or construction. Costs for parties are lower and by agreeing to arbitration, parties relieve time pressure on the overburdened courts. The outcome on parties who agree to arbitration is binding and enforceable.

Arbitration panels operating specifically for Muslims fall within this system.

The problem is that no-one is really sure what system of law is being applied by the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal (MAT), the main Islamic arbitration council which has sprung up.

KADHI COURTS

Is it true that Islamic arbitration, as Government ministers stoutly maintain, and Wikipedia announces: ‘operates within the framework of English law and does not constitute a separate Islamic legal system’?

Or is the Kadhi (the Arabic word for ‘judge’) secretly handing down Fatwa (Arabic for ‘judgment’) using Sharia (the Arabic word for ‘law’)?

Kahdi Courts using the Arbitration framework are said on the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal website (above) to be ‘a viable alternative for the Muslim community seeking to resolve disputes in accordance with Islamic Sacred Law’.

How can they be in accordance with Sharia and also with the law of England and Wales, or that of Scotland? The Scottish Government said in a response to a consultation that parties could explicitly agree to ‘apply Sharia law’ to their dispute. They also said: ‘Any final award must comply with Scots or UK law otherwise it would be unenforceable in the Scottish courts.’ What does that mean if a party has already agreed to Sharia?

SHARIA DIVORCE COURTS

In addition to Kadhi Courts operating within the arbitration system, there are others, including the Islamic Sharia Council (ISC), set up to apply Islamic law outside it. 95% or the work of the ISC is to do with divorce, enabling Muslim parties (mainly, it appears, women) to gain an Islamic divorce in addition to a UK civil divorce.

Although they say they do not settle matters of residence of children, Machteld Zee, a Dutch author, looking at the way these courts operate, concluded they do indeed decide those matters. In practice, a party would probably then concede the Sharia position decided by the Kadhis on his or her next appearance in the civil court.

She revealed there are around 85 such councils in England and Wales. She also said they invariably give custody or ‘residence’ of children to fathers. Some might add ‘it’s about time’ in view of the opposite tendency in civil divorce courts, but that is exactly the point. There appear to be competing parallel systems operating.

MUSLIMS ‘BENEFIT’ FROM SHARIA

Setting up the enquiry, Theresa May, as Home Secretary, claimed that many British Muslims “benefit a great deal” from the existence of Kadhi Courts. Nile Gardiner, a foreign policy analyst and former aide to Margaret Thatcher, was unimpressed by her comments, describing them as “unbelievable”.

Mrs May said: “Many British people of different faiths follow religious codes and practices, and benefit a great deal from the guidance they offer.

“A number of women have reportedly been victims of what appear to be discriminatory decisions taken by Sharia councils, and that is a significant concern.

“There is only one rule of law in our country, which provides rights and security for every citizen.”

The testimony of the MAP and the findings of Machfeld Zee indicate that rule of law is set aside the moment a Muslim agrees to be bound by a Sharia Kadhi Court.

EXPERTISE

Mrs May said, “Professor Siddiqui, supported by a panel with a strong balance of academic, religious and legal expertise, will help us better understand whether and the extent to which Sharia law is being misused or exploited and make recommendations to the Government on how to address this.”

According to the Home Office, the panel includes ‘family law barrister Sam Momtaz, retired high court judge Sir Mark Hedley and specialist family law lawyer Anne Marie Hutchinson OBE QC’. Crucially, it will also be ‘advised’ by two ‘religious and theological experts’ who are Islamic preachers: Imam Sayed Ali Abbas Razawi and Imam Qari Asim.

Comments made by Imam Razawi reported in the Independent suggest he supports the death penalty in Islamic states, promotes negative views about homosexuality and believes Western clothing is a sign of corruption.

Imam Asim is attached to Leeds Makkah Masjid, one of the UK’s largest mosques. Secularist Muslim-origin signatories to a letter seen by The Independent pronounced the consultation a whitewash before it even began.

We await the consultation’s findings with interest to see if they will be proved right.

Tom Daley and Rio2016 – is there really no judgment?

Stephen

1 September 2016

Tom Daley finished last in his semi-final after leading the field.

After ‘That Tweet’ about how Tom Daley turning gay did him no favours at #Rio2016 a number of people were really sure God did not judge Daley in the diving pool for turning gay. Some said God wouldn’t judge him, either because ‘being gay’ isn’t a sin or because God can’t be bothered to intervene in the affairs of men, some said God couldn’t, some said there’s no God anyway, and some were just abusive.

So I thought I should brave this maelstrom and state my personal position on what I believe the Bible says.

DALEY PROMOTING HIMSELF AND HIS HOMOSEXUALITY

Tom Daley was talked about as a potential gold medal-winner before all the athletes set off. He said himself: ‘I’m going into this Olympic Games for a gold medal.’

I last wrote about Daley in December 2013, when he decided he was ‘gay’ after becoming involved with one Dustin Black. He came back into view as his gayness and his fait accompli individual gold medal were all over the media as Rio2016 approached.

The papers loved the relentless opportunities he gave them to photograph him with his twice-as-old boyfriend. There were pictures of Daley and Black holding hands, going shopping, eating out, being on the cover of sodomy magazines, kissing (yuk), talking about being ‘engaged’ to be gay-married, even about ‘having children’ together (which thing can’t biologically be done, but let that pass).

The Daily Mail left Goodfellow out of the picture as well. — The Daily Mail thought Tom Daley won bronze in synchronised dive on his own.

Young Mr Daley was giving it large, as they say in South London, about his new-found homosexuality and all things gay and about his medal prospects.

DIVING IS ALL IN THE MIND

At Rio 2016, Daley achieved a bronze medal with Dan Goodfellow in the men’s synchronised 10m platform. Even then, as Felicity Morse noted in iNews, newspaper coverage of the medal was all about Daley. Goodfellow was literally left out of the picture in both the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail. But when it came to the individual dive, from 1st place in the preliminary round, Daley slumped to last place in the semi-final.

From what I can see about diving, you can do all the training you want, and you have to, but at the crucial moment, it really is all in the mind. As he was lining up for what would turn out to be his last Rio2016 dive, something scrambled Tom Daley’s.

What that was, we shall probably never know. I might say ‘God did it’, while someone else will attribute it to a random thought (but where did that thought come from?) and others will say it was just an off-day. But even they will have to concede that to go from first place to last is a bit dramatic.

THE SPIRITUAL AFFECTS THE NATURAL

Here’s the theological question: Does one’s belief set really affect one’s life outcomes? Does pride go before a fall? Can the spiritual dimension of life affect the natural? Sceptics will say, ‘Of course not!’

We know from Matthew 5:45 that the sun shines on the evil and the good, and the rain falls on the just and the unjust. But that is the common grace of God. What about the Lord’s specific dealings with individuals? The Bible records God saying to Eli the priest:

1Samuel 2:30b but now the LORD saith, … them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.

Eli’s sons were apostate and his family was wiped out soon after. The prophecy came true.

The book of Psalms opens by saying:

Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. 4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

Like it or not, and if you are homosexual or liberal or from Plymouth you probably won’t, but Tom Daley is in the verse 4 category. And if anyone wants to say I am ‘judging’ him, just put ‘Tom Daley” into an internet search engine.

The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah as depicted by John Martin in 1852

THE SIN OF SODOMY

It’s the word of God which is judging him, not me. Sodomy is said to be sinful all through the Bible. God brought judgment on Sodom itself. Men doing shameful acts with other men is condemned in the New Testament (Romans 1:24-27). The Lord Jesus said:

Mark 10:6 But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. 7 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; 8 And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.

All I am doing is warning. The ministry I lead has been warning our nation of the effects of our corporate sin for over twenty years. We do it because we care about our nation and those in it.

Promoting sodomy and gay-marriage, as Daley does, is especially sinful. That is because it affects the cultural environment of impressionable young people. The ‘Daley-effect’ can make an adolescent boy think he is gay when he is actually passing through a phase of same-sex attraction. Tom Daley’s failure to win an Olympic gold medal has at least mitigated that effect to an extent.

JUDGMENT IS COMING

Of course there are those who are just as wicked who appear to get away with it all their lives. On the other hand, there are good people who suffer. Squaring those outcomes with the principle of Psalm 1 exercised the protagonists in the book of Job. The psalmist asked the question pointedly in Psalm 73, and Solomon in Ecclesiastes:

Eccl 7:15 All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness.

But we have, as Job and the psalmists did, to keep to the Psalm 1 hope that anyone who turns away from the advice of the ungodly, who doesn’t hang around with those who are breaking God’s laws and who doesn’t mock or scorn God will be blessed and whatsoever he does will prosper in his time on earth. They were certain that judgment is coming eventually.

GOD REWARDS THOSE WHO SEEK HIM

The same spiritual principle operates in the New Testament. The book of Hebrews says those who diligently seek God will be rewarded:

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

The Lord Jesus himself spoke of rewards from following him, and he said they would happen in this life:

Luke 18:29 And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake, 30 Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.

