Feba Zimbabwe

Professor Andrew Linzey, an Oxford theologian and one of the world’s leading ethicists on animal issues, is to receive an award from the RSPCA.

Professor Andrew Linzey, an Oxford theologian and one of the world’s leading ethicists on animal issues, is to receive an award from the RSPCA.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (http://www.rspca.org.uk/) is a charity in England and Wales which promotes animal welfare. Last year it investigated 141,280 cruelty complaints, and collected and rescued 135,293 animals.

The RSPCA will give the Lord Erskine Award to Professor Linzey at a special ceremony to be held at its headquarters in Horsham, West Sussex, on Saturday 11 September 2010.

Professor Linzey is the founder and the Director of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics and a member of the Faculty of Theology in the University of Oxford.

This is the first time that the award has been given to a theologian.

Professor Linzey responded: “This is a tremendous affirmation of the work we have been doing at the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. I am happy to accept this award on behalf of all the fellows of the Centre who are pioneering ethical perspectives on animals.”

Linzey has written or edited more than 20 books including Animal Theology (1994), Animal Gospel (1999), Creatures of the Same God (2004), and The Link Between Animal Abuse and Human Violence (2009).

His latest book, Why Animal Suffering Matters published by Oxford University Press in 2009 has been described by Christopher Libby, writing in the Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture as “a paradigmatic example of how practical ethics ought to be done”.

The award recipient is also Honorary Professor at the University of Winchester, and Special Professor at Saint Xavier University, Chicago. In addition, he is the first Henry Bergh Professor of Animal Ethics at the Graduate Theological Foundation, Indiana.

The latter post is named after Henry Bergh, the founder of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) and a pioneer in animal protection.

The RSPCA’s award is named after Lord Erskine (1750–1823) who pioneered the first anti-cruelty legislation in the United Kingdom. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (as it then was) was founded a year after his death in 1824.

The Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics was founded in 2006. It aims to pioneer ethical perspectives on animals through academic research, teaching and publication. The Centre has more than 50 Fellows drawn from a variety of academic disciplines from throughout the world.

See: www.oxfordanimalethics.com

Land rights in Brazil have fuelled conflict at every level within the country for more than 500 years, writes Pascale Palmer, exploring the issues that lie behind Brazil’s “agricultural miracle” and the struggle to feed the planet in the face of both need and greed.

In last week’s Economist, an article on Brazil’s “agricultural miracle” expounded the virtues of the emerging economy volte face from net importer of food to a model that challenges the dominance of the “big five” food exporters (America, Australia, Argentina, Canada and the EU). The piece went on to argue that the Brazilian embrace of genetically modified plants and farm sizes that put America’s plains states to shame, are the key to this success story.

It is also working on an economic level. Without huge state subsidies, Brazil, in just forty years, has become the first tropical agricultural giant. But what the article overlooks is that this “magnificent” productivity comes at a very high price.

About 30 million Brazilians live in rural areas, that is approximately 16 per cent of the population. Half of Brazil’s farms measure 10 hectares or fewer, taking up approximately two per cent of the land area, while 44 per cent of the country is owned by just one per cent of farmers, working more than 1,000 hectares each.

In Brazil, there are single farms as large as Wales. These agribusinesses employ just 26 per cent of farm workers. Small farms employ the rest.

Land rights in Brazil have fuelled conflict at every level within the country for more than 500 years, and the recent massive expansion in industrial scale agriculture to feed international market demands feels very much like the final and systematic charge towards the eradication of all dissenters. These dissenters and protesters, calling for the freedom to farm and live on their own portion of earth, are almost always the least well-off, the poorest and marginalised, and above all the indigenous peoples of Brazil.

These are the people who are pushed away from their land to make way for this so called development. In one fell swoop they can lose their livelihoods, ways of life and sacred grounds, and can no longer support themselves, their families and communities. What must not be forgotten is that 70 per cent of Brazil’s own food comes from its small farmers; the superfarm crops are grown specifically for export. This means that as Brazil loses small farmers, so food insecurity increases and food sovereignty decreases.

Of course, the environmental consequences of industrial scale farming are profound. The Economist argues that the majority of this farming revolution has taken place in the formerly barren area of the cerrado, hundreds of miles from the Amazon rainforests. But Brazil isn’t a cartoon map of distinct areas surrounded by halos of inhibition - one area seeps and leaches into another, so that the borderlands between scrub and forest are constantly eroded in favour of the superfarms.

It is no coincidence that the biggest soya-producing state, Mato Grosso, also has the highest levels of Amazon deforestation. For years, the Brazilian government has sold off portion after portion of land to large-scale farmers who then often invest in non-food agrofuel crops, creating monocultures that destroy biodiversity and depend on high levels of chemical fertilisers for productivity.

Recent research into pesticide contamination in Mato Grosso found pesticide residue in the blood and urine of several communities. Well water and rainwater were also found to be contaminated, while 11 per cent of air samples contained residues of toxic chemicals.

In an interview with the BBC, leader of the Manoki indigenous tribe, native to Mato Grosso, Alonso Iravali, said: “They’re chopping down everything. They’re destroying our forests, polluting our rivers with chemicals, and depriving us of the natural remedies that our people rely on.”

This severe and worsening inequality of land ownership, with its concomitant environmental and human destruction, is being brought into sharp focus this week as a plebiscite closes on the limitation of land ownership in the country. The plebiscite calls for a new clause in the Constitution to limit the maximum area of land owned by one individual - anything above the stipulated size would be considered public property.

