Not The BBC News: 27 September.

One of the gay men who sued the Christian B&B owners in Cornwall, who have now been forced to sell up, said in an interview “to some extent, they brought it on themselves.” There have been several outraged responses to this, though they are not so much directed at the actual content of the comment, but rather at its lack of condemnation of the intolerance, vindictiveness and criminality directed at the B &B owners.

The Romanian ambassador to the UK has complained that Romanian doctors in the UK are suffering racist comments, and blamed it on UKIP rhetoric about Romanian criminals. Nigel Farage of UKIP responded that “there are 80,000 Romanians in the UK that we know of, and yet there have been 27,500 arrests in the last 5 years in London alone, so there is clearly an issue.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury commented on the suicide bombings that killed 81 Christians in Pakistan while they were leaving church, referring to the dead as “martyrs… who were testifying to their faith by going to church.” He added that Christian communities which have existed “in many cases since the days of Saint Paul” are now under threat in countries such as Syria and Egypt, but that Christians were called to “pray for justice and particularly issues around anger … and, as Jesus did at the cross, to pray for those who are doing us harm.”

A married London cab driver has been jailed for 6 years after tying up his pregnant mistress and forcing her to take abortion pills that killed their baby daughter.

In sport, the Americas Cup of sailing went to a final deciding race after the USA boat, with Britain’s Ben Ainslie as one of the crew, won seven races in succession against their New Zealand opponents to turn an 8-1 deficit into an 8-8 tie. The New Zealanders held a massive lead in one of the  race only for light winds to cause them to run out of time, meaning that the race was drawn. The USA won the final race by 44 seconds to claim the Cup.

The fingerprint sensor on Apple’s new iPhones has been successfully spoofed. If a photograph of a genuine fingerprint can be obtained, a fake fingerprint can be created with just a laser printer and some special gum. Apple claim their sensor is “the most advanced ever”, but the spoofers say that it merely uses a higher resolution than most sensors, and so can be spoofed with a higher resolution photograph.

And finally, a man in the West Midlands phoned the police to make a complaint under the Sale of Goods Act; he complained that the prostitute he had hired wasn’t as pretty as she had claimed to be. He was reminded that he was the one committing a crime, and reprimanded for wasting police time.

Not The BBC News: 24 September

The trial of a gunman who opened fire in the offices of a US family campaign group because of its opposition to gay marriage ended this week with him being sentenced to 25 years in prison. He was apprehended by an unarmed security guard, who was shot in the arm and has had to undergo several surgeries.

The BBC has been accused of acting as a “cheerleader” for assisted suicide. BBC Breakfast recently interviewed the Labour peer who chaired a commission on assisted suicide and subsequently submitted a private member’s Bill to make it permissible. However, a Christian doctor who was due to appear to give the opposite viewpoint was told a few hours beforehand that he was no longer needed.

A terrorist attack on a shopping centre in Nairobi appears to have been targeted at Christians; captured Muslims were allowed to leave, other hostages were shot. The attack has been blamed on the Somali group Al-Shabaab, who last week executed a mother and her child in Somalia after they were found secretly practising the Christian faith.

A Christian street preacher was arrested in Scotland  for “breach of the peace” whilst addressing a crowd on Perth High Street. According to the police officer, the complaint centred on the local minister’s use of an (unamplified) MP3 player; but when the preacher asked the officer what noise level would be acceptable, the officer replied that the only acceptable course of action was for him to stop preaching, because a complaint had been made. The preacher refused to comply, on the grounds that he wasn’t breaking any laws, and was duly arrested. This is the third instance since July of a Christian street preacher being arrested in the UK.

A twin-suicide bombing outside a church in Peshawar, Pakistan has killed 75 people. The Taliban has claimed responsibility.

In New Delhi, the lawyer who defended two of the four men convicted of raping and killing a student on a bus has been heavily criticised for saying that “if my daughter had premarital sex and was out late at night with her boyfriend, I would have burned her alive.” He has been told he must apologise for the remarks if he wants to keep his law licence.

There is no sports news in this blog. This may or may not be because I am a Manchester United fan.

And finally, a fake advert which suggests that the iOS7 operating system makes iPhones waterproof seems to have fooled many people into dunking their handsets into water. The prank includes a very convincing spoof image. 