Does that mean salvation itself is earned? No, it has all been done on the cross by Jesus:

1Corinthians 2:2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

PUT YOUR TRUST IN JESUS

To be saved, you simply put all your trust, all your faith, in Jesus:

Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Salvation is available to everyone who calls on the name of Jesus:

Romans 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

That applies to every one of us. If you do not yet believe that the Lord Jesus died on the cross to forgive you your sins, and that his resurrection will fill you with new life, call on his name right now, believe in him and tell everyone (that’s what the confess bit means) that he is your Saviour.

WHAT WOULD JESUS SAY?

What would Jesus say to Tom Daley? Carry on sinning? No, he would say what he said already:

Mark 1:14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

‘Repent and believe the Gospel’. Jesus says that still to every sinner today. You may think you are doing well, but God can still pull you down. If you spit in the face of God often enough and long enough, judgment is coming.

Salvation is a gift from God. It carries with it eternal life in heaven, in the presence of God, by the blood of Jesus Christ, the perfect lamb of God.

WOULD DALEY BE A BETTER DIVER IF HE TURNED TO CHRIST?

But the Bible also teaches there is a reward in this life for obedience to God’s laws. You succeed in life by following Kingdom principles.

Even the New Agers, drawing on Hinduism, have their idea of ‘Karma’. Our human spirit cries out that if there is no reward for virtue and no judgment for sin, what is the point of trying to lead a good life, however you define it? Is it all in the next life? No, the Bible teaches it is in the here and now as well.

So do I believe Tom Daley would be a better diver if he turned to Christ and renounced his homosexuality as a result of conviction of sin? Of course I do! By harnessing the power of prayer, he would find the Lord would help to focus his mind before every dive. God can do that, you know!

In addition, although Tom Daley would be persecuted by the gays for betrayal, he would have the peace of God in his heart. He would have the blessed assurance, as the hymn puts it, of salvation. I believe he would be a better diver, but even if I’m wrong in that, the sweet knowledge of salvation outweighs everything else this life affords.

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Girls becoming more unhappy

Stephen

31 August 2016

More adolescent girls are unhappy with their lives than boys.

The BBC says a Children’s Society report has noted an increase in unhappiness in adolescent girls.

Researchers from the Society and the University of York found that between 2009-10 and 2013-14 on average 11% of both boys and girls said they were unhappy.

But the latest available figures, for 2013-14, showed while the proportion of unhappy boys stayed the same, girls saying they were unhappy had risen to 14%.

LOOKS AND SOCIAL MEDIA

The proportion of girls reporting being worried about their looks rose from 30% for the period as a whole, to 34% in the year 2013-14 – while the proportion of boys unhappy with their appearance remained unchanged at 20%.

Most of the comments from girls stress the difficulty of competing with the looks of models or celebrities, but what has changed appears to be the increased intrusion of social media. Girls are spending on up to three hours a night on Facebook and Instagram. They can now post pictures or videos instantly from mobile devices.

School sex education is also increasing the pressure on girls to be sexually attractive and even active. And the report completely fails to mention family breakdown, which has resulted in so many children growing up without their father. It doesn’t mention the specific importance of a father in a child’s life either.

EMOTIONAL BULLYING HIGHER AMONG GIRLS

The report found emotional bullying, such as name-calling, to be twice as common among girls as physical bullying is among boys.

There are clearly things parents can do here. The Bible lays great weight on the parent-child relationship:

Deuteronomy 6:6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Ephesians 6:4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

INVEST TIME IN YOUR CHILDREN

It is too easy in a busy life for parents to allow a child to disappear to his or her room and get online or even, with the way technology is moving, to sit in the family room tapping away on a tablet.

Christian parents in particular need to watch that tendency in themselves and invest time in their children. Find out what your children are doing, be supportive and gentle, encourage them. You need to be praying over your children, and your husband or wife for that matter, blessing them with good word and compliments, never cursing them, but building them up as the word of God commands:

1Thess 5:11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. 14 … warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all.

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May took money from Honours List men

Stephen

5 August 2016

The current Prime Minister took money from men in the previous Prime Minister’s Resignation Honours List, which was leaked to the Sunday Times.

Theresa May’s Conservative Party election campaign received £15,000 from Ian Taylor, the oil executive at Vitol and funder of the pro-EU campaign who was recommended for a knighthood.

She was also given £20,000 by IPGL, a company linked to businessman Michael Spencer, whom David Cameron recommended for a peerage before it was blocked by Whitehall.

CONFIDENCE UNDERMINED

To his credit, Mr Taylor, a Conservative party donor who also made donations to the EU Remain campaign, has said he does not wish his name to go forward. Mr Spencer’s name was also rubbed out because of his involvement in the ‘Libor’ interest-rate fixing scandal. He had raised around £70m for the Tory Party.

But their mere presence on the list will embarrass the Prime Minister.

Mrs May has the power to block David Cameron’s ‘Honours’ list but has refused to do so, saying it would ‘set a bad precedent’. Some would argue it would set a very good precedent indeed. Neither Tony Blair nor Gordon Brown rewarded their cronies in his way when they resigned. The last prime minister to do so was John Major, whose own administration was mired in scandal.

Rewarding cronies undermines public confidence in the political system, which is why Almighty God, in the mouth of the father-in-law of Moses, so clearly says that appointments should be on the basis of ability, on truth and fearing God, and not on avarice, of whatever sort:

Exodus 18:21 Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers …

GIFT BLINDETH THE WISE

The Bible says: Exodus 23:8 And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.

Any ‘gift’ may be monetary or it can come in the form of a favour. Mr Cameron intends to ask the Queen to bestow knighthoods on his Remain ministerial colleagues Philip Hammond, David Lidington, Hugo Swire, Michael Fallon and Patrick McLoughlin while Caroline Spelman would become a Dame, the female version.

Mr Cameron’s former strategy adviser, Steve Hilton, has said the resignation honours list revealed a “serious type of very British corruption”.

Still on the list is Andrew Cook, who gave £250,000 to the Remain campaign and has donated £1m to the Tories over the past decade. He is also line for a knighthood. Well does the Bible say: Prov 18:16 A man’s gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men.

HAND FULL OF BRIBES

The previous Prime Minister would have done well to heed the words of the Prophet Isaiah:

Isa 33:15 He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; 16 He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.

The current Prime Minister should have blocked the list, the full shabby details of which are listed by the Guardian in this article.

Theresa May might remember this verse of a psalm from her clergyman father’s daily readings: Psalm 26:9 Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men: 10 In whose hands is mischief, and their right hand is full of bribes.

CRITICISM RUG PULLED BY CORBYN

For some reason, Jeremy Corbyn chose to undermine criticism of Mr Cameron’s list by himself offering a nomination for it, Shami Chakrarbati for a peerage. Miss Chakrarbati spring cleaned the National Council for Civil Liberties after its spirit-of-the-age flirtation with paedophile groups during Patricia Hewitt and Harriet Harman’s tenure in the 1980s. The organisation was renamed as ‘Liberty’ in 1989.

Shami Chakrabarti may well be able to hold the Government to account in the House of Lords in this increasingly authoritarian age, but her peerage has arrived hard on the heels of her chairing Labour’s investigation into anti-Semitism, denounced as a ‘whitewash’ by the Board of Deputies of British Jews.

Marie van der Zyl, the group’s vice-president, said: ‘It is beyond disappointing that Shami Chakrabarti has been offered, and accepted, a peerage from Labour following her so-called “independent” inquiry.

‘The report, which was weak in several areas, now seems to have been rewarded with an honour. This “whitewash for peerages” is a scandal that surely raises serious questions about the integrity of Ms Chakrabarti, her inquiry and the Labour leadership.’

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said her report’s credibility now “lies in tatters” after she accepted the peerage.

By offering the peerage Mr Corbyn pulled the rug of legitimate criticism of the Cameron crony-list from under his own feet. It is another error of judgment from a man upon whose shoulders so much depends.

Now being implicated in the same sin, Mr Corbyn cannot hold the Government to account in this matter:

John 8:7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

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Prayer for Cabinet appointments

Stephen

14 July 2016

Last night, new Prime Minister Theresa May made six senior appointments, covering the three great offices of state (Chancellor, Home Office, Foreign Office), and created two new post-Brexit positions. Continue to pray for her appointments today.

BORIS JOHNSON

The most astonishing appointment last night was that of Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary. Mr Johnson is said to have had wide experience dealing with foreign governments promoting the capital city as Mayor of London. He is much better disposed to Russia than his predecessor and apparently speaks five languages fluently, including German and Russian.

The latter will be especially useful as he pursues what we pray will be a more positive engagement with Russia than that taken by his predecessor. (Although never under-estimate the power of the PUS – see the picture. Sir Simon Fraser, Mr McDonald’s predecessor, has already said “highly professional people” will surround Mr Johnson as he takes on the role. Sir Humphrey?

