Worcestershire loses adoption bid

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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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European Union’s New Roman Empire

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16 May 2016

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Boris Johnson is in trouble with the Guardian not just for saying the European Union is planning a new Roman Empire, but for saying Napoleon and Adolf Hitler had that dream as well.

(A more sympathetic view of Mr Johnson’s speech is here at the Daily Express!)

We say there is actually no need to invoke Hitler and Napoleon. Neither of them was educated enough to go to Rome to start their project.

But some clever chap in the EU was smart enough to organise the perfect place for such an endeavour.

So is Boris right to say the European Union is reviving the Roman Empire?

Take at look at our video on this very subject recorded in Rome itself and decide for yourself. No-one has ever before joined up these particular dots. Prepare to be amazed:

Mega mosque loses review appeal

Islam & Immigration

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7 May 2016

Christian Voice have been meeting at the proposed mega mosque site to pray since January 2007. — A prayer meeting on the Greenway (E15 3ND)

Tablighi Jamaat’s application for a Statutory Review of the Government’s rejection of their appeal against Newham Council’s refusal of planning permission for a 10,000 capacity mega mosque at a site in West Ham in London was thrown out by a judge on Wednesday 4th May 2016.

The Islamic separatist group’s lawyers thought they had found eight points of law on which to challenge the decision. But in an oral hearing in the High Court Mr Justice Ouseley dismissed every one.

Christian Voice members and local Christians have been meeting for prayer at the actual site, an old chemical works at the end of Canning Road E15, every first Saturday in the month since January 2007.

The London bombers and shoe bomber Richard Reed have all worshiped at Tablighi Jamaat mosques in Dewsbury. The West Ham site was to be the Pakistan-based group’s European headquarters. Ironically, the whole Abbey Mills area was once a large monastery and we have prayed for the site one day to hear praises to the King of kings again.

When we first met for prayer, the mosque trustees had just announced their intention to have the mosque operational for the London Olympics in 2012. That date came and went and the site stayed as it was. We believe the Lord answered our prayers for confusion among the trustees, who changed architects three times and their public relations firm twice.

Please give thanks to God, remembering the trustees can still appeal the decision.

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British Muslims becoming more radical

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12 April 2016

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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

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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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Police ‘believe abuse victims’ stance ‘preposterous’

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22 March 2016

Press Release from Christian Voice – Immediate: 07.20 hrs 22nd March 2016

The stance of the College of Policing to encourage more sexual abuse victims to come forward by assuring them they will be believed, as reported by the BBC, is denounced today as ‘preposterous’ by a Christian group.

College of Policing Chief executive Alex Marshall said claims should be “believed” unless there was evidence to the contrary.

But Stephen Green, National Director of Christian Voice, says such a position is the opposite of what is done in every other alleged crime.

Stephen Green said today: ‘Following the embarrassment of ‘Operation Midland’ in which a man known as ‘Nick’ caused untold pain to Harvey Proctor and Lord Bramall among others by false claims, a position of believing allegations of sexual abuse looks just preposterous.

‘Sexual abuse should be treated no differently from any crime. The police should ask if there is any evidence to corroborate an accusation.

‘The Biblical position is that no-one should be convicted on an accusation not supported by witnesses. Corroborating evidence is such a witness. The law should never have been changed to allow convictions if the complainant is simply more believable than the accused.

‘In criminal law, Blackstone’s principle that: “It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer” should be guiding both the police and the CPS. By following the stance of the College of Policing we shall see more injustice and the public hounding of the innocent.

‘People can tell lies. People can be fantasists. On the other hand, sadly, real innocent victims may never get the justice they deserve. It is time for people like Alex Marshall to face up to the real world.

ENDS

For further information, phone Stephen Green on 07931 490050

EU Referendum – Hospitality v Security

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17 March 2016

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In this series of videos on YouTube we are looking at Britain’s membership of the European Union from a Christian, Biblical standpoint.

We ask should the UK stay or leave and look today at the matter of hospitality to Muslim migrants in particular vs the security of our borders.

There is more on the Queen’s Coronation Service here.

This link backs up the points about the European Commission.

Saudis call Hezbollah Terrorists!

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14 March 2016

Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, Bahraini secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council. — Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, from Bahrain, Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Pots were calling kettles black this weekend according to ynetnews as Saudi Arabia and their Gulf State allies declared the militant Hezbollah group a ‘terrorist organisation’.