This mass mobilisation, organised by the Brazilian National Forum for Agrarian Reform, and backed by rural movements, trade unions, educational institutes, and the Brazilian Bishops Conference, is an attempt to highlight the issue of unfair land access and ownership, and put pressure on the government to guarantee land ownership to all Brazilians who make their living from the earth.

The Economist calls Brazil’s response to the global need for more food and more agrofuels a model with “decisive boldness”, while branding those like the Brazilian National Forum for Agrarian Reform and its supporters worldwide, “agro-pessimists”.

Voicing concern over an aggressive agricultural policy that can damage the environment and displace thousands of rural workers and indigenous communities, is not pessimism - it is the manifestation of the polar opposite. This plebiscite, which closes on 7 September 2020, shows that hundreds of thousands of people feel there is a solution-led alternative to the steamrollering of big business and greedy government across swathes of land and lives. At the very least this is motivated by the belief in good sense. To me, it looks a lot like action fuelled by passionate optimism.

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© Pascale Palmer is media advocacy adviser for CAFOD, the Catholic Fund for Overseas Development, in Britain. www.cafod.org.uk/

If you've ever campaigned for political change you've probably had someone tell you to “live in the real world”. But witnessing to the truth that Jesus taught involves acting in accordance with the realities our society denies.

If you've ever campaigned for political change you've probably had someone tell you to “live in the real world”. People say it to me all the time, meaning I should accept the world as it is and not try to change anything.

It is arrogant, as well as absurd, to look at society in our own place, time and culture and say that only this is “real”. Supporters of capitalism tell me I am unrealistic in wanting a different economic system. But the banking crisis of 2008 was caused by the unrealistic lending of bankers who seemed to live in a fantasy world of endless money. “Real world” enthusiasts say that nonviolence “doesn't work”. They then defend violence, which has been spectacularly not working for centuries.

As Christians, we are called to a vision of the Kingdom of God which is mindbendingly eternal and yet thoroughly grounded in the challenges of everyday life. Jesus' teachings are realistic. They are radical and – to put it mildly – not always easy to follow. But they are realistic.

Jesus has been a profound embarrassment to Christianity. The later portions of the New Testament reveal a gradual move away from the radicalism of a messiah who socialised with outcasts and denounced the powerful. Slavery and sexism are justified in Ephesians and 1st Timothy (which carry Paul's name, although most scholars believe he didn't write them). In the fourth century, the Roman Empire domesticated Christianity, beginning centuries of Christendom in which the church was allied with political and cultural power. Arguments appeared to excuse Christians from following the Sermon on the Mount – it was claimed that Jesus' ethical teachings apply only to priests, that they relate to private life but not politics or that Jesus deliberately gave instructions we could not live up to as a way of showing our sinfulness.

As Christendom fades in our multifaith society, we have a great opportunity to look again at Jesus, without being so compromised by wealth and power. This does not mean Jesus' teachings are straightforward or easy. We have to wrestle with them thoughtfully and prayerfully.

Take Jesus' teaching, “If anyone hits you on the right cheek, turn the other also” (Matthew 5,39).

Outrageously, victims of domestic abuse have been told to endure it on the grounds of this passage. Slaves were taught to accept beatings because of it. At the same time, Christian politicians have justified war by saying that Jesus was speaking about private relations, not political ones. These interpretations condone oppression while encouraging its victims to accept it.

If I thought that Jesus had taught such things, I would never follow him.

But who was Jesus speaking to? To hit someone on the right cheek (with the right hand) requires a backhanded slap. Backhanding in Jesus' time was the way people disciplined supposed inferiors. Slaves were backhanded by their “owners”, wives by husbands and Jewish civilians by Roman soldiers. When backhanded, these people could cower in submission, perhaps eventually hating themselves as well as their oppressors. Or they could resort to violence. Instead, Jesus encourages people to assert their dignity and equality by calmly facing the aggressor and making clear that the attempt to humiliate them has failed.

The message of Jesus does not conform to our society's expectations. We are used to a choice between violence and passivity, yet Jesus promotes a third option of nonviolent resistance. We are familiar with hero-worship, but Christ says that the greatest among us will be our servants. In a world that says we must be “successful”, Jesus calls us to leave behind the self that is defined in terms of a hierarchical system, so that we might find our real self fulfilled in God's kingdom.

Witnessing to truth involves acting in accordance with the realities our society denies. If we treat all people as our equals, we testify to the truth of human equality. When we manage to live nonviolently, we demonstrate the truth that nonviolence can work. Acts of repentance and forgiveness witness to the possibility of meaningful change, in people and in the world.

These truths are far more real than a reliance on violence, the worship of markets and the ephemeral moral preferences of our own culture. As Christians, we have no choice but to stand against society's priorities and seek God's help as we work for change. This is because the dominant values around are not only morally abhorrent but also contrary to the reality to which Jesus calls us. And I for one want to live in the real world.

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© Symon Hill is associate director of Ekklesia. This article was orginally published in the autumn 2010 issue of Movement magazine, for which Symon writes a regular column. See http://www.movement.org.uk/movement-magazine.

Kate O'Sullivan, a customer at Tony Blair's book signing in Dublin, attempted to make a citizen's arrest for war crimes in relation to the invasion of Iraq.

A customer at Tony Blair's book signing in Dublin yesterday (4 September) attempted to arrest him for war crimes. Kate O'Sullivan told the UK's former Prime Minister that she was making a citizen's arrest over his role in the invasion of Iraq.

O'Sullivan, 24, who lives in Cork, was then forcibly removed from the room. She is reported to have been detained by police for twenty minutes before being removed from Eason's bookshop in Dublin's O'Connell Street.

This is thought to be the third attempt to make a citizen's arrest of Tony Blair since he left office in 2007.