Mr Johnson, like Theresa May, is pro-Israel. The BBC reports: ‘In 2015, Mr Johnson had to cancel planned public events in the West Bank because of security fears after he criticised backers of a boycott on Israeli goods, and he has previously described Hilary Clinton – US presidential hopeful – as having “a steely blue stare, like a sadistic nurse in a mental hospital.”‘

British sanctions against trade with Russia must be ended and Russian efforts to bring stability to Syria supported. We can pray that Boris, with a great-grand-father from Moscow, will have nothing to do with the posturing of the world elite which needs to see Russia as the big enemy and President Vladimir Putin as an aggressor and a threat.

A more positive engagement will help as Mr Johnson tries, as we hope he will, to find the reasons behind Russia’s new anti-evangelism law and argue against it from an informed and friendly position.

Write to your MP. Ask him/her to congratulate the new Foreign Secretary on your behalf and to ask him to pursue a positive engagement with Russia, lift sanctions and let you know what discussions he has with Russian officials about Russia’s new anti-evangelism law, which, of course, concerns you.

PHILIP HAMMOND

I prayed yesterday and I am still praying that Philip Hammond would leave the government completely, because of his stance on Syria and Russia (see below). Mr Johnson taking his place at the Foreign Office was a spectacular and unexpected part-answer to that prayer.

Mr Hammond, with his ‘Assad must go’ rhetoric, showed himself both ignorant of reality in Syria, and in thrall to the US-driven elites of this world. I made a video on this topic last October with an emphasis on Syrian Christians: Syria – Sense and Compassion. Do take a look – it’s less than 4 minutes.

Mr Hammond was also part of ‘Project Fear’ with his view that it would take longer than World War II to leave the European Union.

In the event, he has been made Chancellor of the Exchequer, which is a promotion. Pray for him to have the great wisdom and vision that job needs at any time, but especially at this time. I still pray that the Lord will intervene and that he will not be there long.

MICHAEL FALLON

Mr Fallon retains the post of Secretary of State for Defence. He was part of the ‘Assad must go’ triumverate (with Mr Cameron and Mr Hammond) and the same arguments apply to him as apply to Mr Hammond. It was a spectacularly ignorant and stupid line originated by William, Lord, Hague, totally driven by the desire of the US to destablise that country for financial and strategic reasons – Russia has bases in Syria.

It has cost hundreds of thousands of lives and drove the migration disaster of last summer, in which thousands of Islamic State activists were able to infiltrate European Union nations.

The United Kingdom needs a Defence Secretary able to stand up to the US in NATO and end the current policy of military build-ups and sabre-rattling at the Russian border. Make no mistake, such things are planned by the elite for their benefit, not ours. A top insider, Craig Breedlove, former head of NATO, was at the Bilderberg meeting in Dresden last month. And a series of leaked emails published in RT show how keen he has been to push the Obama administration into agitating in Ukraine and aggression against Russia.

I am praying that Mr Fallon has a change of heart and becomes a man of peace, whose strength is in the Lord. His voting record is good on the issues that matter. He voted against ‘gay marriage’ and against doctor-assisted dying, for instance. But he voted for military intervention against President Assad’s forces in Syria. if the Lord will not change his heart, will the Lord replace Mr Fallon as well.

Write to your MP (a separate letter with a different date will be best) and ask him/her to ask the Secretary of State for Defence to pull British forces out of NATO’s aggressive current confrontation with Russia.

AMBER RUDD

The new Home Secretary was, like Mr Hammond and Mr Fallon, a ‘Remainer’ who voted against having a referendum at all. She also voted for ‘gay marriage’ and, like Mr Fallon, for military action in Syria. That vote, mercifully, was lost. She abstained on doctor-assisted dying. Her voting record goes back no further than 2010, because that was when she first became MP for Hastings and Rye.

Amber Rudd stands in need of our prayer as she takes charge of this vital office of state. We should especially pray against the introduction of intrusive surveillance measures and the use of real or imagined threats to curtail civil liberties.

DAVID DAVIS

Thank the Lord that the veteran parliamentarian has become the new Secretary of State for Brexit, or whatever it will be called. This is an inspired appointment, as apart from a lapse when he voted for Masstrict, Mr Davis has been constantly opposed to the EU, as he has to measures like ‘gay marriage’.

The ‘kings of the earth’ are even now working out ways to prevent Brexit. Both US Secretary of State John Kerry and Tony Blair have said it could be ‘reversed’ or walked back’.

So Mr Davis will need much prayer as he negotiates the UK’s exit with the European Unions’s Commission and/or Council of Ministers (they are currently fighting a turf war over which will handle the talks). He will need to invoke Article 50 quickly and be unafraid to pull out of the Single Market completely if that requires accepting freedom of movement.

Freedom of movement was perhaps the biggest factor persuading people to leave the EU, because of the problems it brings. It is not a matter of hospitality, it is a matter of social cohesion and security, as I showed in this video.

Mr Davis should remember the four reasons why the Germans will back down: Mercedes, Audi, Volkswagon and BMW. Other countries trade with the EU without being in the Single Market, the USA and India, to name just two.

Write to your MP (separate letter!) and ask him/her to congratulate the Secretary of State for Brexit on his appointment and wish him well. Ask your MP to ask him to invoke Article 50 immediately and to be ready to leave the Single Market completely if freedom of movement is demanded as a condition of remaining in it.

LIAM FOX

Liam Fox has been appointed Secretary of State for International Trade, a new and significant office in Theresa May’s new Cabinet.

Dr Fox will be responding to nations across the world who are now queuing up to do trade deals with the UK. He reputedly knows the United States very well, but Commonwealth countries are obvious new trading partners. It was encouraging to see Ghana preparing a trade delegation. The European Union has caused much hardship across Africa and developing countries in other parts of the world by dumping food aid, knowingly depressing prices and impoverishing local farmers.

There is an opportunity here for us to do more for fair trade than just buying tea and coffee. We should also pray that overseas aid becomes much smarter. I’m anxious to be in touch with those who know best how fair trade principles could form the bedrock of Dr Fox’s approach, and let us pray that he will have great success. Let us pray that Brexit re-establishes Britain as a newly-free, global, outward-looking trading nation, one built this time on fairness and justice, not on deception and exploitation.

Write to your MP (yet another separate letter!) and ask him/her to congratulate the Secretary of State for International Trade on his appointment and wish him well in it. Ask your MP to ask the Secretary of State how fair trade principles will inform his dealings with developing nations.

LASTLY

Lastly, look out for chattering classes and the Twitter-sphere expressing ‘alarm’ and ‘concern’ over the elevation of Boris, David Davis and Dr Fox. Such will mean they are good appointments! We should never put our trust in princes, but Theresa May (be sure to put an ‘h’ in her name) has shown she was true when she said ‘Brexit means Brexit’. Those of our readers who supported Remain should also be praying the Lord uses the Brexit vote and this new administration for his glory and to advance his Kingdom on earth.

Mrs May will be familiar with these two prayers from the Anglican Morning Prayer service in the Book of Common Prayer. They can apply to an individual or a nation and they spoke to me vividly this morning:

A Collect for Peace.
O God, who art the author of peace and lover of concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom; Defend us thy humble servants in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in thy defence, may not fear the power of any adversaries, through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Collect for Grace.
O Lord, our heavenly Father, Almighty and everlasting God, who hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day; Defend us in the same with thy mighty power; and grant that this day we fall into no sin, neither run into any kind of danger; but that all our doings, being ordered by thy governance, may be righteous in thy sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Jeremy Corbyn and Labour Rules

Stephen

12 July 2016

Jeremy Corbyn - voted against war in Iraq — Jeremy Corbyn – voted against war in Iraq

The Labour Party’s National Executive Committee meets today to decide whether Jeremy Corbyn, the incumbent leader, may go forward to a leadership ballot without being nominated by MPs.

Those Labour MPs who wanted to oust Corbyn were hoping they could keep him off the ballot paper in a leadership contest.

If he failed to get enough nominations from the Parliamentary Labour Party, then he would not be on the ballot paper, party members would not be able to vote for him and normal service could be resumed.

Yes, party democracy would be sidelined, but, hey, who cares?

LEGAL ADVICE

Unfortunately for the plotters, the party’s own advice from barristers at Doughty Street Chambers makes clear that only Mr Corbyn’s challengers need to secure nominations from 20% of fellow MPs, not Mr Corbyn himself.

They say: ‘In a year where a contested election is triggered by a challenger under B(ii), the incumbent does not require to be nominated to appear on the ballot paper. The incumbent is therefore automatically on the ballot paper unless s/he resigns (or otherwise becomes permanently unavailable)’.

The advice goes on to point out that ‘In this case’ in clause 4.I.2.B(ii) refers back to the first sentence, ‘where there is no vacancy’, which is the current position. If Mr Corbyn were to resign only to stand again, every candidate including him would be required to secure the nomination of 12.5% of MPs, which is about 29. But if a rebel MP pops up to challenge the leader, they need 20%, or 46 of the party’s 230 MPs. Having said all that, the NEC, meeting today, can vary the rules under rule 1.A, but not to the extent, it would be argued, as to overturn them.