The six-member ‘Gulf Cooperation Council’ made the announcement on Friday to the backdrop of a fall-out between Saudi Arabia and Lebanon over Hezbollah influence in the Levantine state. Saudi Arabia decided to stop security assistance to the Lebanese army and Lebanese security forces. To back up the decision, the GCC’s secretary general said:

‘Hezbollah’s incitement and terrorist acts in Syria, Yemen and Iraq are contrary to morality and human values.”

That will be the morality and human values the UK’s friends from Riyadh practice so assiduously at home.

The announcement was swiftly followed by a denouncement of Hezbollah by the Arab League, with reservations expressed by Lebanon and Iraq. Iran is not a part of the twenty-two member Arab League, which includes ‘Palestine’ and is led by Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary General of the Lebanese political and paramilitary organization Hezbollah — Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary General of Hezbollah

Those of us with long memories will recall that no such condemnation of Hezbollah came from either the GCC or the Arab League when Hezbollah militants were raining rockets from their Lebanese bases into northern Israel leading to war with Israel in 2006. (In fact, missiles were launched as recently as December 2015.) So what is different today?

The clue is in the statement about Hezbollah’s activities in ‘Syria, Yemen and Iraq’ (not Israel, of course). In each of the three theatres of war, the Shia Hezbollah are defending their co-religionists from Sunni Muslim aggression.

The GCC states are the Kingdom of Bahrain, the State of Kuwait, the Sultanate of Oman, the State of Qatar, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Five are ruled by Sunnis, in Bahrain over a Shia majority, and Oman is ruled by the home-based Ibadi sect.

With the exception of Iraq and Lebanon, all of the other Arab League states are Sunni Muslim, as this map from Colombia University shows. The self-styled Islamic State are also Sunni Muslims.

In this photo taken on Sunday, April 20, 2014, and released on the official Facebook page of the Syrian Presidency, Syrian President Bashar Assad, right, checks a damaged church during his visit to the Christian village of Maaloula, near Damascus, Syria. — In this photo taken on Sunday, April 20, 2014, and released on the official Facebook page of the Syrian Presidency, Syrian President Bashar Assad, right, visits a damaged church during his visit to the Christian village of Maaloula, near Damascus, Syria.

Syria’s President, Bashar Al-Assad, is from the minority Alawite sect of Shia Islam. He has consistently defended the Syrian Christian minority.

Supported by his allies, Russia, Shia Iran and Shia Hezbollah, he is now making considerable advances to recapture land occupied by the Sunni rebels. The Saudis don’t like that.

In Yemen, the Shia Houthi militia led by former president Ali Abdullah Saleh are fighting Sunni forces loyal to the government of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who has fled to Aden. Hezbollah, funded by Iran, have given assistance to the Houthis, according to a bombastic letter allegedly sent by Hezbollah’s chief Hassan Nasrallah to President Hadi. The Saudis don’t like that either.

Saud Arabia have been actively bombing the Houthi rebels, causing a humanitarian crisis. The United States, the United Kingdom, and even Israel are said to backing up the Saudi campaign against the Shia rebels, according to Iran’s PressTV news outlet.

Hezbollah are also active in Iraq, and the Jerusalem Post reported only last month that the Shia militants have made clear they will take exception to any Saudi Arabian troops sent to Syria under the pretext of fighting Islamic State.

Let us make no mistake. If Hezbollah were doing badly the Saudis would not have bothered organising a wholesale denouncement of them. The GCC and Arab League pronouncements indicate that the Saudis feel themselves, particularly in Syria, to be increasingly on the losing side. That is why the Saudi pot is now so concerned with the Hezbollah kettle.

Sadiq Khan and the Muslim Card

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11 March 2016

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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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Sunday stays sort of special

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10 March 2016

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David Burrowes also opposed 'gay marriage'. — David Burrowes, who tabled the successful amendment against an extension to Sunday trading, also opposed ‘gay marriage’.

The House of Commons has rejected Government plans to relax the law on Sunday trading.

A motion to remove the measure was carried by 317 votes to 286. Read the actual debate here and follow it through to see how your MP voted. A vote for ‘Aye’ is for Sunday. A vote ‘No’ is for the Government.

Every opposition party in the House voted against proposals to allow local councils in England and Wales to decide whether to extend opening hours.

