Monday, 12 May 2014

Not The BBC News: 12 May 2014

The Scottish National Health Service has been criticised for campaigning against allowing parents to withdraw their children from teaching about gay marriage. NHS chiefs argued that children should be allowed to overrule their parents on being withdrawn from sex education lessons, and also protested against the guidance recommending pupils learn about “the values of a stable and loving family life”, arguing this was insensitive to those youngsters who did not grow up in such an environment. Scotland For Marriage has urged Government ministers not to water down protections that were promised before the legislation was passed, and has called the NHS’ actions “a highly political intervention which is wholly inappropriate for publicly funded bodies.”

A woman on London had an abortion after a “witch doctor” persuaded her that the baby was deformed and evil. The woman had gone to the “witch doctor”, and paid her repeatedly, because she was desperate to conceive a baby. The information was presented as evidence in the trial of the “witch doctor”, who is accused of pretending to be a shaman and obtaining money by deception. Pro-life campaigners are concerned that Marie Stopes’ clinic agreed to carry out an abortion for such a reason.

A BBC presenter was asked to resign by his bosses because he played the original version of “The Sun Has Got His Hat On,” without realising that it twice used the word ‘nigger’. Someone complained, and the BBC Radio Devon DJ, who had 32 years’ experience at the corporation, offered to apologise on air or to resign. He was first told to say nothing about it, but was later asked to resign. A public outcry led to the BBC announcing he would be offered reinstatement, but he says the stress of the incident has aggravated an existing disability and he will no longer work for the BBC. There was another incident recently where the BBC presenter Jeremy Clarkson was forced to apologise profusely for using the same word in the rhyme “Eeny meeny miny mo” when selecting a car.

One of the MPs who has called for doctors who pre-signed abortion permits to be prosecuted has publicly warned the Crown Prosecution Service against using a ‘preposterous’ loophole in the law to avoid doing so. The loophole was used when two doctors were previously brought to the attention of the CPS for potential prosecution over this issue; the CPS decided not to charge them because, it said, “the doctors had not signed the forms ‘in good faith’ because they might still have discussed the individual cases later on.”

The Church of Scotland has invited leaders from all sides of the referendum campaign to a church service of reconciliation and healing, three days after the referendum is held. The Moderator Designate said that there was a danger that the referendum would set people against each other; the service, to be held in the High Kirk of St Giles in Edinburgh, would highlight the need to put differences aside and begin working with each other.

Another (loosely) Christian film has been released in the USA. Mom’s Night Out, starring Sean Astin and Sarah Drew, is a family friendly comedy that was released in time for Mothers’ Day in the USA. The plot centres around mothers who go for a much-needed night out, leaving their husbands to look after the children; what could possibly go wrong?

In sport, England have announced their squad for the forthcoming World Cup in Brazil. The manager has opted for youth over experience, with Luke Shaw (18), Raheem Sterling (19) and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (20) in the squad, and Ashley Cole (33) and Michael Carrick (32) left out. Also in sport, Lewis Hamilton won his fourth successive Grand Prix in Barcelona on Sunday. He looks likely to be just as boringly successful this season as Sebastian Vettel was last season.

And finally, a box of letters from wartime France has been discovered in the BBC archives. One letter describes how, in the town of Saverne in Alsace, a huge swastika flag hoisted above the castle ruins was replaced one night by a French tricolour. The act of defiance was completed by entwining the flagpole with barbed wire and removing the ironwork used for climbing the tower. The following morning saw the townsfolk entertained by the Wehrmacht trying to shoot the flag down with a machine gun.

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