"I queued up and went in," explained O'Sullivan, "We were given a copy of the book and we paid for it. We went through a metal detector and were led up to the third floor. We were brought in four at a time.”

She said 'Mr Blair, I'm here to make a citizen's arrest for the war crimes that you've committed'. She says that Blair looked taken aback and that she was then dragged away by five security personnel.

Around 200 people protested against Tony Blair as he signed his book, A Journey, which was released last week. The majority of the protesters were peaceful, although a minority were supporters of the Continuity IRA. Eggs and shoes were thrown but did not hit Blair. The police arrested four people.

As UK Prime Minister in 2003, Tony Blair launched an invasion of Iraq along with US President George Bush.

Their critics say that they broke international law because no approval was given by the United Nations and claims that the Iraqi regime owned weapons of mass destruction were found to be inaccurate. Blair's criticisms of the oppressive nature of the Iraqi regime were undermined by his friendship with other dictatorships, notably the government of Saudi Arabia.

In July, the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg described the invasion of Iraq as “illegal” while standing in for David Cameron at Prime Minister's Questions. He later said that he was expressing a “personal” view rather than a government opinion, although the Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, appeared to be nodding as he spoke.

Further protests are expected on Wednesday (8 September), when Blair will sign copies of his book at Waterstone's bookshop in Piccadilly, London.

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Amnesty International has welcomed the police action leading to the rescue of a number of suspected victims of trafficking, after raids on Belfast brothels.

Amnesty International has welcomed the police action that has led to the rescue of a number of suspected victims of trafficking, after raids on a number of Belfast brothels.

Amnesty International's Northern Ireland Programme Director, Patrick Corrigan, said:

"We hope these women can be properly identified as trafficking victims and receive the support, temporary accommodation and medical attention they may need.

“Based on recent cases, though, there’s a risk that they could instead be treated not as victims but as illegal immigrants, and could even end up being forcibly removed from the country, perhaps going straight back into the hands of the traffickers.

"The police should be commended for helping to free women from this modern-day slavery, but there needs to be for more effort made to crack the trafficking gangs and bring criminals to justice.

"According to figures we published in June, between April 2009 and April 2010 a total of 25 people were identified as presumed trafficked persons in Northern Ireland, yet there hasn’t been a single successful trafficking prosecution as a result.

"We need better implementation of the European Convention against Trafficking - only then will it be possible to treat victims of trafficking compassionately, and properly prosecute the criminals behind this horrible human rights abuse", he concluded.

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A bid to reverse the coalition government’s refusal to abolish the Act of Settlement has been mounted by an SNP MP ahead of the Pope's visit.

A bid to reverse the coalition government’s refusal to include abolition of the Act of Settlement within the Freedom (Great Repeal) Bill has been mounted by an SNP MP ahead of the visit by Pope Benedict XVI later this month.

The Scottish Nationalist MP for the Western Isles, Angus MacNeil, rounded on the Deputy Prime Minister after receiving a parliamentary answer advising that the coalition had no plans to end the discriminatory rules of succession.

Now, by building on the public consultation over the Freedom Bill, which was launched by Deputy Prime Minister and appealed for nomination of “laws you would like to remove or change because they restrict your civil liberties”, Mr MacNeil hopes that the government can be made to think again.

Mr MacNeil declared: “The Act of Settlement represents clear institutional discrimination against millions of our fellow citizens, and the coalition government’s refusal to consider its repeal is lamentable.

He continued: “Nick Clegg has lauded the Freedom Bill, and fancies himself as a great reformer, but his words are not matched by actions or even intentions. There is no better example of an outdated law that should be removed from the statute book and, with Pope Benedict visiting in juts a few weeks, we need to put this on the agenda.

“This is an issue of cross-party and cross-faith concern. The Act is state sectarianism and has no place in a modern society.

“The Scottish Parliament, Scottish Government and Catholic church in Scotland have long called for this institutional discrimination to come to an end to send a signal to society as a whole that religious discrimination of any kind and at any level is unacceptable.

“Changing the Act of Settlement allows us to deal with a fundamental issue of discrimination; it enables us to state clearly that discrimination is unacceptable and will not be tolerated in a modern country.

“The UK Government must act to bring forward real reforms and end institutional discrimination however high up it is,” concluded the MP.

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A group of Catholic bishops have lead a "green pilgrimage" reflecting a theme chosen by Pope Benedict XVI for the 2010 World Day of Peace.

The financial and economic crisis experienced by many societies could bring about a powerful change to "sustainable environmental development", says Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos I of Constantinople.

Istanbul-based Bartholomeos was marking the Day for Creation, 1 September, as a group of Roman Catholic bishops were leading a "green" pilgrimage reflecting a theme chosen by Pope Benedict XVI for the 2010 World Day of Peace: "If you want to cultivate peace, protect creation."

Hungarian Cardinal Peter Erd, the archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest and president of the Council of European Bishops' Conferences (CCEE), began the pilgrimage at the Esztergom Basilica on 1 September 2010 in its trek through three countries in the heart of the continent, Hungary, Slovakia and Austria. It ends on 5 September.

"Concern for creation has always been part of the bishops' conference's work," said CCEE's General Secretary, the Rev Duarte da Cunha.

In his statement, the Ecumenical Patriarch, considered one of the world's most influential Orthodox leaders said, "It is important to note that the current grievous financial crisis may spark the much-reported and absolutely essential shift to environmentally viable development … and not unbridled financial gain."

He noted, "If ecosystems deteriorate and disappear, natural sources become depleted, and landscapes suffer destruction, and climate change produces unpredictable weather conditions, on what basis will the financial future of these countries and the planet as a whole depend?"