LABOUR PARTY RULE BOOK

You won’t read this in the mainstream media, as they prefer to entertain rather than inform, but here is the relevant section of the Labour Party Rule Book:

‘Chapter 4
‘Elections of national officers of the party and national committees

‘Clause I.
‘General principles
‘1. Internal party elections for officer posts and the membership of national committees shall be conducted in a fair, open and transparent manner, in accordance with the constitutional rules of the party and any appropriate NEC guidelines.

‘Clause II.
‘Procedural rules for elections for national officers of the party

‘1. General
‘A. The following procedures provide a rules framework which, unless varied by the consent of the NEC, shall be followed when conducting elections for party officers. The NEC will also issue procedural guidelines on nominations, timetable, codes of conduct for candidates and other matters relating to the conduct of these elections.

‘2. Election of leader and deputy leader
‘A. The leader and deputy leader shall be elected separately in accordance with rule C below, unless rule E below applies.
‘B. Nomination
‘i. In the case of a vacancy for leader or deputy leader, each nomination must be supported by 12.5 per cent of the Commons members of the PLP. Nominations not attaining this threshold shall be null and void.
‘ii. Where there is no vacancy, nominations may be sought by potential challengers each year prior to the annual session of party conference. In this case any nomination must be supported by 20 per cent of the Commons members of the PLP. Nominations not attaining this threshold shall be null and void.’

THE CANDIDATES’ VOTING RECORDS

It is worth remembering that given that we cannot expect a Labour politician to be pro-life, pro-family or anti-sodomy, their are important differences between Jeremy Corbyn’s voting record and that of Angela Eagle..

Jeremy Corbyn voted against Sunday trading and against Maastrict. Angela Eagle didn’t. He has voted against euthanasia. She is for it. Mr Corbyn is for freedom of speech. Miss Eagle wants to shut people up who disagree with her and her lifestyle. He voted against Tony Blair’s Gambling Bill and Identity Cards . She towed the Blairite line.

Jeremy Corbyn voted for a referendum on the EU. Angela Eagle voted against one. Mr Corbyn voted against war in Iraq. Miss Eagle was for it and the Blair / Straw axis which lied to get it. The only positive note is that when the proposal to help the Syrian rebels with military action and further destabilise that country came from a Conservative leader (David Cameron) in 2013, Angela Eagle at last managed to join Jeremy Corbyn and vote against it.

In her press conference yesterday, Miss Eagle said, ‘I’m not a Blairite, I’m not a Brownite, I’m not a Corbynista.’ Then raising her voice in high drama: ‘I am my own woman.’ Applause. No, you aren’t. You voted with Tony Blair on everything. You are the establishment candidate.

PRAY FOR OUR LEADERS

2Samuel 23:3 The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.

Pray that the Lord Almighty will place the fear of God in Jeremy Corbyn’s heart.

Andrea Leadsom gives PM job to May

Stephen

11 July 2016

The reasons Andrea Leadsom MP has given for pulling out of the Conservative leadership race seem perfectly plausible but do not totally convince.

Eighty-four colleagues supported her, but she said, “Nevertheless, this is less than 25% of the parliamentary party and after careful consideration I do not believe this is sufficient support to lead a strong and stable government should I win the leadership election.”

WHAT IS THE LORD SAYING?

She went on: “There is no greater privilege than to lead the Conservative Party in government and I would have been deeply honoured to do it.

“I have however concluded that the interests of our country are best served by the immediate appointment of a strong and well-supported prime minister.

“I am therefore withdrawing from the leadership election, and I wish Mrs May the very greatest success.”

Those of us who believe it was only of the Lord’s grace and mercy that Leave won in the #Brexit referendum and even that Mrs Leadsom reached the ‘final two’ at the expense of Michael ‘don’t talk about creation’ Gove will need to be seeking the Lord anew.

We were initially encouraged about her success in the ballot by news that Mrs Leadsom was attending a Christian meeting in Westminster. A day or so later it emerged that she scoffed at sexual purity and was offended that people might not vote Tory because of David Cameron’s gay marriage law. This was the talk to which she objected – but then again, three years are a long time on one’s Christian walk. Mrs Leadsom may have found a deeper faith than was exhibited on that night in 2013 and when in the same year she deliberately abstained by walking through both Aye and No lobbies on both Second and Third Reading of the Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Bill.

ABUSE TOO GREAT

The BBC’s political editor Laura Kuenssberg said “the abuse has been too great” for Mrs Leadsom during the contest, especially following ill-judged comments in a weekend newspaper interview. Mrs Leadsom apologised to Theresa May earlier today after appearing to suggest in that interview that being a mother made her a better candidate for the PM job.

Even to appear to look askance at Mrs May because she has not born children could be seen as crass and cheap. It did display a lack of street-wise judgment. All the same, The Times journalist Rachel Sylvestor certainly made the most of it. The Conservative blogger Archbishop Cranmer was sympathetic to Mrs Leadsom.

All the same, such stuff happens. Any politician should expect it. The story could have been faced down and moved to the sidelines of debate over six weeks of hustings meetings in the Tory shires. A 60-40 reputed May advantage could have been overturned. The party faithful will feel cheated and some will claim Mrs May has a lack of democratic mandate.

BORIS LOST HIS NERVE

It has been going through my mind that you simply do not put yourself forward for the position of leader, get yourself short-listed down to the final two, only to pull out when the going gets tough. However badly you think the numbers are stacking up, you just don’t do it. It isn’t respectful, either of colleagues, the party or the nation. It isn’t dignified. It is neither thoughtful nor organised. Something else must have been brought to bear. What if the BBC’s Laura has it wrong? What if Mrs Leadsom was ‘got at’ in some other way. One would not be surprised.

Boris Johnson was backing Mrs Leadsom’s leadership bid. Had he not lost his nerve when Leave won, he could now be challenging Mrs May. He now says he has “no doubt” Mrs May will be an “excellent” leader and prime minister. He was “encouraged” by Mrs May’s statement that “Brexit means Brexit”, and added: “It is vital that we respect the will of the people and get on with exploiting new opportunities for this country.”

FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT

But will unfettered immigration, the major issue of the referendum, come to an end as the people have demanded? WIll Brexit mean Brexit-lite? If continued freedom of movement is demanded as the price of staying in the Single Market, the latter will have to go. It will be a bluff anyway. There are four main reasons why the Germans will back down: Mercedes, Audi, Volkswagon and BMW. Other countries actually manage to trade with the EU without being in the Single Market. The USA and India, to name just two. And other nations across the world are now queuing up to do trade deals with the UK.

UKIP MEP Julia Reid said today: ‘We would like to see the UK leave the EU completely. We don’t feel that we need to be part of the single market, because countries like New Zealand, Australia, China and the US export goods into the single market, but they are not part of the single market. There is no freedom of movement of peoples between those countries and the EU. We would like to be in a similar position.’

But will Mrs May’s negotiating team have the confidence, courage and commitment to call the EU bluff?

We are where we are. Mr Arron Banks, UKIP’s financial backer, said just this morning that he and UKIP will be holding Mrs May to account. It’s not over until it’s over. We should keep praying the Lord to remember mercy and keep ministering his prophetic word to our leaders. One obvious and immediate point of prayer could be a strong Leave and indeed Christian presence in Mrs May’s Cabinet and Ministerial appointments.

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Post-Referendum Leadership Elections – Who Voted What?

Stephen

30 June 2016

Andrea Leadsom - the only Conservative leadershop candidate who voted for a Referendum — Andrea Leadsom – the only Conservative leadership candidate who voted for a Referendum

It’s 30th June 2016 and the Tory Party leadership nominations have closed, whilst those in the Labour Party have only just begun. We are doing well for wildlife. So far we have a Crabb, a Fox and an Eagle standing. Well, you have to retain a sense of humour amid all this chaos.

WHO IS STANDING FOR WHAT?

Boris Johnson is not standing. His plan went awry. He expected to fight for Leave, Remain to win and to be well set up to fight for the leadership in three years’ time. On the morning after the vote before, he was like a rabbit caught in the headlights. The next Monday in the Daily Telegraph he was going all woolly and Remainy (if there is such a word).

Across the Commons chamber, conviction politician Jeremy Corbyn is fighting for his political life. As predicted in March, he campaigned for Remain, secretly hoping for Leave to win, a bit like Boris in reverse. He has now been challenged by Angela Eagle, la lesbienne célèbre.

The Conservatives in the ring have today been revealed as Stephen Crabb, Sir Liam Fox, Michael Gove, Andrea Leadsom and Theresa May. So how can we pray into this? What do we know about them apart from what the TV and papers are saying?

Well, here at Christian Voice we have been analysing the voting patterns of MPs on a variety of issues for thirty years.

SORTING OUT THE LABOUR SHAMBLES

On the Labour side, don’t expect anyone to be pro-life, pro-family or anti-sodomy. So apart from all that, Jeremy Corbyn voted against Sunday trading and against Maastrict. Angela Eagle didn’t. He has voted against euthanasia. She is for it. Mr Corbyn is for freedom of speech. Miss Eagle wants to shut people up who disagree with her and her lifestyle. He voted against Tony Blair’s Gambling Bill and Identity Cards . She towed the Blairite line.

