Added at 8pm on Sunday, Pickles video: *** Eric Pickles has written to councils to confirm that the general power of competence in the Localism Act includes the legal right to say prayers at the start of their meetings. This guidance is felt to effectively overturn the court ban on prayers last week. Remember you […]
A court ruling has declared the practice of saying prayers at the start of Council meetings to be unlawful. After a legal challenge brought by Clive Bone to Bideford Town Council, Mr Justice Ouseley ruled: ''The saying of prayers as part of the formal meeting of a council is not lawful under section 111 of […]
By Joseph Willits Follow Joseph on Twitter The main premise of the BBC's Fern Meets Ann Widdecombe, emphasised the issue of vulnerability. Much was made of Widdecombe, a spinster, living alone amidst the wilderness of Dartmoor, yet with the backdrop of celebrity outings in Strictly Come Dancing, and an upcoming pantomine as Widdy in Waiting. Rightly or […]
Bradford Council has issued a leaflet encouraging residents not to drop litter, targeted specifically at Muslims. Pretty extraordinary. Does the Labour-run Council think that Muslims are more likely to drop litter than the rest of us? Or that Christianity doesn't include enough anti litter messages for Christians to have their own anti litter leaflet. Cllr […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter US Republicans are having a tough time considering who their candidate should be for the 2012 Presidential election. Mitt Romney is the current front-runner, but has a ceiling of support at around 35-40% of the vote. He is fatally hamstrung, however, by the healthcare law he passed when he […]
Leicester City Council has followed Enfield in scrapping prayers at the start of Council meetings. Cllr Colin Hall, a Labour councillor and the Lord Mayor of Leicester says: "I am delighted to confirm that I will be exercising my discretion as Lord Mayor to abolish the outdated, unnecessary and intrusive practice. "I personally consider that […]
When I was child my parents used the excuse of not bothering with Halloween festivities on the grounds that it was "an American thing" – as if they had invented it. I make some effort for my own children but Cllr Tom Wilson and Cllr Sonja Wilson, Conservative councillors on Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council, and […]
The Conservatives have established that taxpayers' money earmarked for faith communities has been given to a group which promotes atheism. It turns out that Hazel Blears's Department for Communities and Local Government has granted no less than £25,000 of its "Faith Communities Capacity Building Fund" to the British Humanist Association, which not only promotes atheism, […]