Not The BBC News: 27 November 2013

The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom has today dismissed an appeal by the Christian owners of a bed and breakfast in Cornwall against their conviction and fine for refusing a bed to a gay couple (in a civil partnership) because they had a “married couples only” policy. The Court’s key reasons were that it is in the public interest to encourage long-term stable relationships; the Equalites and Sexual Orientation Act makes it illegal to discriminate between homosexual and heterosexual relationships; the Equalities Act has a “carefully tailored” exception for religious organisations, which does not apply to a bed and breakfast establishment; and while the Equalities Act does interfere with the human right to freedom of conscience, this is seen as a “proportional means of achieving a legitimate aim: the protection of the rights and freedoms of [homosexual couples].” A Christian spokesman said, "“Parliament needs to reform these one-sided laws to allow a more reasonable approach which balances competing rights. Otherwise, Christianity will become the belief that dare not speak its name.”

A head teacher at a school in south Staffordshire sent a letter to parents last week explaining that a field trip to a workshop on Islam was mandatory. She added, “Refusal to allow your child to attend this trip will result in a Racial Discrimination note being attached to your child’s education record, which will remain on this file throughout their school career.” The local MP described the letter as “unfair, heavy-handed and slightly bonkers”; the Council said it has “strongly advised” the head teacher to reassure parents about their right to withdraw children from religious activities; and the head has now apologised for “inaccuracies” in the letter, and told parents to “disregard” a section of it.

A US pro-choice advocacy group has just completed a “week of action” aimed at shutting down pro-life crisis pregnancy centres. They asked supporters to contradict pro-life claims about the health risks of abortion procedures (to the mother) on Twitter or Tumblr, and to post fake negative reviews of pro-life centres on Yelp – despite the fact that “astroturfing” (posting fake reviews  purely to cause someone a gain or a loss) is illegal in some US states, and New York recently fined 19 offenders a total of $350,000 for such actions. (It’s also illegal in the UK under the Fraud Act 2006).

The American Humanist Association sent a letter to a school threatening legal action, saying the collection by school children of Christmas gifts for disadvantaged children was a breach of the separation of church and state. The gift collection was organized by a  Christian charity which subsequently added a gospel message to each gift before distributing them. The school consequently banned the collection, but students and parents vowed to carry on with the gift appeal outside the school gates.

China has decided to relax its one-child policy; the former rules only permitted couples to have two children if both parents were an only child, while the new rules only require one parent is an only child. This policy has been responsible for the largest number of state-enforced abortions by any country. One reason for the policy being relaxed is that many abortions have been sex-selective, resulting in China having roughly 13 men for every 10 women.

In sport, Australia thrashed Fiji 64-0 in the Rugby League World Cup semi-final. New Zealand narrowly beat England in the other semi-final, scoring the winning try in the penultimate minute. New Zealand’s rugby union team left it even later to beat Ireland in a tour match, scoring their decisive try in injury time. The All Blacks have thus set a new record as the first ever national team to win all their Test matches in a calendar year.

Also in sport, Sebastian Vettel won the Brazil Grand Prix for a record-equalling ninth consecutive Grand Prix victory.

And finally, the Russian Winter Olympics committee has come up with a  novel idea to advertise the importance of sport for everyone. They have installed a ticket machine at a Moscow underground station which grants users a free ticket if they complete 30 squats inside 2 minutes. A video can be seen here.