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FILLING THE CONSERVATIVE VACUUM

From votes in the 2005-2010 Parliament, we can say Stephen Crabb and Sir Liam Fox are more pro-life than Theresa May, who is more so than Michael Gove. Mr Gove is the most pro-gay. And the latter is the man who banned anything questioning evolution in schools.

Andrea Leadsom has been in the House since 2010, so let us look at the votes since then. On the positive side, all five voted against Euthanasia (Doctor Assisted Dying), but then, all five voted for military action in Syria in 2013.

Now for the differences. Stephen Crabb and Liam Fox voted against Same-Sex marriage on Third Reading, Angela Leadsom did a ‘deliberate abstain’, voting both for and against, while Theresa May and Michael Gove voted for it. Only Andrea Leadsom out of the five voted for a Referendum on the EU. Her vote (and that of Jeremy Corbyn as noted above) helped us be where we are today.

And then, of course, Sir Liam and Mrs Leadsom have been consistently for Leave, Mr Gove joined that campaign just in time whilst Stephen Crabb and Theresa May were both for Remain.

Nigel Farage - elephant in the room — Nigel Farage – keeping them honest

NEGOTIATIONS

The Tory candidates (I use ‘Tory’ as a shorthand – Disraeli said ‘We are all “Conservative” now; Tory men and Whig measures’) will be setting out their stalls on the EU negotiations. Unrestricted movement across the EU was a big factor in the Referendum. If that becomes a condition for remaining in the Single Market, the negotiators will need the courage to say, ‘No’. There are four main reasons why the Germans will back down: Mercedes, Audi, Volkswagon and BMW. Other countries actually manage to trade with the EU without being in the Single Market. The USA and India, to name just two.

The Tories will need to hold their nerve because there is a political elephant in the room. UKIP and Nigel Farage are not going to put their feet up now the Referendum is won. They will be watching and campaigning and planning for the next General Election, be it in 2020 or sooner.

That threat may keep the Conservatives honest and Labour realistic. But if not, if the Tories have not delivered, and if Labour do not move toward the working class, there will be a deluge of UKIP MPs elected next time, on the mandate of actually honouring the Referendum result and sticking up for the aggrieved man in the street. You heard it here first.

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NEED FOR PRAYER

We trust some of that will help inform your prayers, together with these scriptures:

2Samuel 23:3 The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.
Psalm 75:7 But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.
Isaiah 56:1 Thus saith the LORD, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.
Matt 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
1Timothy 2:1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; 2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

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Jo Cox, and why Brendan Cox is wrong

Stephen

22 June 2016

Jo Cox shooting — The Late Jo Cox MP Photo Credit: Yui Mok/PA Wire

The appalling and senseless murder of Jo Cox MP on Thursday 16th June 2016 by the deranged psychotic Thomas Mair shocked us all and resulted in a very public outpouring of grief from her politician colleagues.

Disgracefully, some of them made shameless political capital out of it for the #Remain campaign in the European Referendum. One leaflet, distributed in Kate Hoey’s constituency, directly blamed the murder on the veteran #Leave Labour MP. ‘Jo Cox’s tragic murder is possibly only the start’, it raved.

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USING AN OPPORTUNITY

Jo Cox’s widower, Brendan, also a campaigner for left-wing causes, chimed in, quick to blame ‘hate’ rather than shortcomings in our mental health service for his wife’s death. We should have sympathy for him in his loss, but to claim ‘Politics’ (rather than lunacy) was behind her death went beyond normal grieving. It was political point-scoring.

Brendan Cox talking to the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg — Brendan Cox talking to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg

Brendan Cox has now tweeted a link to a fund-raising page for his late wife on the ‘gofundme’ website. Frankly, he is using the opportunity to raise funds initially for two causes which might not ordinarily draw any support or credence from anyone outside his circle, in addition to the worthy Royal Voluntary Service.

HOPE NOT HATE

The second of his three causes is ‘Hope not Hate’ which ‘seeks to challenge and defeat the politics of hate and extremism within local communities, building resilience against the politics of hate and fear’. ‘Hate’ is a buzzword used by those on the godless left to demonise anyone who disagrees with them.

In practice, ‘Hope not Hate’ are pro-Islam and pro-sodomy. Anyone who opposes those causes is not someone with whom they respectfully disagree, but one motivated by ‘hate’. Indeed, that is how Brendan Cox used ‘hate’, trying to use his wife’s tragic death as a campaign tool. In his eyes, anyone wanting the leave the EU, especially over concerns about immigration, is driven by ‘hate’.

WHITE HELMETS

The third of Brendan’s three causes is the Syrian ‘White Helmets’, also known as ‘Syrian National Defence’. It was not formed by Syrians, but by the UK Foreign Office. Its operatives pose as humanitarians in Syria. In practice, they are anti-Assad extremist Sunni Muslims allied with Al Nusra front, the Al Qaeda offshoot.

And in truth, they don’t need a single penny of our money. Despite claiming on its website not to take any money from governments, ‘White Helmets’ has received $23m from the US Government and $40m from organisations funded by George Soros. The US and Soros only give to organisations which advance their interests; in this case, the destructive one of regime change in Syria.

AID WORKER

Before being elected to Parliament in 2015, Mrs Cox had many years of experience as an aid worker and advisor for global charities. According to her LinkedIn profile, she spent five years working for Oxfam in Belgium, the U.S., and the U.K. She was a Strategy Consultant for Save the Children and NSPCC, as well as a Strategic Adviser for both The Freedom Fund and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Jo and Brendan Cox joined Bob Geldof's tirade against fishermen on the Thames the day before her tragic murder. — Jo and Brendan Cox joined Bob Geldof’s foul-mouthed tirade against fishermen on the Thames the day before her tragic murder.

Additionally, she served as a Patron, Trustee, and Board member for various other campaigns and causes. She also received the Young Global Leader award in 2009 at the Davos World Economic Forum, and was a winner of the DEVEX 40 under 40 International Development Leaders Award in 2012.

INAPPROPRIATE

In September last year, Brendan Cox left Save the Children amid complaints about ‘inappropriate behaviour’ towards women. He quit after four years as its director of policy and advocacy. He denied the claims made against him and the charity declined to comment.

The day before her murder, Jo and Brendan Cox and their two children joined Sir Bob Geldof’s well-oiled, foul-mouthed flotilla by manning an inflatable against Brexit-leaning fishermen on the Thames. The pop millionaire’s obscene gestures in the direction of the fishermen revealed the contempt of the well-heeled #Remain camp against ordinary people.

ANTI-ISRAEL

Despite a eulogy from the Chief Rabbi, Jo Cox was no parliamentary friend of Israel. She included goods from ‘Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank‘ among ‘unsavoury activities’ which should be boycotted.

Two days after her death, the Palestinian Hamas terrorist group (also Sunni Muslim) were on the bandwagon: ‘The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas has expressed its sincere condolences to the family, friends and admirers of slain UK MP Jo Cox.

‘The Palestinian people have lost a friend and a defender of their rights,’ Hamas said in a press release on Saturday. ‘Cox was … a passionate advocate for the Palestinian cause.’

The Hamas Charter states its Islamic determination to ‘eliminate’ the state of Israel, helpfully explaining, in Article 28, that this is because Israel is ‘Jewish’. In Article seven it urges Muslims to ‘fight the Jews and kill them’. Hamas is the Palestinian governing authority of the Gaza Strip.

Also in the House of Commons, Jo Cox voted for Doctor Assisted Dying in September last year and abstained on the crucial vote in November over whether the Royal Air Force should bomb Islamic State in Syria.

LACK OF DECENCY

Douglas Murray, writing in the Spectator on Saturday, complained about the lack of ‘decency’ around Jo Cox’s death.

“‘Remainers’, he said, may try to say that a vote to stay in the EU is a vote against ‘hatred’ and for ‘hope’ or the politics of ‘unity’ over those of ‘division’. Such a move would bring about the triumph of the assassin’s veto in our society – something which could not only have appalling short-term consequences, but bloody long-term ones as well. I trust that those campaigning for ‘Remain’ recognise that a victory achieved on those terms would be the sourest and most divisive victory of all.”

Sadly, Brendan Cox has lacked that decency at this solemn time.

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Worcestershire loses adoption bid

Stephen

7 June 2016

2016Worcester 011 — Queen Victoria stands in front of Worcester Shire Hall, where the Family Court sits.

By Stephen Green

A local authority has lost its bid to put four children from a Christian home up for adoption.

Sitting in Worcester Family Court in Worcester’s impressive old Shire Hall building, His Honour Judge Richard Rundell ordered instead that the children should stay in long-term foster care and enjoy regular contact with their grandparents and indirect contact – cards, gifts and letters – from their parents. Far from ‘nothing else would do’ (the legal test for adoption), adoption in this case wouldn’t do at all.