The statement by Bartholomeos follows in the tradition of his predecessor as Ecumenical Patriarch, Demitrios I, who proclaimed 1 September, the first day of the Orthodox church year, as a day of prayer for the environment

The same date is now known to many Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant Christians as the beginning of the Time for Creation, as 40 days during which churches and congregations are called to pay special attention to the human responsibility for the earth.

In 2010, the Geneva-based World Council of Churches has proposed to extend the Time for Creation until 10 October, so as to join a global civil society movement (www.350.org) that is celebrating climate solutions around the world on that date.

Catholic bishops' pilgrimage: www.ccee.ch/index.php?&na=4,1,0,0,e,125193,0,0,

Ecumenical Patriarch: www.ec-patr.org/docdisplay.php?lang=en&id=1223&tla=en

World Council of Churches: www.oikoumene.org/

[With acknowledgements to ENI. Ecumenical News International is jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the Conference of European Churches.]

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The Anglican Archbishop of York has said that the government is not responding effectively to new pan-European attempts to tackle sex trafficking.

The Anglican Archbishop of York has said that the government is not responding effectively to new pan-European attempts to tackle sex trafficking.

Describing the practice of forcing women and children into prostitution as “modern-day slavery”, Dr John Sentamu said he was "shocked" that the UK coalition government of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats had opted out of a European Union directive aimed at encouraging nations to join forces against the trade.

He called on the Government to rethink its “seriously flawed” position and “make the UK a more hostile environment for traffickers”.

“This is women being exploited, degraded and subjected to horrific risks solely for the gratification and economic greed of others," said the Archbishop, who is number two in the Church of England,

“I am stunned to learn the Government are opting out of an EU directive designed to tackle sex trafficking," he continued. “This seems to be a common-sense directive designed to co-ordinate European efforts to combat the trade in sex slaves. What we need are tough cross-border solutions to international problems."

“We need to join with our European brothers and sisters and put an end to this evil trade," concluded Dr Sentamu.

According to the International Labour Organisation, 43 per cent of the 2.45 million individuals across the world currently being trafficked are forced into the sex trade, most of them women or young girls.

“Britain should get involved now and be part of improving the situation, not sitting on the sidelines offering wise words once the match is over,” the Archbishop declared.

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Germany is remembering the "father of Protestant media" on the centenary of his birth and paying tribute to his strong belief in journalistic independence.

Germany is remembering the man known as the "father of Protestant media" on the centenary of his birth and paying tribute to his unswerving belief in the need for journalistic independence write Peter Kenny and Stephen Brown.

Born on 1 September 1910, Robert Geisendörfer was appointed director of the Bavarian Protestant Press Association in 1947. His task was to rebuild church media work after the Nazi dictatorship of Adolf Hitler and the Second World War.

A tribute published on the OVB online news site (http://ovb-online.de) recalled his motto: "The task of Protestant journalism is to make something public, practise advocacy, demonstrate compassion, and be a voice for the voiceless."

After his stint at the Bavarian press association, Geisendörfer became the broadcasting commissioner of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), the country's main Protestant umbrella. Later he was director of the Protestant Press Association of Germany, then responsible for the German Protestant news agency, the Evangelischer Pressedienst (epd).

Geisendörfer went on to found the Frankfurt-based Association for Protestant Media (GEP) as a centre for German Protestant communications work. This took over responsibility for epd, Germany's oldest news agency, founded in the year of Geisendörfer's birth.

At the time there were concerns that epd's journalistic independence might be affected by being part of GEP, but these were quickly dissipated.

Instead there were protests from some church officials against EKD subsidies for epd's independent journalism as set down in its charter. Such church officials believed that epd should only report on what was "beneficial" to the church.

A tribute published by epd recalled Geisendörfer's belief that Protestant journalism could exercise its role only in journalistic freedom.

"Geisendörfer doggedly and unflinchingly stood up for such freedom against the demands of the leadership of the church," the tribute recalled of Geisendörfer, who died in 1976 aged 65.

Earlier in 2010, epd marked its own 100th anniversary, with a celebration in Berlin at which the keynote speaker was Chancellor Angela Merkel, who grew up in a church milieu due to her father being a Lutheran pastor in the former East Germany.

In front of 300 guests from Church, media, politics and society, Merkel praised the role of epd as an important sentinel helping to ensure that "political and social institutions are controlled, criticised, and made transparent".

In her speech at the 3 February ceremony, Merkel noted it is not always comfortable for churches or their leaders to read news about them that is critical.

"Which pastor or bishop likes to read about certain drawbacks or deficiencies they may have? This may be a normal situation for politicians, but in church institutions, respect and dignity is maybe still understood differently," said Merkel. "In this regard one can certainly expect a tense relationship with the churches."

Still, Bishop Ulrich Fischer, who heads the EKD's media committee, said in his congratulations to the agency, "Sometimes news from epd is uncomfortable, even for a bishop. But in the final analysis, such critical support also helps one to get one's own statements right."

The agency now reaches about two-thirds of the daily newspapers in Germany. It says it serves a combined total of 37 million readers, as well as public broadcasters and online clients.

Eight regional services are linked with each other and to the central editorial office in Frankfurt/Main. More than 80 journalists are employed for epd in more than 30 German towns and cities.

ENInews and epd also have a news exchange agreement and the German agency provides text and photos for the areas of church and religion, media and education, society, social affairs, and development issues.

The Rev Olav Fykse Tveit, the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, a founder member of ENInews, said in an anniversary message, "Without the central and important role played by Church and church-related news agencies such as epd, the voice of the Church in society cannot be heard."

Tveit noted, "That this voice is able to be heard in a credible and professional fashion is not just a question of using the best tools and structures, but depends crucially on the credibility and competence of staff and management."

