Down’s Syndrome Awareness Week (20-26 March)
‘We’re not so different, you and me’ is the theme of My Feral Heart, a British film about a young man with Down’s Syndrome (DS). At the heart of the film are two intertwining themes: we can only find happiness in caring for each other, and all of us are vulnerable and needy, not just people with DS. Disability is nothing to be feared, hidden away or ashamed of. Each of us is disabled and needy in different ways: some intellectually, others emotionally and socially. But the universal cure is self-giving and generosity. The release of My Feral Heart comes as the British health system increasingly pressurises mothers to abort any child diagnosed with DS.
Fracking in the UK
Anti-fracking activists placed adverts in Leeds bus-stops stating that thousands of gallons of fracking fluid could be headed for the city. This overnight action was part of a national ‘Break the Chain’ fortnight, which also saw protesters suspended by swings above a quarry in Carnforth for eleven hours and residents walking 120 miles in an area where a fracking licence was granted. Lancashire and Yorkshire are concerned that wastewater from potential fracking sites could enter local treatment works. This week 250 people attended a protest rally near the UK's first horizontal fracking site, and earlier this month the Government was taken to court about its permitting Cuadrilla to test fracking sites in the UK. On Monday Nottinghamshire planning officers will publish recommendations for another shale gas well.
Unhealthy foods and child obesity
A House of Commons health committee has recommended tough new measures to tackle childhood obesity, including restricting supermarkets’ discount offers on unhealthy food. They are disappointed with the Government’s weak plans to fight obesity, and said that ministers had ignored experts’ advice to stop supermarkets discounting unhealthy food and drinks. The Government has curbed advertisements for high-fat and high-sugar foods on smartphones, but that was not enough. The report said, ‘We urge a re-examination of the case for further restrictions on advertising of high fat, salt and sugar food and drink in the light of the most recent research on the scale and consequences of childhood obesity.’
EU and Brexit: heads of state
Over the next two years heads of state will be informally discussing and formally negotiating Brexit now that Article 50 has been triggered. ‘The preparations of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirits.’ (Pr. 16:1-2) May the EU heads of state be guarded and led by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. May all discussions be in His perfect will. Pray particularly for Theresa May to be blessed and anointed by God. May His face shine upon her continually, may He be gracious to her and uphold her in His mighty hands, giving her peace and confidence in the coming months and years.