THREE MONTHS TO FIND ADOPTERS

Worcestershire County Council protested they would do their best to keep the children together. They would look for adoptive parents willing to take the children as a sibling group for a full three months, said Social Work Team Leader Glenn McWilliams. But Judge Rundell was unimpressed. To allow adoption, which would happen against the wishes of parents and grandparents, would inevitably split the children up, he ruled.

In addition, adoption would mean the children would lose their family identity and all contact with their parents and grandparents. If they were split up, Judge Rundell said, keeping the children in contact with each other would rely on the good will of the adoptive parents, and these might moreover be at opposite ends of the country.

On top of that, the eldest two children, even though not yet in their teens, were adamant in their opposition to adoption. In those circumstances, said His Honour, any adoption would be very unlikely to endure.

SOCIAL WORKER CHANGES SIDES

The Court heard a couple currently fostering the children had been doing so from early last year (2015) on a short-term basis. By the grace of God they decided in December they could now foster the children long-term. The court-appointed ‘Children’s Guardian’, Mrs Maggie Stephens, represented by solicitor Aiden Codd, was robust under cross-examination from Worcestershire’s barrister Greg Rogers.

She maintained that having the children adopted would mean splitting them up and that would be ‘cruel’. You could not ‘reinvent these children’, she told Mr Rogers, a reference to the new surnames they would be given upon adoption.

There was dramatic evidence on 10th May, the first day of the two-day hearing, when social worker Alison Davies took the stand. Ms Davies had been involved with the case from February 2014, but she resigned from Worcestershire in protest at their decision to press ahead with an application for adoption. They should ‘remain where they are’ she told Mr Rogers. She had been all for adoption, but seeing how the children were now ‘thriving’ in the long-term foster care she had changed her mind.

FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS

Asked why the foster parents did not want to put themselves up as prospective adopters, or apply for a Special Guardianship Order, Ms Davies said it was purely down to economics. They were being paid as foster parents and so could afford nice clothes, treats and holidays for the children. As adopters, they would lose out financially and be able to provide none of that. The financial considerations could also have been in the mind of Worcestershire and their advocate in pressing for adoption, but no-one was crass enough to say that.

The children came to the attention of Worcestershire Social Services when the youngest child was unruly at nursery. Social workers said there was a chaotic atmosphere in the home on one occasion when they visited. The mother was trying to home-school despite having bi-polar challenges, and the father resented the social workers being involved.

But Ms Davies said that if the parents improved their position there was no reason why they should not resume contact with the children, who at the moment wanted to stay where they were, and crucially did not wish to return home. But the grandparents should see the children together once a month.

ONLY SIX COUPLES ‘IN THE MARKET’

Barrister Andrew Bainham, representing all four grandparents, told the judge there were only six couples in England and Wales who could take a four-sibling group. His Honour asked Mr McWilliams direct if he knew anything more about them? He didn’t. How many four-sibling groups were ‘in the market’, he asked. Mr McWilliams said he didn’t know.

Judge Rundell went on to tell Worcestershire they should be ‘grabbing (the foster parents) with open arms. … If after three months you can’t find these saints who will take four children you will have to split them up’, he said. ‘Then you have to get adopters to facilitate sibling contact? It’s a risk. And scouring the countryside, distance increases the risk.’

Ending the first day of the two-day hearing, the Judge told Mr Rogers: ‘The local authority may wish to consider its position overnight’. That is the nearest he could come to telling him that his case for adoption was falling apart and that he shouldn’t waste any more of the court’s time.

DON’T NAME THE COUNCIL!

But the next day, in came Mr Rogers still pursuing the adoption line which the court had heard would split up the children, and separate them forever from their grandparents and parents. His page on his Chambers website, the St Ives set in Birmingham, says ‘common sense is frequently in short supply’ in the family court. It ‘requires a sensitive and pragmatic approach’.

Such an approach was conspicuously absent from his presentation. Indeed, in talks with the judge involving this author to do with a ‘reporting restrictions order,’ Mr Rogers not only did not want me to identify the children, their parents or family structure, which is becoming normal procedure, but any of the parties. He did not want me to name Worcestershire County Council, any of the experts, social workers, the ‘children’s guardian’, or any of the advocates. Judge Rundell had earlier expressed himself in favour of transparency, and every one of Mr Roger’s suggestions was thrown out.

WORCESTERSHIRE IGNORED JUDGE

The only real issue was the frequency of contact with the grandparents. With Alison Davies saying it should be twelve times a year and Mrs Stephens opting for six times a year, the Judge ruled with the ‘children’s guardian’, and said bi-monthly contact should be written into the care plan.

But when the case came back to rule on press restrictions and to check the care plan the following week, the Local Authority’s care plan had the grandparents seeing the children just twice a year. His Honour was not happy and sent Mr Rogers away to redraft it.

Social worker Toni Badham, responsible for the drafting, apologised to the grandparents afterwards, claiming she had only just become involved. But this author understands she was involved right from the start. One if the grandparents told this author the machinations of the Council meant they had been ‘to hell and back’.

But in the end, the hand of the Almighty was strongly on this case. The grandparents applied to be ‘interveners’ which delayed matters sufficiently for the foster parents to decide they would offer a long-term placement. If the matter had been heard last November it could easily gone the other way.

The mother was represented by Miss Nevine Zaki and the father by Mr Michael Phillips.

LESSONS WE LEARN

The case illustrates several important points:

1 Any teaching environment these days is watching your children.

2 Any shortcomings whatever in your parenting skills will be used by a local authority against you.

3 If you lose your temper with social workers it will only count against you.

4 The position of the court-appointed Children’s Guardian is crucial. It is a brave judge who will go against her.

5 Local Authorities are over-keen to get children adopted. And when adoption is not on the table, they are too keen to keep children in their care and resentful about them going back to families.

6 The rules about getting children adopted in 26 weeks are draconian, especially if it is to be a forced adoption in opposition to parents’ wishes.

7 Local Authorities are both incompetent and tricky. They do not honour their promises and even try blatantly to circumvent the clear orders of judges.

8 Judges do not have enough power to insist that details like particular foster parents are written into care plans. Instead, both judges and parents have to rely on the good nature of local authorities, which may be in short supply.

PRAY: Thank God for such a positive outcome in all the circumstances.

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British Muslims becoming more radical

Stephen

12 April 2016

Trevor Phillips is presenting a programme on social attitudes among British Muslims on Channel 4 tomorrow.

It is called ‘What British Muslims Really Think’ and will air at 10pm on Wednesday 13th April 2016.

Some uncomfortable statistics will be revealed which should send shivers down liberal elite spines. The pain will be made worse for them by the fact that Trevor Phillips was head of the Commission for Racial Equality. He promoted many of the views he now dismisses, particularly about the speed with which Muslims would integrate and adopt British customs and attitudes.

When asked to what extent they agreed or disagreed that homosexuality should be legal in Britain, 18% said they agreed and 52% said they disagreed, compared with 5% among the public at large who disagreed. Almost half (47%) said they did not agree that it was acceptable for a gay person to become a teacher, compared with 14% of the general population.

Nearly a quarter (23%) supported the introduction of sharia law in some areas of Britain. As many as 31% said Muslim men could have more than one wife – with many Muslim women agreeing – while 39% agreed that “wives should always obey their husbands”. The mainstream culture would probably find a majority saying husbands should obey their wives, so the chasm between Muslims and secular Britain could hardly be more stark.

The Guardian found at least one Muslim leader of a women’s group who took issue with the findings.

Huffington Post quoted moans about the survey methods from the Muslim Council of Britain and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Apparently, ICM went to areas with at least 20% Muslims to conduct their interviews, simply because it costs less to find people willing to take part in a survey where there are many of the target group.

Elshad Iskandarov of the OIC, told HuffPost UK: “If a particular study focusses on areas with at least 20% muslim populations these areas are likely to be more deprived than most, making extremism more attractive.” That is a telling comment. Actually, there is no evidence that Muslims in more middle-class areas, particularly young Muslims, are any more liberal that their peers in Oldham, for example.

In an article in the Sunday Times, Trevor Phillips says, inter alia:

‘The problem with Britain’s liberal white elite is twofold. First, they find it hard to grasp that people of colour may not want to reveal their true selves to people who do not share their backgrounds. The fact is that most people of colour are raised to expect that white folks will let them down. And to be frank, most black and Asian Britons will tell you that their expectations are seldom confounded.

‘Second, Britain’s increasingly deracinated opinion-forming classes are puzzled by the fierce attachment to religion among ethnic minorities. The number of places of worship attended mostly by Muslims and black evangelicals is rising. The fact that Britain’s ethnic minorities are intensely committed to their religious beliefs and practices seems baffling to secular liberals — indeed, somewhat threatening. Some of my journalist friends imagine that, with time, the Muslims will grow out of it. They won’t.

‘It should come as no surprise that Muslim liberals are in despair. They knew all of this long ago. And unlike the political elite and the liberal media, they recognise that British Muslim opinion is hardening against them. The journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, who has had to seek police protection because of her liberal views, argues that the optimistic belief that time and social contact will naturally lead to the integration of Muslims is mistaken: “You know, we [liberal Muslims] are a dying breed — in 10 years there will be very few of us left unless something really important is done.”