He added, "The independent and critical position of epd thereby corresponds to the essential criteria for the task of news agencies in democratic societies."

[With acknowledgements to ENI. Ecumenical News International is jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the Conference of European Churches.]

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Christian International education charity Feed the Minds (FTM) has announced the launch of a new initiative to mark International Literacy Day.

The Christian international education charity, Feed the Minds (FTM) has announced the launch of a new initiative to mark International Literacy Day on 8 September 2010. They aim to raise money to support international literacy and education projects.

The Lunches for Life campaign asks supporters to host a lunch for friends, families, colleagues or schoolmates, who are invited to make a contribution to their meal. The funds will be put towards FTM’s Education for Change programme, which helps vulnerable and disadvantaged people across the developing world.

FTM says that “scores of fundraisers” are already signed up to the initiative, with events scheduled across the UK, including Perth, Salisbury, Norfolk, York and London.

As part of the campaign launch, one of the beneficiaries of a Feed the Minds literacy programme will be visiting the UK to officially endorse the initiative. 35-year-old Sierra Leonean Josephine Sifoe is a victim of the vicious civil war in her country.

Sifoe has experienced profound personal tragedy and until three years ago was illiterate. Thanks to a FTM literacy and education programme, she can now read and write, is numerate and as a result has been able to turn her life and the life of her family around.

“As well as feeding friends and family, Lunches for Life will help feed the minds of marginalised people from across the globe,” said FTM’s Adam Sach.

FTM have launched a dedicated website for the Lunches for Life initiative, providing a range of fundraising resources designed to support anyone considering getting involved. They describe it as “packed full of tips, recipes, downloadable invitations and posters”.

Sach added, “We hope that this new scheme will become an annual event and will enable us to deliver more education projects, while also raising awareness of how education can make a world of difference.”

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With cuts in civil legal aid due to hit asylum seekers and other vulnerable groups, the Methodist Church has urged the government to rethink.

With cuts in civil legal aid due to hit asylum seekers and other vulnerable groups, the Methodist Church has urged the government to rethink.

Last week the Legal Services Commission announced it is to reduce the number of firms able to offer social, welfare and family legal aid from about 2,400 to 1,300, in a move condemned by the Refugee Council and other welfare groups.

Methodist spokesperson Rachel Lampard, who is Leader and Policy Adviser for the Joint Public Issues Team of the Methodist Church, the United Reformed Church and the Baptists, commented: "Cutting the legal aid budget puts already vulnerable people at greater risk of being returned to dangerous situations."

She continued: "We recognise that the Government wants to make budget savings in this area, but this should only be done once we are confident that people will not be denied justice as a result. The quality of initial decision-making in asylum cases must first be improved – it is estimated that as many as a quarter of initial decisions are currently overturned on appeal."

"Sound and timely legal representation is vital if correct decisions are to be made in the first place, and incorrect decisions overturned. People who have few resources of their own must be able to access legal aid to ensure that they receive justice," concluded Lampard.

Meanwhile, the Refugee Council's CEO, Donna Covey said: "Slashing funding for legal aid and restricting the number of law firms that can provide it means asylum-seekers will either be forced to pay for legal services themselves or, more likely, to go without."

She continued: "This will result in people who deserve protection here being wrongly refused asylum and returned to countries where their lives are in danger. This is unacceptable.

"People who have fled human rights abuses and are now seeking safety in our country must have legal representation to ensure they are given a fair hearing and can be recognised as genuine refugees. As asylum-seekers are not allowed to work, they have no choice but to rely on publicly funded legal advice," declared Ms Covey.

Desmond Hudson, CEO of the Law Society, the official body for solicitors, called on the Legal Services Commission to publish in full the findings of its recent review.

He said: "The fall-out from the recent tendering process will see almost 50 per cent of firms previously doing legal aid work removed in a matter of a few weeks."

"The effect of such a massive reduction in the number of firms is that tens of thousands of clients around England and Wales are likely to be forced to find a new family solicitor all at the same time in October 2010," said Hudson.

"This will impact heavily on families and vulnerable people, preventing them [gaining] access to vital legal services when they need them most. As important, is the glaring evidence that the allocation and distribution of contracts will leave significant problems for access to justice," he concluded.

As part of its cuts in public spending, the Ministry of Justice is looking to axe 25 per cent from its £6 billion a year budget, and legal assistance to vulnerable groups is in the firing line.

Legal aid assists two million people every year in cases ranging from child custody to asylum application. But the bulk of the savings will come from the £900 million a year spent on civil legal aid rather than on criminal cases.

Under a new tendering system, many of the nation's oldest legal aid firms, as well as key specialists, will no longer be able to provide the service to those most in need.

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Voters are weary of spin, contemptuous of the moral deformities of "being on-message" and disillusioned with the journey from managerial "what works" politics to the messianic certainties, says Jill Segger. A different compass is needed in Labour's leadership election and elsewhere in British politics.

During the last few weeks, I have been receiving emails from the Labour leadership candidates. Some of them have sent text messages urging me to text back my voting intentions. These communications have a tendency towards producing a quick, emotional response.

Time to think, not only about the five contenders, but about the very nature of leadership, is essential and Graeme Smith's article Why Labour's next leader should not be a prophet offers plenty of food for thought. So much, in fact, that I found myself subject to a certain amount of confusion, despite his elucidation of the undoubted dangers of certain prophetic qualities.

It is my belief that a good leader must have a vision, even if he or she is not a full-blown visionary - with all the possibilities of lonely obsession and unmoderated zeal which attend that condition. And the bounds of vision and prophecy are divided by very thin partitions. Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech was able to do what no amount of managerial competence or pragmatism - necessary qualities though these are – could ever have achieved.