Not The BBC News: 20 September

The pastor in Kazakhstan who was arrested for allegedly putting hallucinogenic substances in his congregation’s communion wine has been subjected to more Soviet-style tactics: he was transferred to a psychiatric hospital for a while, and now the authorities refuse to say where he is, and deny having arrested him. An online “letter writing” campaign is being organised for his release.

The Christian owners of a bed and breakfast in Cornwall who refused to let a gay couple stay there, and were fined as a result, are putting the B&B up for sale. Their case is still going through the appeal process, because their (well-advertised) policy was to accept married couples only rather than being specifically anti-gay; but they have suffered vandalism, having their website hacked, having a dead rabbit nailed to their fence, and removal of their business from the Tourist Board website -- and more dangerously, wheel nuts have been removed from their car and they have received death threats. Also, their business has been reduced to such an extent that they claim they cannot afford mortgage repayments on the house or to heat the house properly in winter.

A 29 year old British man has committed suicide after being outed as a suspected paedophile by an online entrapment group. The group masquerades as young girls on social networking sites, and then reports suspected child groomers or paedophiles to the police. The group’s comment on hearing of the suicide was, “We feel sorry for his family.”

The UK’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre has reported that UK children are being disproportionately targeted for by paedophiles who blackmail them into performing sex acts on webcam.  A recent police operation found 322 victims worldwide of whom 96 were in the UK; CEOP say this is because paedophiles see Britain as a “free and liberal” society. The usual method is for a paedophile to pretend to be another youngster online, coax their victim into either sending an embarrassing photo of themself or stripping for a webcam, and then threatening to send the image to family or friends unless they perform more serious sex acts on camera.

In the USA, there are many local court battles over the Government’s mandate that employers should provide their employees with health cover that includes abortifacents and contraceptives. Many employers have objected to this requirement on religious grounds. In 34 cases so far, 29 have either been decided in the employer’s favour, or the employer has been granted  a preliminary injunction against implementing the mandate whilst the case is considered. The issue is now likely to be decided by the Supreme Court.

In football, Swansea City’s first ever European match produced a 3-0 win away to Spanish side Valencia. The Daily Telegraph reported that “Valencia have only lost at home to English opponents on three previous occasions”, forgetting that Swansea City are not English opponents. And in tennis, Andy Murray is to undergo back surgery which will probably keep him out for the rest of the season.

And finally, a sport-related gay rights campaign has been criticised both by football clubs and by gay rights groups. Football players were sent rainbow-coloured bootlaces and asked to wear them this weekend in support of gay rights. However, football clubs are upset that they were not consulted about the plan (which is sponsored by a bookmaker) , with some refusing their players permission to wear the laces as a result; and one gay rights group have complained about innuendo in the campaign’s slogan, “Right Behind Gay Rights”.

Not The BBC News: 17 September

A UN weapons inspection in Syria has confirmed that sarin gas was used against civilians, including children, in three rebel-held suburbs. The UN has described this attack as a “war crime.”  Although the Syrian government insisted that the weapons inspectors should not attempt to identify the perpetrators, the weapons inspectors stated that the gas was delivered by five rockets, of types held by the Syrian government, that are difficult to use without appropriate training. Furthermore, the trajectories of two of the rockets were identified, and the US secretary of state has said that they came from government-held areas.

Researchers from Which? tested touchscreens on tablets and phones to see if they were contaminated. One tablet screen was found to have 30 times as many diarrhoea-inducing bacteria as a typical toilet seat.

The methods by which Edward Snowden obtained so many classified documents from the US National Security Agency have begun to be revealed. The NSA had outsourced its systems administration to contractors, and Snowden was one of these sysadmins. He therefore had a perfect excuse to work around security systems, and virtually unlimited access to files, including the ability to log into the accounts of people who had higher security clearance than him – and all from an office in Hawaii, 5000 miles away from the NSA’s headquarters. The NSA is now bringing its systems administration back in-house.

A gay American man who had a rare genetic defect that made him immune to Aids has died, apparently from suicide. The man’s partner was one of the first to die from Aids in 1978, but he never contracted the disease despite remaining sexually active, and scientists eventually established that his white blood cells were immune. However, his sister said that he suffered a great deal of survivor’s guilt because of the number of his friends who died of the disease.

Gavin Henson, the much-travelled rugby winger and Strictly Come Dancing also-ran, appears for Bath against one of his former sides, Saracens, this weekend. Saracens have offered any fans with a Bath postcode a full refund of their ticket if Henson scores any points.