The shop workers’ union USDAW also opposed the change, which it said would not give shop workers adequate protection if they had an objection to working on Sunday.

Speaking on television, Dave Williams of USDAW said there was a working compromise at the moment which would ‘keep Sunday special’, although the day is not really that special since the current system was introduced in 1993.

The church sadly moved away from the principled position which defeated Mrs Thatcher’s earlier attempt to relax the law in the 1986 Shops Bill, her only defeat in the House. Christian Voice opposed any compromise, saying the Lord would not honour it. So it turned out.

Seven years later, the proposal from ‘Keep Sunday Special’ was defeated and the ‘Shopping Hours Reform Council’ saw its proposal to allow large shops to open for six hours on Sunday passed in a vote on 8th December 1993.

Sir Gerald Howarth was scathing in a speech opposing the changes

Ministers had sought to limit the current rebellion by promising to trial the changes in 12 areas but their late offer of concessions was described by Sir Gerald Howarth as “shambolic” and “delivered by lastminute.com”.

The Government said afterwards they would respect MPs’ views. It is the Conservative government’s second defeat in the House of Commons since it was elected last May. The earlier defeat was on 7th July 2015 on “English Votes on English Laws”.

Conservative MP David Burrowes, who tabled the successful rebel amendment, said the government had not made an economic case for such sweeping changes, which he said were opposed by businesses of all sizes, shop workers and faith groups.

Speaking after the vote, he told BBC News of his “relief”, adding: “The main thing out there is relief for shop workers, families and businesses who will really be pleased today.”

Labour said the government’s approach had been “tawdry” and the House of Commons had spoken clearly on the “contentious issue”.

The SNP also objected to the government plans, even though in Scotland shops have opened for longer on Sundays for many years. They said the measure would impact on wages north of the border.

Twenty-seven Conservative MPs rebelled against the government, objecting that the measure was not in the Party’s 2015 election manifesto:

Heidi Allen
Caroline Ansell
Bob Blackman
Peter Bone (teller)
Fiona Bruce
David Burrowes
Maria Caulfield
Christopher Chope
Nadine Dorries
Steve Double
James Gray
Chris Green
Gordon Henderson
Philip Hollobone (teller)
Gerald Howarth
Stewart Jackson
Ranil Jayawardena
David Jones
Jeremy Lefroy
Edward Leigh
Julian Lewis
Karl McCartney
Andrew Rosindell
Derek Thomas
Andrew Turner
Martin Vickers
William Wragg

Later the same night, the Government were twice defeated in the House of Lords.

Peers debating the Immigration Bill voted to allow asylum seekers the right to work if their claims have not been processed within six months.

They also voted to allow overseas domestic workers to change employers without risking immediate deportation.

Peers voted by 280 votes to 195 in favour of a Labour, Lib Dem and crossbench amendment to the Immigration Bill on the rights of asylum seekers to work.

Lord Alton of Liverpool, who proposed it, said it would end the “enforced workhouse destitution” currently experienced by asylum seekers.

Isaiah 58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: 14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. (KJV)

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European Parliament – is Seat 666 vacant?

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7 March 2016

MEP's sitting the European Parliament. But is seat 666 vacant, awaiting the Antichrist? — MEP’s sitting the European Parliament. But is seat 666 vacant, awaiting the Antichrist?

You will read all over the web that in the 863-seat European Parliament, Seat 666 is vacant, awaiting the Antichrist.

The otherwise informative website linked above voices the thoughts of many: ‘Interestingly, the seat numbered 666 is never occupied. Perhaps they are leaving it open for someone special?’

CONSPIRACY IS FACT

Now, we don’t believe in conspiracy theories at Christian Voice. We believe in conspiracy as fact:

Psalm 2:2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, 3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. (KJV)

The number 666 certainly has notoriety. The Revelation to John says it is the number of the second beast, the one we know as the Antichrist:

Rev 13:11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
Rev 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

SO THE ANTICHRIST WILL BE IN SEAT 666?

So is seat 666 in the European Parliament vacant, awaiting the Antichrist?

Miroslav Mikolášik MEP occupied Seat 666

No it isn’t. The seating plan of the European Parliament shows seat 666 in Strasbourg is currently occupied by the Maltese MEP Roberta Metsola. Davor Škrlec, an MEP from Croatia, sits in the corresponding place in the Brussels chamber.

