Key Quotes for 2013

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Last update: Wednesday 25th March




Peter Bone, MP for Wellingborough, presented a Bill before Parliament in late December that would reintroduce the presumption that religious institutions are of public benefit. The Charity Commission (CC) ruled recently, stating that there is no presumption that religion, ‘even in the case of Christianity’, is for the public benefit. The CC made the comments in a letter to a Plymouth Brethren congregation. It used to be the case that churches were presumed to have public benefit and so did not have to prove it. Many people are concerned that the removal of this presumption could be an attempt to marginalise Christian influence.
Church	Evangelicals Now, February 2013



A group of 12 people, all of whom use Apple devices, are seeking damages from the internet giant after claiming that their browsing habits were secretly tracked.
Media	The Sentinel, January 25, 2013



David Cameron’s EU referendum is “not in the national interest” and risks derailing the fragile UK economy, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg warned. Mr Cameron insists he wants to stay in the EU but pledged to claw back powers and offer voters a choice of new relationship or exit by the end of 2017 if the Conservatives are returned to power in 2015. Mr Clegg dismissed the prospects of securing a significant renegotiation and suggested Mr Cameron should be concentrating on the economy – which risks slumping into a triple-dip recession.
Politics	The Sentinel, January 28, 2013



The rise in drug resistant infections is comparable to the spread of global warming, according to the chief medical officer for England. Professor Dame Sally Davies said bacteria were becoming resistant to current drugs and there were few antibiotics to replace them. She told a committee of MPs that going for a routine operation could become deadly due to the threat of infection. Professor Davies said: “The apocalyptic scenario is that when I need a new hip in 20 years I’ll die from a routine operation because we’ve run out of antibiotics.”
Health	The Sentinel, January 25, 2013



David Cameron has warned that the West faces a decades-long struggle against Islamic terrorism in north Africa in the wake of the bloody and violent climax to the Algerian hostage crisis. Amid warnings that the confirmed death toll of 23 hostages was set to rise, the Prime Minister said the militants who attacked the BP gas plant represented a “global threat” which required a “global response”.
Disasters/War	The Sentinel, January 21, 2013



Investigations are under way to try to find out how beef burgers on sale in UK and Irish Republic supermarkets became contaminated with horsemeat. Irish food safety officials, who carried out tests two months ago, said the products had been stocked by a number of chains including Tesco and Iceland stores in the UK. They said there was no human health risk and the burgers had been removed. Tesco said it was ‘working to ensure it does not happen again’.
Food and Drink	The Sentinel, January 17, 2013



President Barack Obama has unveiled sweeping gun control proposals, setting the stage for a showdown with firearms rights advocates. Mr Obama called for a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and wider background checks on gun buyers. My Obama said gun-control reforms could not wait and longer, after the massacre in Connecticut. He unveiled the new proposals at the White House on Wednesday, flanked by children who wrote him letters after December’s Newtown school shooting, which left 26 dead.
World Issues	The Sentinel, January 17, 2013



A radical shake-up of state pensions unveiled by the Government will leave up to half of pensioners worse off by 2060, it was revealed. High earners and recent immigrants will be among those hit by the Government’s plans to reform the pensions system. Ministers said their proposals would simplify the current complicated system and particularly benefit women, low earners and the self-employed, with a single flat rate state pension, equivalent to around £144 a week in today’s money, introduced for new pensioners from 2017. But the Government’s White Paper revealed a number of people will lose out, with Labour claiming more than 400,000 women on the verge of retirement will miss out.
Money	The Sentinel, January 15, 2013



The Obama administration has publicly expressed concern about the impact of a UK referendum on its future relationship with the EU. Philip Gordon, a senior official in the US State Department, said it was in America’s interests to see a ‘strong British voice within the EU’. “Referendums have often turned countries inwards,” he added.
World Issues	The Sentinel, January 10, 2013



Police officers investigating phone hacking viewed the inquiry as “a bit of a jolly” and were excited about meeting celebrities, a senior detective claimed yesterday. Detective Chief Inspector April Casburn told Southwark Crown Court that she feared her colleagues thought the investigation would be “a bit of fun”. She is accused of one count of misconduct in public office for allegedly offering information to the News of the World (NOTW) in September 2010, when she was working in counter-terrorism managing the National Terrorist Financial Investigation Unit. The 53-year-old admits making the phone call to the NOTW, but denies misconduct, asking for money and offering information that was not already in the public domain.
Crime	The Sentinel, January 9, 2013



The work and pensions secretary has attacked the tax credit system put in place by Labour, saying it had resulted in ‘a sorry story of dependency, wasted taxpayers’ money and fraud’. Iain Duncan Smith said the credits – to top up the incomes of the lower-paid – were ‘haemorrhaging money’. He said fraud and error in the system under Labour had cost £10bn. Labour described the comments as a ‘cheap political attack’. Tax credits are paid based on estimates given by the claimants for their income for the year ahead, with HM Revenue & Customs responsible for reclaiming any overpayments at the end of the year.
Work/Employment	The Sentinel, January 1, 2013



A study by Talking Taboos and Young Minds has discovered a 68 per cent increase in the number of hospital admissions from young people struggling with self-harm. The report – which covers the last ten years – suggests that there has either been a rise in the number of young people who are self-harming, or that young people are more willing to seek medical help. The same research found that almost half of GPs said that they did not really understand those who self-harm.
Young People	Youthwork, January 2013



According to a law that came into effect on December 6, the words ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ have been removed from marriage and divorce certificates in Washington state, after same-sex marriage was approved in a recent referendum. The state began changing the legal document wording before the public vote even happened, according to a health department spokesman. Spaces once reserved for a ‘bride’ and ‘groom’ will become more gender-neutral. Over 30 states have voted against redefining marriage, with just three having voted in favour.
World Issues	Evangelicals Now, January 2013



Head teachers in Sweden were told that they could take pupils to Christmas services in church, but Jesus could not be mentioned, it was reported at the end of November. Advent services for children are part of the curriculum, but religious content has been ruled out by education officials.
Religious Persecution	Evangelicals Now, January 2013



There is widespread support in England for teaching Christianity in schools, a You Gov poll revealed in November. Almost two-thirds (64%) of just over 1,800 people questioned in May 2012 said that children need to learn about Christianity to understand English history, while more than half (57%) said it was important if pupils are to understand the English culture and way of life.
Education	Evangelicals Now, January 2013

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