The much-anticipated video game Grand Theft Auto V was released at midnight on Monday – and stolen for the first time shortly afterwards, when a 23 year old man who had purchased the game was mugged and stabbed while walking home with it.

An 18-year-old woman in Ohio was shot at by her ex-boyfriend after she refused to abort his baby. Fortunately, the bullets lodged in the door of her car. One survey estimates that 64% of abortions in the USA are coerced by boyfriend/husband, parents, or other sources.

And finally, some new churches are about to be started  – for atheists. The Sunday Assembly was launched in London by two comedians who lost their faith but missed the sense of community that comes with churchgoing. It is now planning to expand from 4 to 20 venues, several of which are in the UK. Their meetings promise “the best bits of church with no religion and cracking pop songs”. The “best bits” include singing, listening to a talk, and tea and cake afterwards.

Not The BBC News: 15 September

The protests against the Director of Public Prosecution’s refusal to prosecute two doctors who aborted babies because they were girls have continued. A group of 50 MPs, with wide-ranging views on abortion, have signed a letter that suggests the DPP’s actions are unconstitutional; this is because the MPs claim that the DPP’s decision effectively changes UK law. The DPP has explained his original decision as being because doctors have “wide-ranging latitude to interpret the law”, and insisted it is a matter for the General Medical Council to deal with as professional misconduct; but the GMC has been quoted as saying it “is not a substitute for criminal justice” and its role is not to “punish” doctors.

A possible alternative to military intervention in Syria has arisen: following prompting by Russia, President Assad has offered to give up his chemical weapons. However, he is making the offer conditional on the USA ceasing to arm the rebels, which raises concerns about future imbalances in conventional weapons.

A banner that reads “One Life Can Make A Difference; Protect Human Life Week” in the city of Kamloops, British Columbia, has been the subject of complaints from atheists who say it promotes a religious point of view. But the city has refused to take it down; a member of the Kamloops Pro-Life Society said that “while Christian faith might be a motivational factor behind people working in the pro-life movement, this group frames the issue as one of human rights.” And a local journalist said, “While many people have theological views that oppose abortion, the most convincing arguments are based on reason.”

Scotland now have a double world champion – the first ever – in canoe slalom. David Florence added the two-man title to his singles title by a margin of just 0.04 seconds.

Twelve men have been arrested in Hounslow after a bogus maintenance engineer tried to install a KVM switch, which allows multiple computers to be controlled by a single user, at a branch of Santander bank. Scotland Yard said the potential losses for the bank could have run to millions of pounds.

The pressure group Scotland for Marriage has made a written request to Scotland’s Equal Opportunities Commission that parents should be allowed to exempt their children from classes on gay marriage. It points out that parents already have an opt-out on sex education and religious observance. However, a Green MSP claims that this request “effectively calls for wide ranging discrimination in public services.” Meanwhile, some suggestions have been made that the Church of Scotland might give up conducting marriages if the Bill passes without any exceptions for freedom of conscience.

In tennis, Andy Murray played his first Davis Cup match for two years and helped guide Britain back into the World Group. Britain have not won a match in the World Group since 1986.

And finally, a medical survey in the USA has revealed the most dangerous sporting activity for young women: cheerleading. 70% of all “catastrophic” injuries to young women last year were attributed to cheerleading. Those most at risk are not those who are thrown high in the air, but their catchers. 

Not The BBC News: 13 September

A divorced vegetarian mother who denied her husband access to their five year old son for a year on the grounds that the boy might eat meat has been told by a judge to grant her ex-husband access, and warned that this is her last chance to remain the boy’s primary carer.

A court case has begun against computer hackers who are alleged to have stolen over ₤1 million from victims’ bank accounts. Victims received emails in 2010 purporting to be from a well-known recruitment firm, offering jobs at Harrods. But when recipients tried to download an application form, they also unknowingly downloaded password-stealing software.

The Royal British Legion’s proposal to distribute poppy seeds for planting to mark next year’s 100^th anniversary of the outbreak of World War One has been funded by B&Q after having its application for a ₤93,000 grant rejected by the Heritage Lottery Fund. The HLF blamed a high level of applications, but it has emerged that not only has the HLF granted  ₤100,000 to the Peace Pledge Union to “raise the profile of conscientious objectors during the war”, it also actively approached the PPU to encourage them to submit a bid to the HLF.

