The BBC has been accused of withholding information about
(and failing to verify) a murder confession, in order to screen a television
programme that was supportive of assisted suicide at the time of maximum impact.
Ray Gosling confessed to BBC work colleagues in autumn 2009 that he had
smothered his gay lover with a pillow because the lover was suffering from AIDS
and was in “terrible, terrible pain.” Instead of reporting this to police, the
BBC included the confession in a (pre-recorded) episode of the programme
‘Inside Out’. It was broadcast in February 2010, just one week before the
Director of Public Prosecutions published his policy for prosecuting cases of
euthanasia. Furthermore, it later transpired that Gosling’s confession was
entirely false (Gosling was out of the country when the man died), and Gosling
was recently given a 90-day suspended prison sentence for wasting police time.
The Marriage and Civil Partnerships Bill (Scotland) has
passed the first of three votes in the Scottish Parliament, despite concerns
that it provides insufficient protections for freedom of speech for those who
oppose the Bill, and despite the results of the Scottish Government’s public
consultation on the issue (which produced a record response, 2/3 of whom were opposed
to gay marriage). MSPs were given a free vote on the issue, and supported the
Bill by 98-15.
The Supreme Court of India is to give an opinion on whether
yoga is a religious activity. Yoga has roots in Hindu worship, but modern yoga
is split into different varieties; some place no emphasis at all on spiritual
aspects. Last month, a petition was presented to the court to make yoga compulsory
in schools for health reasons. However, Indian state schools are officially secular. The
court said it was uncomfortable with the idea, and will gather the views of
minority groups in the coming weeks.
A pastor from the state-sanctioned Three Self Church in
Nanle, Henan, China has been arrested without warrant after attending talks
with local officials, along with about 20 workers from the church. Others who
protested at the arrest outside a police station were reportedly beaten. It has
been suggested by some that the pastor upset the local government because he had been elected to be a leader in the
Three Self movement, and because of his much-respected community activities;
others see it as a message from central government that complete religious
freedom is not permitted in China. The pastor’s current location is unknown.
A British man who belonged to the “Jews for Jesus” charity
recently visited Israel on a tourist visa, where he was arrested by immigration
officials while holding a large banner saying “Yeshua”. He was questioned for four hours in the
immigration centre and then jailed. Tourist visas prohibit the holder from
working in Israel but carry no other restrictions on activities.
In sport, Sebastian Vettel won his eighth consecutive
Formula 1 race at the weekend, setting a new record for consecutive wins in a
single season. The record for consecutive wins across multiple seasons is nine,
and Vettel has one race left this season, in Brazil in early December.
And finally, the World Cup victory by France over Ukraine
was so unexpected in France that several public figures who had placed unusual
bets against France winning had to perform their forfeits this week. A news presenter presented his report in
English, while “dressed as an Englishman” (brown and yellow checked jacket over
a blue cardigan with a floral tie); a producer of pornographic films made all
his films free to download for the entire night (his website crashed); a national radio host jumped into a bath in
the studio with another presenter; and one MP went to the National Assembly in
flip-flops, another in a French football jersey. But the greatest interest
surrounded a female weather reporter who had promised to present the weather “à
poil” (i.e. naked) if the French team qualified. At first, she appeared to be
trying to escape the bet by presenting the weather report “à Poil” (i.e. in the
village of Poil); but she was pictured at the end of the report racing across
the local fields wearing nothing but her boots.
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