‘Britain’s Muslims are a diverse group; but, rich or poor, British-born or not, most have a deep commitment to their faith. Many are distressed by what they see as white Britain’s increasing secularism, low morals and loss of confidence in many of its own values. Those who told ICM’s researchers that they would prefer to live a more separate life in Britain are sending a clear signal: they really don’t want to adopt much of our decadent way of life.

‘Oddly, the biggest obstacles we now face in addressing the growth of this nation-within-a-nation are not created by British Muslims themselves. Many of our (distinctly un-diverse) elite political and media classes simply refuse to acknowledge the truth. Any undesirable behaviours are attributed to poverty and alienation. Backing for violent extremism must be the fault of the Americans. Oppression of women is a cultural trait that will fade with time, nothing to do with the true face of Islam.

‘Even when confronted with the growing pile of evidence to the contrary, and the angst of the liberal minority of British Muslims, clever, important people still cling to the patronising certainty that British Muslims will, over time, come to see that “our” ways are better. And since there are so few Muslims in the corridors of power, they seldom run into anyone who can show them the reality. Those who do want to make a difference are often consumed by fear that they will be seen as prejudiced. So while our liberal elite wrings its hands in anguish and makes school children celebrate Eid, Diwali, Hanukkah — and Easter — hundreds of young people are being seduced to join Islamist fanatics abroad, thousands of young girls are shipped off to have their genitals mutilated, and many more are pressured into marriages they do not want.’

If you cannot access the Sunday Times article, Bill Muehlenberg carries a lot of what Trevor Phillips wrote here.

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Sodomite Superhead Stripped of Schools

Stephen

29 March 2016

Liam Nolan addresses the Conservative Party Conference, possibly in 2012.

A much feted self-styled ‘superhead’ will be stripped of the schools in Birmingham under his command following the discovery of financial mismanagement, but is extraordinarily going to keep his job as headteacher, according to reports.

Liam Nolan pleaded with the General Teaching Council to keep his job after a conviction for a homosexual offence at the Midlands Sandwell Valley beauty spot in 2007. Three of his school governors quit in protest. Later Nolan invited Sir Ian McKellen to promote sodomy at the original Perry Beeches school in Great Barr, Birmingham in 2009, leading to a Christian Voice street witness outside the school.

Nolan subsequently fronted a Stonewall conference encouraging teachers to follow his example. It was called ‘Education for all’ with the subtitle ‘challenging homophobia and supporting young people.’

The Guardian reports Nolan and his Perry Beeches Academies Trust will be stripped of the five academies he runs as chief executive.

The Education Funding Agency investigated only after whistleblower allegations about the financial connection between Nolan and a supply company, Nexus Schools Ltd. The EFA Report found ‘Nexus Schools Ltd’ received £1.3m from the Government and paid another company, ‘Liam Nolan Ltd’, £160,000 over two years to add to his £120,000 per year salary as head teacher.

The Birmingham Mail reports that Liam Nolan has stepped down as the Academies Trust’s chief executive following a call from Birmingham Councillor Brigid Jones for the trustees to consider their positions.

David Cameron opening Liam Nolan's Perry Beeches III Academy. — David Cameron opening Liam Nolan’s Perry Beeches III Academy.

But the same paper later reported that Nolan was set to keep his job as headteacher.

The BBC reports that politicians from Michael Gove, as Education Secretary, and David Cameron praised Liam Nolan. The Prime Minister even invited the stalwart Labour supporter to address the Conservative Party Conference then opened his third academy, Perry Beeches III. This was despite their knowing about Nolan’s promotion of sodomy at Perry Beeches and his conviction for outraging public decency by a jury at Wolverhampton Crown Court in June 2007 where he was fined £1,000 with £1,500 costs. The man he was with was fined £250. At the time Nolan described himself as ‘gay’ and said he was ‘in a relationship’.

Nolan’s willingness to engage with the academy programme made him the Government’s poster-boy. But now that his sexual immorality has spilled over into financial mismanagement, critics are pointing out that the academies idea is open to anyone who wants to make a quick buck to take advantage of the system.

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Sadiq Khan and the Muslim Card

Stephen

11 March 2016

Sadiq Khan, MP for Tooting and Labour's candidate for Mayor of London — Rt Hon Sadiq Khan, MP for Tooting and Labour’s candidate for Mayor of London

A report in the Spectator magazine claims Sadiq Khan, Labour’s London Mayoral candidate, is playing the ‘Muslim Card’ in May’s election.

Recognising that Khan’s Islamic faith is disadvantageous in the wake of 9/11, the London 7th July attacks, Islamic State atrocities, Muslim migrants, sex attacks in Cologne and a rash of cases of Muslims grooming and trafficking young women, his advisors are trying to turn it to his advantage.

The Spectator’s Brendan O’Neill says Khan and his team are claiming it would send a ‘phenomenal’ message about London’s tolerance if voters were to elect Khan.

‘I thought politics was about voting for someone who had the same outlook as you?’ asks O’Neill. ‘Now it seems to be about voting for someone who isdifferent to you, to show you aren’t bigoted.’

He complains of the 45-year-old ‘Islamifying what ought to be a straight political contest.’ And O’Neill has a message for Khan: ‘You must prove yourself to London, not the other way round.’

‘Kuffar are cattle’

Muslim writer Mehdi Hassan (aged 37) has chipped in for Khan, saying his election would show Muslims can succeed and, disturbingly, that not to elect him would drive young Muslims (like Hassan presumably) into the arms of extremists. Vote Khan or you’ll be blown up.

Mehdi Hassan telling the Oxford Union debating society that Islam is a peaceful religion

Hassan works as a presenter on the Qatari Al-Jazeera channel and is astonisingly also political editor of the Huffington Post. Another Spectator article, this time by Douglas Murray, reports the fanatical Muslim describing ‘kuffar’ (unbelievers) as ‘people of no intelligence’ and ‘cattle’.

Women are prostitutes

It gets worse.

Last week, an advisor and aide to Sadiq Khan was suspended after comments emerged on his twitter account which were less than complimentary to homosexuals and women. Most of them are too disgusting or crass to reprint. Among the less offensive, in May 2012 Shueb Salar posted a tweet saying “currently hating on all you faggots who have finished uni”, and the next month he tweeted “f*** all you hoes”. ‘Hoe’, meaning ‘whore’ is a derogatory term for women popular in some subcultures. Salar also called women ‘bitches’.

Only when footage surfaced of Salar on a shooting weekend was he actually sacked, ostensibly for tweeting he could be a htiman. According to the Evening Standard, he posted a video online showing him firing a rifle and bragged about spending a weekend “shooting stuff with real guns, knives, crossbows and bow and arrows”. He thought it was funny to add the comments #I’mASecretHitman, #ShoutMeIfYouWantMeToTakeCareOfSomeone and #I’llMakeItLookLikeAnAccident.

Shueb Salar - suspended by Sadiq Khan over 'hoes' comments, sacked for posing with guns. — Shueb Salar – suspended by Sadiq Khan over ‘hoes’ comments, sacked for posing with guns.

Muslim attitudes

Salar’s views about women, let alone homosexuals, are routine among young Muslim men. Too many trials of Muslims involved in sexual crimes have revealed a deep contempt for women, particularly white women, who are seen as fair game, or as ‘hoes’. The mass sexual assaults in Cologne this New Year illustrate the point exactly.

Salar’s LinkedIn profile – at this time of writing – still says: ‘I assist Rt Hon Sadiq Khan MP in his Parliamentary duties, researching and assisting in the drafting of speeches, reports, press releases, briefings, Parliamentary questions, letters and email correspondence as and when required. I respond to enquiries from constituents, other politicians, the media, lobbyists and pressure groups. Topics include human rights, foreign affairs and all other current policy issues. Where necessary, I represent him at events/meetings and occasionally deal with some constituency casework.’

Muslim for Mayor?

Disturbingly, Sadiq Khan thought Shueb Salar was a fit and proper person to carry out those extensive duties. Either he checked on Salar and found his views acceptable or he didn’t and is incompetent. How many other Muslim aides does he employ? What are their views?

Khan voted for ‘gay marriage’ and abortion. He does not like Christians speaking out against Islam, voting for Tony Blair’s infamous Racial and Religious Hatred Bill. But outside Westminster, how far does his Islamic faith inform his view of the world, for example, of Israel, of the place of women?

The Salar story has sent out a ‘phenomenal message’ about Muslim misogyny, boorishness and intolerance. Will it influence the election result in May? Sadiq Khan’s decision to play the ‘Muslim Card’ may yet come back to haunt him.

Deut 13:4 Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him. (KJV – whenever you see ‘the LORD’ in the King James Version it stands for the actual name of the Almighty in the Hebrew text: ‘YHWH’, [ie NOT Allah!])

1Kings 12:8 But he forsook the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, and consulted with the young men that were grown up with him, and which stood before him…

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Judge rules Bucks girls can go home

Stephen

2 March 2016

Milton Keynes Magistrates Court, where the case was heard.