A long-running disagreement about revenue allocation in rugby union’s European competition, the Heineken Cup, has led to English and French clubs proposing a new breakaway European competition. Also in rugby union, England and British lions forward Tom Croft, who recently returned to competitive rugby after breaking his neck in three places, has been rules out for the rest of the season with a cruciate ligament injury.

Public sector chaplains in Scotland who disagree with gay marriage may face legal difficulties, the Faculty of Advocates has warned, because the Scottish Gay Marriage Bill has no protections for freedom of conscience. A minister has already been removed from his post as a police chaplain because he expressed opposition to gay marriage on his blog; Strathclyde police told him that he could hold his beliefs in private, but to express them publicly was a breach of their equality and diversity policy.

Some Irish politicians who voted for the country’s new abortion law, which allows abortion at any stage of pregnancy if the mother threatens suicide, have complained that they are being denied Mass at their local Catholic churches. It is a requirement of Catholic canon law that legislators who vote for abortion be ex-communicated, but Ireland’s bishops have yet to make an unequivocal statement on the issue. Some politicians, including Prime Minister Enda Kenny, have been flouting the ban by attending funerals where the priest is unlikely to want to risk upsetting the grieving family by denying Mass.

And finally, the book Fifty Shades of Grey is setting another record as the book most frequently donated to charity shops, displacing Dan Brown from the position that he has held for the past four years. “For every copy that we sell,” said a spokesman for Cancer Research UK, “we get two donated.” The books cannot even be recycled because of the glue that is used on the spine. A website called “Fifty Ways of Killing Fifty Shades Of  Grey” has been set up to suggest creative ways of disposing of the book. 

Not The BBC News: 10 September 2013

UK bio-engineers have been given permission by the UK Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to run trials of mitochondrial DNA replacement therapy i.e. giving embryos DNA from three parents. A decision on whether to authorise the therapy for medical use is expected later this year. Objections raised so far have been dismissed, with the objectors described as “religious groups who oppose all forms of IVF.” However, a prominent American genetics policy advocate has spoken out against the practice in the respected journal ‘Nature’, saying that many scientists of various beliefs have concerns about the safety and ethics of genetic engineering. She also challenges the predicted usefulness of resulting techniques, and the HFEA’s claims that the therapy would not affect a person’s identity.

There has been strong criticism of the Crown Prosecution Service’s decision not to prosecute two doctors who performed abortions because the babies were girls. Yet the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, a leading UK abortion provider, has been quoted as saying that it would be “wrong” in some circumstances to refuse to consider a request on the grounds of gender.

A group of Christian worshippers led by three Church of England priests conducted a 15-minute act of worship and “exorcism of the spirits of militarism and violence” outside London’s Excel centre, where a major arms fair is taking place. Police threatened them with arrest for blocking a public highway, but in the end only arrested and charged one person, a member of the anti-capitalist co-ordinating network Christianity Uncut.

England’s football team managed a 0-0 draw against Ukraine in Kiev. Although the performance was disappointing, they remain top of their qualifying group by a single point. The Republic of Ireland lost to Austria and can now only qualify by a mathematical miracle; Scotland managed an away win against a Balkan team, which Wales failed to achieve while playing at home; and Northern Ireland lost away to Luxembourg. It’s Luxembourg’s first home win in World Cup competition for 31 years.

A Christian couple in Washington state have been found guilty of manslaughter and child abuse, and the mother of homicide by abuse, after their fifteen year old adopted daughter died of hypothermia aggravated by malnutrition. The parents owned a controversial child-rearing book published by a ministry in Tennessee which emphasises physical punishment as a child-raising technique. The book’s author claims he is merely defending the Biblical perspective on use of the ‘rod’, and highlights passages in the book such as “never spank in anger”. However, this is the third time that a trial involving child death by parental abuse has been linked to this book.

Serena Williams won the US Open tennis tournament. It’s her 17^th Grand Slam title, meaning she has equalled Roger Federer’s record.

Following Samsung’s release of their Galaxy Gear smartwatch, Apple have announced two new iPhones, the 5C and the 5S. The 5S has fingerprint sensors for security, an upgraded camera and an advanced chip. Apple have also announced a new operating system, iOS7. Nokia have also made an announcement: they have a new owner, with their phone business being sold to Microsoft.