By the time you read this, different MEP’s may be in those two seats, because the seating changes every six months. Why the Brussels seating is different from the Strasbourg seating is an arcane EU mystery.

Previously, seat 666 has been occupied by Miroslav Mikolášik, a 63-year-old Slovak Politician. Before that, 666 was the seat of Italian (sorry, Sicilian!) politician Sebastiano (Nello) Musumeci, leader of the Sicilian Alliance. Neither Metsola nor Škrlec are the Antichrist, any more than were Mikolášik or Musumeci.

SO WHERE WILL THE ANTICHRIST SIT?

I predict that when the Antichrist does walk in to the European Parliament, he won’t sit at the back in seat 666. In fact, he won’t sit in the Euro Parliament at all, as it has no ability to initiate the legislation he requires. That power is reserved to the un-elected European Commission. So he will stand or sit right at the front and tell them what he has decided and what they are to do, Including the lowly inhabitant of seat 666.

Don’t get worried. Christian Voice has not gone soft. We still regard the European Union as a godless, corrupt, pretentious, expensive, wasteful, bureaucratic,oligarchic expression of Antichrist. It’s just that seat 666 of the European Parliament is not reserved for him. The Antichrist, the beast of Revelation, has something far grander in mind and that is world dominion.

Not that it will last. The Beast, the Antichrist, is heading for defeat at the hands of King Jesus:

Rev 19:11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. … 20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

If you are in Christ, you are on the winning side. Make sure you stay there.

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EU Referendum – Unity & Sovereignty

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4 March 2016

This is the first in what should end up as a series of videos on YouTube looking at Britain’s membership of the European Union from a Christian, Biblical standpoint.

We ask should the UK stay or leave and look at the matter of unity versus sovereignty.

There is more on the Queen’s Coronation Service here.

This link backs up the points about the European Commission.

Judge rules Bucks girls can go home

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2 March 2016

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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

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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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Bucks County Council fails to bar the press

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20 February 2016

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LinHazell — Councillor Lin Hazell, Bucks County Council Cabinet Member for Children's Services

Martin Tett, Leader of Conservative-controlled Buckinghamshire County Council — Councillor Martin Tett, Leader of Conservative-controlled Bucks County Council

Councillor Lin Hazell, Bucks County Council Cabinet Member for Children's Services — Councillor Lin Hazell, Bucks County Council Cabinet Member for Children’s Services

A local authority has failed in a bid to oust a journalist covering a child protection case in the family court.

Buckinghamshire County Council (leader Cllr Martin Tett, left) initially raised no objection to the presence of Stephen Green, National Director of Christian Voice and an accredited journalist, in a case where they were seeking an interim care order.

But during an interval in which District Judge Patrick Perusko met the two children involved, at their request, before reconvening in Milton Keynes Magistrates Court, the Tory-run council’s social workers and advocate together with the court-appointed ‘children’s guardian’ and her solicitor took the opportunity to do an internet search of Christian Voice.

When the court reassembled, Bucks County Council’s advocate, one Mr Dove, objected to Green’s presence, based on blog gossip about the alleged political stance of the prayer and action group. The solicitor for the children’s guardian backed up the plea.

But District Judge Perusko was having none of it. Mr Green, he told the advocates, was entitled to be there. If they objected, it had to be on specific grounds listed in a court practice direction. It was clear these did not include that the opinions of a journalist were not politically correct.

So long as the children were not identified directly or indirectly, the media were entitled to report on a child protection case. The advocates were left looking foolish.

Stephen Green said afterwards, ‘Whilst I am flattered by the attention they have given to a humble reporter and commentator, I do feel Bucks County Council could have spent their time in the interval better, perhaps by going out to buy some toothbrushes for the children in their care.’

Click here for our report of the hearing: Social Services tell girls: ‘No Nightie? Wear my Tee-shirt!’

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Social Services tell girls: ‘No Nightie? Wear my Tee-shirt!’

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20 February 2016

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Two adolescent girls taken into care by a local authority’s social services had to sleep in their school uniforms, a court was told yesterday.

District Judge Patrick Perusko, sitting in Milton Keynes Family Court, heard that the sisters, one aged 14 and the other 12, were not provided by Buckinghamshire County Council with night clothes. They also complained there was no lock on the bedroom door in their foster placement.

Eventually, said one of the girls, the foster mother gave her one of her husband’s old tee-shirts to sleep in.

