Transforming Lives for Good (TLG)
Recent statistics reveal that one in ten children feel unable to cope with the school day. Almost two thirds of 10- to 11-year-olds worry all the time, and 70% of children and adolescents experiencing mental health problems have not had appropriate interventions at a sufficiently early age. TLG is a Christian charity helping churches to bring hope and a future to struggling children. School exclusion, poverty, holiday hunger, bullying, bereavement, family breakdown, or being in the care system can have a huge impact on a child's education. Some children struggle with a lack of confidence, have no positive role models, or just need an adult to talk to. TLG early intervention programmes give churches practical solutions to support families, children and schools in their community. TLG believes change is possible, so in all their work there lies an unchanging resolve to transform lives for good.
Politicians must make 'stark choices'
The shadow treasury minister Clive Lewis, in a newspaper interview, has said MPs must show leadership, and persuade consumers to make dramatic lifestyle changes, if devastating climate change and mass extinctions are to be averted. Cutting back on red meat and taking fewer flights are two of the ‘real, stark choices’ needed in the years ahead. Lewis said, ‘If you want your children and grandchildren to avoid food shortages, to avoid power shortages, to avoid biological degradation, biodiversity loss - if you actually want a planet that’s habitable - then we need to make some choices together, now, and some of them are about quite dramatic changes to how we live.’
France: Macron’s combative message
Emmanuel Macron delivered a defiant New Year's address on TV, vowing to push forward with economic reforms despite the protests by the ‘yellow vests’ over the past two months. He acknowledged their anger over injustices, but he also strongly condemned their leaders, ‘who claim to speak for the people, but in fact speak for a hateful mob - attacking elected representatives, security forces, journalists, Jews, foreigners and homosexuals - these are quite simply the negation of France.’ He promised that his economic reforms would continue despite the prolonged clashes between protesters and security forces that have turned French cities into battlegrounds, and rejected demands for referendums on major policy decisions and the possibility of ousting elected representatives, including the president himself. The ‘yellow vests’ vowed to continue their protests.
Italy: Mount Etna threatens
Mount Etna volcano is restless, with small earthquakes and steam emissions continuing for six days. Aerial footage by emergency services has revealed the scale of the damage from the two earthquakes (4.3 and 4.8 magnitude) which injured 28 people and left 600 homeless across a broad area near Catania, one of the most densely populated metropolitan districts in Sicily. More lava was being spewed out on 1 January: see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E42VCLuJC4I Strong gas and dense ash emissions have been rising, prompting frightened villagers to flee their homes. Italy's civil protection officials said that the quakes were part of a swarm of 1,000 tremors, most of them barely perceptible, that are linked to Etna's ongoing recent eruption.