It is open to question as to whether King was a prophet or an extraordinarily courageous and effective leader. But it is certain that unless vision is subject to alert self-discipline, it may become overblown and grandiose (qualities which are particularly abhorrent to Anglo-Saxons who are suspicious of rhetoric) and is ever in danger of falling in love with its own music to the detriment of engaging those it seeks to inspire. Neil Kinnock, who was capable of passion and eloquence, was derided as "the Welsh Windbag" for that very reason. I suspect that both Lloyd George and Nye Bevan would have met with similar epithets had they lived into our own time.

Voters are weary of spin, contemptuous of the moral deformities of "being on-message" and above all, utterly disillusioned with the journey of Tony Blair from managerial "what works" politics to the messianic certainties of his stance on the Iraq war. Blair has utilised religious belief as both justification and self-exculpation: his proclamation that he would "answer to God" for his actions may well be true. But it is the business of a political leader, particularly a Prime Minister, to answer to the people who elect his party and in whose name he governs.

This is where an overtly confessional approach goes astray and alienates many people of faith and of good faith who rightly demand temporal accountability. "Think it possible that you may be mistaken" we are urged in the Advices and Queries of the Religious Society of Friends. Humility is not the enemy of either conviction or of passion and the conviction politician must retain that awareness if an unaudited sense of their own rightness - and righteousness - is not to lead them into isolation and unreality. Alliances and compromises are likely to be necessary and the man or woman who knows just how far to go in that direction without doing violence to conscience, is likely to be a leader worthy of respect.

Graeme Smith is right to remind us that it is the role of prophets to speak truth to power – to be the grit in the oyster, the gadfly to the conscience - while leaders, exercising power and enacting laws, must offer hope. If "the art of the possible" is to be combined with the moral clarity and vision which is necessary to offer the hope of transforming our profoundly unequal society, a singular integrity will be demanded of the man or woman who would lead the Labour Party from opposition to government.

To clear my mind as to the nature of that integrity, I turned to the Quaker Testimony of Truth. This reminds me that integrity is so much more than refraining from lying. It is to be whole and entire and to have no disjunction between belief and practice; its fruits are consistency and honesty towards self and others. It is to act at all times and in all places with the outer coherence which makes inner conviction clear, whatever the short-term cost may be.

This demands of me, as a Quaker member of the Labour Party, to put aside what may be instinctive inclinations and to seek for evidence of that integrity amongst all five contenders. The interventions of Neil Kinnock, Peter Mandelson and Tony Blair are irrelevant here and the pro and anti arguments about New Labour are secondary, although I hope that the new leader will have the courage to acknowledge that the party of the past 13 years has been neither new enough nor Labour enough.

Unlock Democracy's online 'Vote Match' tool surprised me by revealing that my intended 5th choice was in fact the candidate whose policy views are closest to my own. It would seem that I still have some thinking to do about the relationship between policy stance, leadership qualities, personal inclination and integrity.

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© Jill Segger is a Quaker and Ekklesia's associate editor. She is a freelance writer who contributes to the Church Times, Catholic Herald, Tribune, and The Friend, among other publications. Jill is also a composer. See: http://www.journalistdirectory.com/journalist/TQig/Jill-Segger

Anglicans worldwide are in a tangle over structure and belief, says Savi Hensman. However, for those ready and willing to engage with others, not simply debating specific issues but exploring underlying beliefs about God and love of neighbour, and the spiritual journeys that underpin faith, there may be opportunities to learn and grow.

He was the Word, that spake it:
He took the bread and brake it;
And what that Word did make it,
I do believe and take it.

So wrote Anglican priest and poet John Donne, not seeking to define precisely what happens at communion, an issue much disputed in his time. These lines are sometimes attributed to Elizabeth I, who famously said that she did not want to “make windows into men’s souls”. She also reportedly declared that “there is only one Jesus Christ” and “the rest is a dispute over trifles”.

Though the Reformation was at times bloody in England as well as other parts of Europe, her approach was more pragmatic than that of her father, Henry VIII. Provided those inclined to a more Catholic spirituality did not challenge the state, they could coexist with ardent Calvinists in the Church of England, where worship combined the old and new.

Intolerance and rivalry continued in some quarters and occasionally flared up, and quite a number of members attended church as more a civic than a religious activity. Yet at best, the Church of England offered fertile soil for faith to flourish and develop, occasionally renewed by Wesleyan and other revivals.

Theological diversity was linked with the variety of ways in which churchgoers related to God in prayer and everyday life, and the varying circumstances of the parishes where they sought to serve the community and live out their faith. As autonomous churches were set up in other parts of the world, and Christians responded to social change in different ways, diversity among Anglicans further increased.

While labels such as “traditionalist”, “conservative”, “liberal”, “Anglo-Catholic” and “evangelical” are sometimes used, these may bring more confusion than clarity. For instance, some Anglo-Catholics are implacably opposed to women priests, while others are women priests themselves. The term “evangelical” can encompass anyone from Phillip Jensen, the ultra-Protestant Dean of Sydney, to the gay bishop, Gene Robinson.

Sometimes, the tension between different approaches to faith has been creative, and enabled Anglicans like the late Michael Ramsey, former Archbishop of Canterbury, to play an active part in the ecumenical movement. However, many Anglicans now move largely in circles filled with the like-minded – or, if they are part of a minority in their congregation, diocese or college, try to steer clear of controversial matters. Often, there has been a lack of dialogue, except when disputes have arisen.