And finally, the Gleaning Network UK (slogan: “Where there’s muck, there’s brassica!”) is an “exciting new initiative” that aims to transport mis-shapen or over-produced crops from farms to food banks and charities. Farmers and volunteer helpers are invited to join. 

Not The BBC News: 7 September 2013

A Christian-owned bakery in Oregon which refused to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple has been forced to close down. Not only did the bakery suffer an official investigation, death threats, and a boycott from homosexual activists, but LGBT protestors also “inundated” other marriage businesses in the area with phone calls and threatened them with boycotts if they worked with the bakery. “That tipped the scales”, said Mr Klein, the bakery’s owner.

A Christian street preacher in Basildon was arrested because a bystander made a false accusation against him to the police. He was held at Basildon police station for seven and a half hours before being released.  He commented that Christian street preachers now seem to be treated as “guilty until proven innocent”, and expressed gratitude to the Christian Legal Centre for reacting quickly and effectively by sending a solicitor to support him at the station.

An Italian lady who became pregnant by her married lover, who then demanded she have an abortion, decided to write to the Pope about her situation as she felt she had no-one else to turn to. She refused the abortion and told the man to get out of her life. This week, Pope Francis telephoned her and offered to baptise her baby.

A survey of Internet users in America found that 21% had had a social network or email account taken over by someone else without permission; 12% had been stalked or harassed online; and 6% had been the victim of an online scam and lost money.

Manchester United have not, after all, signed a left back from Real Madrid on loan; the paperwork was not completed before the transfer deadline.

More than 100 police removed 40 children from a Christian community in the southern German state of Bavaria. The dawn raids followed "new evidence pointing to significant and ongoing child abuse by the members." There was no resistance from the “Twelve Tribes” community, even though it has denied the allegations. Meanwhile, 70 members of an Islamist sect who lived in an underground bunker on the edge of the Russian city of Kazan for nearly a decade have been charged with negligence and child abuse. The sect’s children were “dirty but well-fed”; some had never seen sunlight.

A volunteer lifeboat crew in Norfolk saved the lives of three teenage girls who had been trapped by rising tides. The girls were hanging onto a marker buoy in a strong current and were near exhaustion.

A bill to legalise gay marriage in Scotland is proceeding with apparent haste (i.e. double-length committee sessions) through the Scottish Parliament. The head of the Scottish Roman Catholic Church has objected strongly, due to “many strong recommendations to the contrary and an overwhelming public rejection of the proposals in unprecedented numbers during the consultation period last year.”  The Evangelical Alliance added that it is “disappointed” that the Scottish Government had made “little substantive effort” to protect freedom of speech or conscience.

England beat Moldova in a (football) World Cup 2014 qualifying match to go top of their group; unfortunately for their goal difference, Ukraine beat San Marino 9-0. England’s next two matches are against their two closest rivals, Ukraine (Kiev, 7 September) and Montenegro (Wembley, 11 October).  Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland all lost; of these, only the Republic of Ireland have an outside chance of qualifying.

Following a complaint by the British Humanist Association to the Office of the Schools Adjudicator, the London Oratory (a Catholic school) is being forced to ditch its policy of prioritising children for admission based on their parents' activities in local Catholic parishes. A liberal rabbi, writing in the Guardian, suggested that it was “immoral” to allow schools to “base admission on belief.”

And finally, the electrical retailer Currys have apologised to an “embarrassed and uncomfortable” job applicant after he and other applicants were asked to do a robot dance as part of their job interview. A spokesman said, “These dances are part of team building exercises that would not normally be used in a job interview process. We are investigating.” The applicant was offered another interview but declined.

Not The BBC News: 6 September 2013

Just days after a UK Government commission decided that aborting babies because they were disabled was discriminatory and urged that the practice be banned, the Director of Public Prosecutions has decided not to prosecute two doctors who broke the existing law by aborting babies because they were girls. The DPP said that prosecution was “not in the public interest” and that the General Medical Council could deal with the cases, but the GMC has no criminal powers.

Following the UK Parliament’s vote not to intervene militarily in Syria, Prime Minister David Cameron has accused  opponents of “failing to take a stand against the gassing of children” and said they must “live with the way they have voted”. Meanwhile, the Pope has called for Christians worldwide to a day of prayer and fasting for Syria on Saturday September 7.

Samsung have released for sale their new Galaxy Gear smartwatch. It communicates with a nearby mobile phone, so that owners can look at their wrists instead of having to take their phone out of their pocket; it also tells the time. Perhaps more usefully, the BBC have updated their iPlayer app for Android so that BBC programmes can be downloaded and watched offline later.