The sisters also complained that they were given no tooth brushes and that when they asked for a hair brush, a used shared one was produced tangled with other people’s hair. The foster parents made no attempt to keep their dog out of the girls’ room, which terrified them.

To pile on the indignity, the girls were also given no clean underwear by the County Council.

Girls want to go home

The girls are from a stable Christian family and not surprisingly, the District Judge said that both girls had told him they wanted to go home.

The case started when eldest girl’s school learnt that her mother had raised her hand to her. Any contact, says the mother, was accidental, but the school told social services and both sisters were taken into care just over a week ago.

The parents refused to sign a notice under Section 20 of the Children Act, which would effectively ask Bucks CC to provide accommodation. The Council then sought an care order in the County Court. An interim order was granted on Friday 12th February, for eight days. Yesterday’s hearing was to decide whether it should be extended.

Both parents complained to Christian Voice that social worker Rosalinde Woodroffe either misunderstood or misrepresented what they had told them in the report she made. In other cases, parents have said that social workers have resorted to invention to embellish the case the Council was building against them. One social worker whistle-blower even said his bosses objected when his write-up was too favourable to parents.

Bucks Council causing emotional harm

The court even heard that Bucks CC had only served papers on the parents the day before the hearing, giving them no time to prepare a statement in response.

The Judge said significant emotional harm had been done and was continuing to be done by the local authority to the girls. He was surprised that in a whole week the Local Authority had not troubled to arrange a medical examination for the girls to substantiate its contention that they had been subjected to unreasonable physical chastisement – or any at all.

But it seemed that because of what he had read in the report the judge was prepared to order that the girls, as he said, ‘Should stay where they are – just about – on balance.’

A case where parents deny that have done anything wrong is difficult for social workers to understand, but this ministry is surprised that District Judge Perusko did not hear oral evidence from the parents before making his ruling.

The case was set down for another hearing on Friday 26th February, at which, said the District Judge, he hoped to return the children to their parents. ‘They are going home’, he said, ‘subject to the parents being open and honest and co-operating with social services’.

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Bexley Council threat over ‘injustice’ video

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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

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4 January 2016

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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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Taunton Evangelist Acquitted

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16 December 2015

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TauntonOverd 003 — Michael Overd outside Taunton Crown Court

An evangelist convicted in May by a Muslim magistrate of a public order offence for preaching in Taunton has had his conviction overturned.

Michael Overd appealed to Taunton Crown Court. A group of us last Friday (11th December 2015) watched as the Crown’s case collapsed like a house of cards.

Witness Darren Chalmers told the Court that on Saturday 7th June 2014 he was working on a market stall in Taunton. He said he was gay and active in a church. He said he could hear a preacher half-way up the High Street and walked down to hear the views being expressed.

‘Someone asked the preacher a question about homosexuality,’ said Chalmers. ‘The preacher said that homosexuals are sinners and that God made Adam and Eve and not Adam and Steve. Being gay and and an openly gay Christian, I accept Adam and Eve but I felt intimidated because in my church I am accepted,’ he went on. ‘It made me question my faith.’

Not a sinner

Judge David Ticehurst asked Chalmers, ”Don’t you question your faith on a daily basis?’

Chalmers replied: ‘Yes, but my faith is strong. I have my prayer support.’ He said he told Mr Overd he was misinterpreting what he believed in. But the judge asked him, ‘Are we not all sinners? Christ said “We have all fallen short …”‘

Chalmers retorted, ‘That’s true from time to time. I’m not a sinner. Then I walked away and was told I was a sinner and had to repent of my sins. On the microphone. And that was it. I felt intimidated and it made me question my faith. It made me feel as a small minority with no place in society.’

Prosecutor Miss Charley Pattison asked the small minority with no place in society: ‘What did you do?’

His Honour Judge David Ticehurst – ‘We have all fallen short …’

Chalmers replied: ‘I prayed hard and realised I’m still accepted. Then I rung the police and reported what happened to do with homophobic remarks.’ Of course he did. Later, in cross-examination, we learnt that he added the lie that Mr Overd was being racist just to make sure he would be arrested.

Witness in knots

Chalmers’ evidence intrigued His Honour, who had not yet seen that the Crown’s case that abusive or threatening words with a ‘homophobic’ element to them had been uttered had much substance. ‘Did he say you were a sinner because you were a homosexual?’