In recent years, there has been a drive by some leaders who see themselves as the vanguard of a new reformation in the Anglican Communion, to root out views they regard as erroneous. One response has been to try to develop central structures to decide what is permitted in different provinces, and exclude those who do not agree or treat them as “second-tier” Anglicans.

Understandably, others have pointed out the value of diversity, and called for this to be safeguarded. However there is also a need for better communication so that more Anglicans understand why others hold opinions different from their own.

It is not certain what will happen structurally within the Communion. Yet whatever threats or divisions take place at an official level, Anglicans can make efforts to deepen their understanding of one another, even if the main aim in certain cases might be to convert those who have strayed from 'the truth'!

Some may steer clear of study and discussion along these lines, either because they are impatient with those who disagree, or feel too bruised by past encounters. However, for Anglicans ready and willing to engage with others, not simply debating specific issues but exploring underlying beliefs about God and love of neighbour, and the spiritual journeys that underpin faith, there may be opportunities to learn and grow.

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© Savitri Hensman was born in Sri Lanka. She works in the voluntary sector in community care and equalities in the UK, and she is also a respected writer on Christianity and social justice. Savi is an Ekklesia associate. She has contributed several chapters on Anglican issues and biblical interpretation to the book Fear or Freedom? Why a warring church must change (edited by Simon Barrow, Shoving Leopard / Ekklesia).

The Accord Coalition for inclusive education has launched its 2010 Award for 'good examples' of schools that welcome and involve all.

The Accord Coalition for inclusive education has launched its 2010 Award for 'good examples' of schools which welcome and involve all.

The Accord Award, which was established last year, is the first of its kind. It recognises the achievements of state maintained schools that celebrate the diversity of beliefs, both religious and non-religious, within the school and wider community which go beyond the school’s legal requirements on inclusion and equality.

The prestigious Award is open to all state-funded schools and was won last year by Manorside Primary School in North London, with runners up being the Anglo-European School in Essex and Balshaw’s Church of England High School in Leyland, Lancashire.

The year’s Award will be judged by another respected and experienced panel of experts including Dr Mary Bousted, General Secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers; Baroness Kishwer Falkner, an expert on human rights and multiculturalism; Fiona Millar, journalist and education campaigner; Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain MBE, minister of the Maidenhead Synagogue and chair of The Accord Coalition; and Simon Barrow, co-director of the Christian think-tank Ekklesia and a former assisant general secretary of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland.

The deadline for entries is 5pm on Monday 10 November and prizes will be awarded in the New Year. The judges will be looking for schools having an ethos which celebrates inclusion and that pride themselves on building links within and between communities.

The winning school will be announced in the local and national press. Details on the Accord Award can be found at the organisation’s website (http://accordcoalition.org.uk/).

Launching the 2010 Award, Accord Coalition chair, Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, commented: "Many people sit back complain about the state of our schools. However, The Accord Coalition does the reverse and is committed to seeking out and rewarding those schools that are inclusive, tolerant and transparent."

He continued: "Many schools are remarkably successful at improving cohesion and it is time that those institutions that work hard to build bridges between the different ethnic and religion or belief communities are praised."

Simon Barrow, co-director of the religion and society think-tank Ekklesia, which was a co-founder of the Accord Coalition, said: "This award shows both the diversity and the community capability of education in this country. It rewards and highlights those who are working to break down barriers of religion and belief in schooling, and demonstrates that the arguments for maintaining discrimination in admissions, employment, curriculum and assembly in some schools are outdated and unnecessary."

"It is vitally important to encourage inclusive education through good example rather than cajoling, and to research on the de-benefits of restrictive practices with encouragement towards those schools that show a better way, whatever their background or foundation," he added.

The Accord Coalition was launched in September 2008 to bring together religious and civic organisations and individuals campaigning for an end to religious discrimination in school staffing and admissions.

The Coalition also campaigns for a fair and balanced RE curriculum, for pupils to receive Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education, and for the replacement of the requirement for compulsory collective worship with inspiring, inclusive assemblies.

The coalition does not take a position for or against faith schools in principle, and its members take different positions on this issue. The aim is to create a fresh debate by bringing people together across the divide to argue for reform.

Accord's growing list of members and supporters include the the Christian think tank Ekklesia, British Muslims for Secular Democracy, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, and the British Humanist Association. It also has members from the four largest groupings in parliament.

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Anglican and Roman Catholic bishops in South Africa have urged the government to withdraw and redraft a proposed restrictive media law.

Anglican and Roman Catholic bishops in South Africa have urged the government to withdraw and redraft a proposed media law that critics say would allow authorities to classify virtually any official information as secret - writes Munyaradzi Makoni.

"We believe that the bill violates the spirit of openness and accountability that is so necessary to underpin the constitution's provisions on good governance, essential for a healthy democracy," said South African Cardinal Wilfrid Napier in a statement this week.

Napier was active in the struggle against apartheid and said that there would be practically no right of appeal against rulings under the law, as any appeal would be processed by the same people who made the original decision.

"We certainly do not want government to take us back to the oppressive practices of yesteryear, against which our common struggle was launched," said the cardinal.

Separately, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa warned that the draft law on protection of information threatens to undermine rights including freedom of expression and freedom of religion, "to which we as South Africans subscribed when our elected representatives adopted our constitution in 1996."

In an article published in the Cape Times newspaper, Makgoba said, "What is notable about the Protection of Information Bill as it currently stands is that it seeks to punish not lies or incorrect information ... but rather truthful information based on official documents."

A campaign called Right2know aimed at stopping the secrecy bill seen as a major threat to hard-won freedom was held on 31 August 2010 at Cape Town's St. George's Anglican Cathedral, where South Africans rallied against apartheid in the 1970s and 1980s.

