Essay: What Britain’s government needs to know about its faith communities
In an article first published on Religion News Service, COLIN BLOOM, an independent advisor to the UK Government, says the UK Government needs to be bolder, more discerning and more open to faith engagement…
Essay: The UK spent a third of its international aid budget on refugees in the UK – what it’s paying for, and why it’s a problem
In an article first published on The Conversation, MICHAEL COLLYER, professor of geography at the University of Sussex, looks at the complicated situation surrounding the UK Government’s support of refugees…
Blow for Scottish nationalists as UK court rejects independence vote bid
London, UKReuters The Scottish Government cannot hold a second referendum on independence without approval from the British parliament, the United Kingdom’s top court ruled on Wednesday, dealing a hammer blow to nationalists’ hopes of holding a vote next year. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the pro-independence Scottish National Party, had announced earlier this […]
Essay: The UK’s asylum system is in crisis, but the government – not refugees – is to blame
MELANIE GRIFFITHS, of the University of Birmingham, argues – in article first published on The Conversation – that, rather than “ineffective and cruel spectacles”, the UK needs a “functioning asylum system”…
European leaders visit Ukraine, dangling hope of EU membership; UK sanctions Patriarch Kirill
Kyiv/Irpin, Ukraine Reuters The leaders of Germany, France and Italy, all criticised in the past by Kyiv for support viewed as too cautious, visited Ukraine on Thursday and offered the hope of EU membership to a country pleading for weapons to fend off Russia’s invasion. Air raid sirens blared in Kyiv as the visit by […]
Prince Charles calls UK’s Rwanda migrants policy ‘appalling’ -reports
London, UKReuters Prince Charles has privately described the British government’s plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda as “appalling”, two media reports said, as the first flight taking refugees to the East African country is due to leave next week. Charles, heir to the British throne, has been heard criticising the policy, The Times and […]
Rwanda expects first 50 asylum seekers transferred from UK by end of May
Kigali, RwandaReuters Rwanda expects the first group of 50 asylum seekers to be transferred from Britain by the end of May, a government spokesperson said this week. In April the British Government announced plans to send people seeking asylum to the East African country, but earlier this month said it expected lawyers to lodge claims […]
UN experts scathing about “tone-deaf” UK report on racial equality
Geneva, Switzerland Reuters UN human rights experts on Monday rejected a review commissioned by Britain’s government into race inequality as an attempt to “normalise white supremacy despite considerable research and evidence of institutional racism”. The report by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, issued on 31st March, said that Britain should be seen as […]
UK rules on goods from China’s Xinjiang seen as soft on business
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation British measures to tackle forced labour in China’s Xinjiang region do not go far enough and are “a missed opportunity” to make companies clean up their operations, activists said on Tuesday. The government said it would introduce rules for businesses aimed at keeping goods from Xinjiang out of supply chains – from guidance […]
After Grenfell fire, UK social housing tenants get ‘stronger voice’
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation Social housing tenants in Britain will have new rights to demand improvements to their homes under a reform launched in the aftermath of a deadly 2017 fire at a London block, the government said on Tuesday. The blaze that killed at least 71 people in Grenfell Tower – a 23-storey block […]