‘Yes’, replied Chalmers, ‘he said I was a sinner and had to repent of my sins because I was homosexual.’

‘That’s not what you said before,’ His Honour retorted.

Defence Counsel Michael Philips then stood up to cross-examine Darren Chalmers, pointing out that the addition of ‘because I was homosexual’ was not in his statement to the police, was not mentioned at the earlier magistrate’s hearing and was not spoken off initially in this hearing either.

Eventually, Chalmers had to admit that It was just his feeling, and the words ‘because you are homosexual’ were never uttered.

Sir Stephen Sedley - 'Freedom of speech toi say the inoffensive is not worth having — Sir Stephen Sedley – ‘Freedom of speech to say the inoffensive is not worth having’.

Equalities in the Workplace

The second prosecution wItness Nigel James Marley was in Taunton for a training session on ‘Equalities in the Workplace’. He heard someone with an amplified voice, it was obviously a preacher, he said, making some ‘pretty nasty remarks’.

The judge wanted to know what he said precisely, but Marley could not remember.

His Honour asked ‘What was the gist?’ To this Marley said,’ The homosexual lifestyle was against the Bible and they were not fit persons’.

‘Fit for what?’ asked His Honour. Marley: ‘I cannot remember’.

There were also exchanges about freedom of expression and its limits. It seemed both prosecution witnesses believed that freedom of speech extended only to the inoffensive.

But Lord Justice Sedley, in his famous 1999 ‘Remond-Bate’ ruling, said, ‘Freedom to say the inoffensive is not worth having’. Speech can include ‘the irritating, the contentious, the eccentric, the heretical, the unwelcome and provocative’, said his Lordship.

Where are the words?

Prosecuting Barrister Charley Pattison is a 'national justice' spokesman for the Green Party — Prosecuting Barrister Charley Pattison is also a ‘national justice’ spokesman for the Green Party.

But Judge Ticehurst was not concerned with any of that. In order for Michael Overd to be convicted the prosecution needed to prove he had used threatening or abusive words or behaviour. ‘Where are they?’ he asked Miss Pattison. ‘He said Mr Chalmers was a sinner and needed to repent. You need more than that.’

His Honour was not finished: ‘Mr Chalmers was made to feel bad. Mr Marley cannot remember any words. You have to prove that the appellant had used words. What were they?’

Miss Pattison, who has been practicing as a barrister for just two years, did her best, but the writing was on the wall. After a lunch break she threw in the towel.

Neither do I condemn thee

Like the Lord Jesus oversaw in the matter of the woman in adultery, the prosecution had withdrawn its case. And like the Lord Jesus, His Honour had no option but to find the accused not guilty. Michael Overd was duly acquitted.

Then, like the Lord Jesus, David Ticehurst offered some advice. In this case it was not ‘go and sin no more’ but invite homeless people in for tea and cake and preach the Gospel to them indoors.

Michael Overd is not likely to follow that advice. But he is likely to sue the police for wrongful arrest, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution. Yes, we are to forgive our enemies, but if we do not take the poilice to court and make them pay damages, they will never learn and they will just go out and arrest someone else.

If you are in trouble with the police for preaching at Speakers' Corner or anywhere in the UK, get in touch right now. — If you are in trouble with the police for preaching at Speakers’ Corner or anywhere in the UK, get in touch right now. No-one need be convicted.

Are you in trouble for preaching? Get in touch!

I have heard in recent days of Christian preachers at Speakers’ Corner among other places being arrested, charged, convicted and fined for sharing the Gospel. That is an outrage but it will not happen if they simply contact us as soon as they are arrested or even if they have already been convicted.

The fact is, no preacher, properly represented in court, has ever been convicted of an offence in Britain under the Public Order Act 1986. Not a single one. If you have been arrested for preaching, get in touch with us right now. If you know of someone who has, put them in touch with us right now. Time is always of the essence.

In the alternative, contact Christian Concern, who supported Michael Overd. Just please understand defending a public order charge is not a time for DIY.

Money, or the lack of it, is not a problem. The Lord’s people are not going to stand by and see street preachers convicted. This ministry will fund your defence. Email me on Stephen @ this website or ring me on 07931 490050.

Praise God for this outcome and please pray for Michael and Rachel Overd who have been through a lot and have stood strong by the grace of God.

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Men ‘have better sense of direction’

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