A Family Court judge has ruled two children should go home after criticising a local authority for failing to admit that they were suffering emotional harm in its care.

District Judge Patrick Perusko made the order on Friday 26th February 2016 in Milton Keynes Family Court.

A series of exchanges between the judge and Mr Shaw, representing Buckinghamshire County Council, served to illustrate the extent to which local authorities go to build a case against parents while denying all responsibility themselves.

Mr Shaw contended that the children, girls aged twelve and fourteen, were at significant risk of harm at home. The Local Authority, he said, wanted to keep the girls in care.

But after repeated questioning by District Judge Perusko, it emerged that the report prepared by social worker Rosalinde Woodroffe had not adequately balanced this alleged harm with the known harm currently occurring to the sisters from being held in a foster home where they had been deprived of privacy, night-clothes, toothbrushes and even clean underwear.

Bucks County Council were not ‘considering the other side of the coin’, said the judge.

The eldest girl had emailed the judge pleading to go home, and her views and those of her sister must be taken into account, he said.

Mr Shaw said the parents needed to recognise that they had harmed their children, even though the girls had subsequently challenged what the social worker wrote down, which was the Council’s only basis for keeping them. He was incensed that the children had refused to give social workers the pins to their mobile phones and annoyed that there appeared to be ‘collusion’ between the children and their parents. He contended there was fear in the home of the Christian family, physical chastisement, and a belief in satanic forces.

But the judge insisted that there was no analysis by the local authority of the harm being suffered now and therefore no possible assessment of a ‘balance of harm’.

He had no need to hear from the parents’ barrister, he said, and then explained ‘why the children are going home’.

The District Judge said: ‘Children should be at home if possible and should only be removed when there is a real risk of harm.’ He said the risks about which the local authority was concerned ‘have not gone but can be safely managed with the children returned home’.

Mr Shaw said the children would return home after school that same afternoon.

Afterwards, the court-appointed children’s guardian said she was ‘very pleased’ with the outcome.

The parents, devout Christians, were praising God outside the courtroom after the verdict.

Mr Shaw refused to comment.

On the train home, this writer received a call to report that the girls had indeed returned home.

This might not be the end of the matter. Bucks County Council seem determined to try to get the children back, but the case has shown that prayer and hope can prevail. Dear reader, give God the glory. The presence of the Press in a courtroom probably does no harm either. And after the debacle of the week before, this time there was no objection to the presence of a journalist in the courtroom from Buckinghamshire County Council.

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Schools gay propaganda in RE

Stephen

27 February 2016

Children in Cambridgeshire are to indoctrinated with pro-sodomy propaganda following a decision by the local Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE), chaired by Cllr Tony Orgee (left).

The leaflet will promote the teaching of ‘gender identity’ and ‘sexuality’ in religious education in the County.

Both are ‘protected’ characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 and public authorities in England and Wales, which includes county councils responsible for education, have a duty under Section 149 of the Act to promote them.

The Committee, which includes a Mormon and a Muslim, approved the leaflet at its meeting on 4th February but has not yet openly published it. It was due to be discussed at pro-sodomy charity Stonewall’s first inter-faith seminar on 25th February and the news report said it ‘contains advice about handling issues around
gender identity and sexuality in RE, together with a range of resources for teachers’.

SACRE chairman and Cambridgeshire County Councillor Tony Orgee (Conservative) said: “Religion is about how people live their lives and raises questions about what it is to be human. It encompasses a diversity of views about the ethical ideals that guide human behaviour and why these are followed.

“All religions therefore present a range of beliefs and practices relevant to issues relating to human sexuality
and gender identity. This new leaflet crystallizes the importance of adhering to these values – it will be an invaluable teaching aid.”

What Cllr Orgee did not say is that religion is first and foremost about how people search for whatever they see as divine and that not one world religion endorses sodomy as a legitimate behaviour.

Tory-run Cambridgeshire County Councillor Ed Cearns, Liberal Democrat, a fellow member of SACRE, added: “I am delighted this leaflet has been produced to coincide with LGBT history month.

“As a former RE teacher, I understand … the vital work of fostering an understanding of the harm caused by homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying.”

One would have thought that any bullying was harmful, but propaganda such as the SACRE leaflet is not about stopping bullying – it may even add to it – but about promoting perversion.

Cllr Cearns is himself homosexual. He was on the Rainbow Radio show on http://cambridge105.fm/ on the 20th of this month talking about ‘being gay in the council and LGBT History Month’ (which is February, of course – you knew that).

Interestingly, Cllr Cearns said publishing the leaflet was part of something called “the Stonewall Education Index”. He meant its ‘Education Equality Index‘ which is a league table of education authorities which are doing the most to promote perversion. Cambridgeshire County Council is third, after Bath & North East Somerset Council and Hertfordshire County Council. All three are Conservative-controlled.

Cllr Cearns is a very committed gay activist. He popped up when the LGBT ‘history month’ bandwagon rolled into Cambridge at the end of last year, complete with ‘lessons for local primary school children and workshops for youth workers, faith workers and librarians.’

And when Cambridgeshire County Council failed to fly the homosexual ‘rainbow’ flag from Shire Hall in February 2014, it was Cllr Cearns who led the complaints. He was rewarded when the flag was flown for the first time this year. No doubt an OBE will follow in due course, for ‘services to diversity’.

One person who will receive no such honour, nor would he welcome it, is farmer, journalist and political activist Robin Page. The former ‘one man and his dog’ television presenter is also a fiercely independent councillor for South Cambridgeshire District Council. When that outfit flew the rainbow flag in February 2013, he blogged:

“The event is pathetic and makes the council a PC laughing stock. In fact it shows a lack of respect to the rest of society. What about those who are celibate – who have achieved much throughout history – is a flag being raised for them?

“Then of course we could have a flag celebrating vegans? And what about a flag celebrating the achievements of all those with irritable bowel syndrome? I want to be part of a community – not a division in a conglomerate of divisions.”

Conservative Tony Orgee, who as well as being on the Cambridgeshire SACRE as a County Councillor is also chair of South Cambs, described Mr Page’s comments as “very disappointing”. There’s a surprise.

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Bexley Council threat over ‘injustice’ video

Stephen

20 January 2016

Bexley council threat over ‘injustice’ video

Press Release from Christian Voice – Immediate: 12.20 hrs 20th January 2016

The Head of Children’s Services at a local authority has threatened a journalist over a video claiming her department ‘visited injustice’ on a family in her borough.

Jacky Tiotto, Head of Children’s Services at the London Borough of Bexley, has written to Stephen Green of Christian Voice demanding he take down a YouTube video in which he interviewed the parents of four children taken by Bexley and kept in care.

The video is called ‘Christmas Ruined by Social Services’ and may be seen at youtu.be/CaBczpK7HOM.

Ms Tiotto says a section in which the parents talk about advice given to them by a family court judge to plead guilty to child abuse in the Crown Court is a contempt of court. So, she says, are three other occasions where the parents say judges and social workers would not listen to the children.

The parents were actually charged by police with abuse following a foolish and false allegation from the eldest son. They were acquitted in July 2015 in the Crown Court when their son vehemently retracted his allegation.

A section in which the parents claim the social worker in the case acted out of religious hatred escapes Ms Tiotto’s wrath.

Despite neither the case nor the children and not even the parents being identified, and despite contesting the accuracy of the information in the video, the highly-paid Children’s Services boss claims Green is contravening Section 12 of the Administration of Justice Act 1960. This prohibits ‘publication of information relating to proceedings before any court sitting in private’ under the Children Act 1989.

Stephen Green, said today, ‘Rather then waste her precious time and council tax on frivolous legal action, Jacky Tiotto should be calling her staff to account over this case and reuniting this family.

‘A section in her letter where she says it is up to the parents to make a court application for return of their children, rather than for Bexley to do the decent and honourable thing and return them voluntarily, displays a callous disregard for justice, for ordinary families and for the emotional harm being done to these children on her watch.

‘In addition, the parents have been punished for doing nothing wrong. Other parents are now contacting me and it seems this case is by no means unique.

‘Jacky Tiotto is responsible for a massive, continuing injustice and it is obviously embarrassing to her and Bexley’s administration that it has come to light.

‘I’ll take legal advice, but my inclination is not to be deterred from giving the victims of injustice a voice by threats from uncaring bureaucrats’.

ENDS

For further information, phone Stephen Green on 07931 490050.

Christmas ruined by Social Services

Stephen

4 January 2016

Happy New Year. At this festive season, please spare a prayer for one Christian family who are spending their second Christmas divided. I traveled to Bexley on Monday 21st December 2015 to interview the parents.

Following a foolish and false allegation from their eldest son, who has since vehemently retracted it, all four children are now ‘in care’. You will scarcely believe their story, but it needed to be told – and it needs to be heard.

Someone in your family or in your church could be on the receiving end of similar treatment, so please find a moment to view our video and pray for this family.

May God bless you and draw close to you this day and always.

If you have a story to tell us about Social Services Child Protection people, please get in touch.

Isa 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Isa 9:7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. (KJV)

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