Iran: a different path
Before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iranian women could vote and wear Western clothing. Religious minorities, like Christians, were protected by law. Since 1979, leaders have been doing everything according to Islamic principles, which is driving people to look for something else. Jesus is ‘something else,’ something separate from Islam, and many Iranians are finding him. Many Iranian believers also have Muslim friends and family members who are sick of Islam, are sick of what is happening in their country, and want something else. To help Iranian believers reach loved ones and neighbours for Christ, Voice of the Martyrs USA is sending 300,000 Bibles into Iran this month. When equipped with Scripture, Iranian believers can hand those (frustrated) people a Bible and say, ‘Why don’t you read this? This is a different path.’
Archbishop of Canterbury’s mental health
Justin Welby has spoken candidly about taking antidepressants instead of ‘something much worse.’ In a Holy Week lecture series at Canterbury Cathedral, he spoke of having professional help with his mental health, saying, ‘As the psychiatrist I see tells me, the aim is not to make me so laid back that I'm horizontal, but just to settle things enough that I react like an average sort of human being. I'm sad when things are sad, and happy when they're happy, and so on and so forth.’ He likened human emotions to Winnie the Pooh characters, comparing himself to Eeyore, the often melancholy donkey, as opposed to a ‘bouncy’ Tigger. Some of us are Tiggers, some are Eeyores. Probably, some are other characters in Winnie the Pooh.’ The lecture was based on the emotional rollercoaster within the Easter story, from Jesus' persecution and death to resurrection joy.
Junior doctors strike
‘If we keep going like this, we'll have no doctors left.’ This is the message from junior doctors on the picket line of a four-day industrial strike. Speaking outside Stoke Mandeville Hospital, they said the NHS is facing an exodus of doctors unless conditions are improved: ‘It’s about improving the NHS and improving patients’ safety, improving worker retention and making workers feel valued again.’. Their comments were repeated outside hospitals everywhere by junior doctors claiming wage cuts of over 25% since 2008/9. They want a 35% pay rise. Downing Street said the proposed increase was ‘unreasonable and not affordable for the British taxpayer’. A London junior doctor, who is not striking, said the 25% cuts are based on questionable assumptions. The Nuffield Trust calculates the 8% pay cuts up to 2021-22 based on actual earnings. Also, many junior doctors opt to work part-time, then pick up additional shifts at high locum rates. A junior doctor in London earns in the region of £55,000, and that’s before locum shifts.
Ofsted unfit for purpose
Dr Martin Hanbury has quit as an Ofsted inspector, saying he felt his role could cause more harm than good. Teachers in the National Education Union are also being urged to refuse to do inspections for England's regulator. But Ofsted said most school leaders found them constructive and collaborative. Last month the Department for Education said inspections were hugely important and a legal requirement. Mr Hanbury told the BBC that regulating schools was important, but the current system was ‘scrutinising’ schools without giving them support. He called the one-word grading system ‘totally unfit for purpose. It's a very simplistic way of describing a really complex system. It's like trying to measure a cloud with a ruler. An inadequate school is very rarely inadequate in everything it does and, equally, an outstanding school is never outstanding in everything it does.’