Ariel Castro, the man who held three women as sex slaves for a decade in his home in Cleveland, Ohio, has been found dead in his prison cell in an apparent suicide. He had served just four months of his sentence of life plus 1000 years.

For the second time this year, a prominent Muslim sportsman has objected to the sponsor of his team’s shirt for religious reasons. Fawaz Ahmed, a naturalised Australian cricketer, has been given permission by the governing body and the sponsor (a brewery) to wear a shirt without the brewer’s logo.

A lesbian couple claim a Church of England vicar refused to baptise their baby after they both insisted on being registered as the mother. The vicar allegedly said the church baptism register would not allow it, and he suggested one be registered as the mother while the other be put down as the godmother instead. “I'm baptised Church of England” said one woman ,”and my partner is a Catholic. We want him to be brought up the same as we were.”

Andy Murray has continued his post-Wimbledon slump by losing the quarter final of the US Open to Stanislas Wawrinka. Murray completed the match without achieving any break points.

And finally, a stork was briefly arrested in Egypt when its migration tag was mistaken for a spying device. The idea of using animals for spying is not as far-fetched as it sounds; during the Cold War, the CIA launched Operation Acoustic Kitty in which a cat, implanted with listening devices, was released near the Soviet embassy. Unfortunately, the cat was run over by a car after just one day.

Not The BBC News: 3 September 2013

A couple of Californian youth pastors have taken the concept of an Internet church to a new audience by setting up XXXChurch, which is designed to be found by people searching for pornography online.  Their website offers testimonies and confessions from current and former porn users, and a downloadable “accountability app” called X3Watch which sends periodic reports of the user’s browsing history to a chosen individual. The church’s ‘edgy’ approach has drawn criticism from some quarters, but in the church’s eleven years of existence, the app has been downloaded over a million times.

A multiple shooting at a school in Georgia, USA was averted because the school bookkeeper, who the gunman took hostage, talked him into putting down his weapons. The gunman had an AK-47, admitted he hadn’t been taking his psychiatric medication, and claimed to have nothing to live for. But after phoning 911, the bookkeeper talked to him about her divorce and disabled son, and about how she tried to commit suicide when her husband left her, all the while telling him "I love you. I'm proud of you. We all go through something in life. You're gonna be OK.” Eventually, while keeping police at a distance, she persuaded him to give up his weapons, lie on the floor and give himself up.

The Huddersfield Giants won rugby league’s Super League for the first time since 1932.

In a village in northern India, a mob of around 1000 people destroyed a nearly-constructed Christian church and violently attacked the pastor and other believers. The mob’s actions included lifting and throwing down a one-ton iron grid that had been placed on the roof to aid construction. The village has a long history of anti-Christian opposition.

A pastor from Norwich who e-mailed two Christian tracts to gay rights activists, one entitled ‘Christ Can Cure – Good News for Gays’; and the other ‘Jesus Christ – the Saviour we all need’, has been referred to the Crown Prosecution Service to see if he will be charged with a crime following complaints by the recipients. He says that he sent the e-mails “to report to the gay-pride people our Christian complaint against the public display of their homosexual propaganda, which we find offensive.” However, no police action has been taken on the basis of his complaints.

Several Premier League football transfers were completed on the last day of the transfer window. Arsenal bought German World Cup winner Mesut Őzil from Real Madrid, top of the table Liverpool signed three players including one called Victor, Manchester United bought an attacking midfielder from Everton and loaned a left back from Real Madrid, and Stephen Ireland roved to his fourth Premier League team, Stoke City. The strangest incident, however, came in Spain where a group of men appeared on behalf of Manchester United to negotiate for an Atletico Madrid player, only for it to be revealed that they were impostors who had no connection with the club.

The British public are being urged to contact their MPs to protest that current abortion laws discriminate against disabled babies, following a Parliamentary inquiry which concluded that the laws are indeed discriminatory.

And finally, the trend for building architecturally unusual tower blocks in London has had an unexpected side effect. The glass-fronted tower block at 20 Fenchurch Street, known as the “Walkie Talkie” from the way it bulges outwards as its height increases, has been accused of reflecting the sun so intensely that it has melted plastic bottles and damaged bodywork on cars parked on the street below. Three parking bays have been suspended while investigations are carried out.