Those who oppose the proposed law say that in its current form investigative journalists could be prosecuted and face a prison sentence of up to 25 years for reporting on government information.

"Tamper with press freedom, and you tamper with the freedom of every citizen to receive and impart information and ideas," said Makgoba, who is archbishop of Cape Town. "We cannot draw a line around press freedom, restricting the rights of journalists, without limiting the rights of all of us."

Napier said that while Catholic bishops accept that some degree of restriction of information is, "both legitimate and necessary," the bishops had grave misgivings about the way this would be done if the proposal becomes law. He said the measure risks entrenching a culture of non-accountability and non-transparency among state officials at all levels.

"The definition of national interest and national security are so broad that they could be used to keep secret matters that ought by right to be accessible to the public," said Napier, who heads the diocese of Durban and was speaking for the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference.

[With acknowledgements to ENI. Ecumenical News International is jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the Conference of European Churches.]

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The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland has made an impassioned plea to keep a Malawian mother and daughter in Scotland.

The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland has made a further impassioned plea to keep a Malawian mother and daughter in Scotland.

The Rt Rev John Christie addressed over 2,000 Church of Scotland Guild members at their annual meeting in Dundee’s Caird Hall last week, putting the case for asylum seekers Precious and Florence Mhango.

Mrs Mhango has argued that, if returned to Africa, her daughter will be taken to live with her former husband's family and will be at risk of genital mutilation.

The Moderator based his speech on the Guild’s key theme for the 2010-11 session, “called to love mercy”.

He voiced his bitter disappointment at Home Secretary Theresa May, after she refused to intervene in the Mhangos' case following a joint letter from himself, Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond and the head of the Catholic Church in Scotland, Cardinal Keith O’Brien.

“There are certainly for the three of us, and many others, good reasons for them to be allowed to stay in Scotland," declared Christie. ”This is an opportunity for compassionate love and it would be disappointing, to say the least, if they are deported."

He added: “The New Testament is full of examples between the tension of the law, and grace and compassion. In these set of exceptional circumstances I believe grace and compassion should prevail.”

After Mrs Mhango left her violent and abusive husband, the pair no longer had the right to stay in the UK.

Precious, aged 10, and her mother lost an immigration appeal at the High Court in London and were ordered to return to Malawi in July 2010.

The family, who were staying in Cranhill in Glasgow, hope to appeal against the deportation ruling, but could now be removed at any time.

The Guild, staunch campaigners against injustices such as human trafficking and domestic abuse, have added their support to the battle to keep the two Malawian asylum seekers in Scotland.

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Amnesty International is urging the Slovak government to immediately end the segregation of Romani children in the country’s education system.

Amnesty International is urging the Slovak government to immediately end the segregation of Romani children in the country’s education system.
 
In a new report - Steps To End Segregation In Education - sent to the Slovak government, Amnesty points to serious gaps in the enforcement and monitoring of the ban on discrimination and segregation in the country's educational system.
 
They say that as a result of the gap, thousands of Romani pupils are in sub-standard education in schools and classes for pupils with “mild mental disabilities” or ethnically segregated mainstream schools and classes.
 
While Roma are estimated to comprise less than 10 per cent of Slovakia’s total population, they make up 60 per cent of pupils in special schools, according to a 2009 survey. In regions with high Romani populations, three out of every four pupils in special schools are Roma; 85 per cent of children in special classes in mainstream schools are Roma.
 
“Romani children across Slovakia remain trapped in a school system that keeps failing them as a result of widespread discrimination,” said David Diaz-Jogeix, Amnesty International Europe Deputy-Director.
 
“It deprives Romani children of equal opportunities and sentences them to a life of poverty and marginalisation,” he added, “Segregation in education means a life-long stigma for children whose future chances are brutally limited”.

He insisted that this is “a practice that does not belong to 21st-century Europe and must be eliminated”.
 
Amnesty’s report shows that segregation of Romani children in Slovakia takes various forms: special schools or special classes within mainstream schools designed for pupils with “mild mental disabilities”, and mainstream Roma-only schools and classes. In some cases, school heads have admitted segregating Roma children simply to stop non-Roma parents removing their children in a so-called “white flight” response.
 
One case highlighted in the report is that of Jakub, a boy from a Roma settlement near Bratislava who was transferred to a special class for children with “mild mental disabilities” in his mainstream school after a disagreement with his teacher. Jakub was a scholarship pupil with an excellent academic record whom another of his teachers described as a “genius” who should not have been segregated.
 
The causes of segregation, says Amnesty, are complex and include entrenched anti-Roma attitudes as well as policy failures in the education system such as early and flawed child assessment and insufficient support for Romani children within mainstream education.
 
Amnesty reports that widespread anti-Romani sentiment in Slovakia has led to segregation of Romani children even in mainstream schools and classes. They cite situations in which Romani children are sometimes literally locked into separate classrooms, corridors or buildings to prevent them from mixing with non-Roma pupils.
 
The new Slovak government recently committed itself to eliminating the segregated schooling of Roma, yet Amnesty is concerned that this has not been followed by a clear and unequivocal statement by the head of government that ethnic discrimination and segregation of Roma is unacceptable and will be combated as a matter of priority.

“The choices that the government makes now will affect the lives of thousands of Romani children,” said Diaz-Jogeix, “The government holds the key to allow the Roma in Slovakia full participation in Slovak and European society”.
 
Amnesty is calling on the Slovak authorities to introduce a clear duty on all schools to desegregate education and to provide them with effective support.

They are also urging them to introduce adequate support measures for Roma and non-Roma children who need extra assistance, so that they may achieve their fullest potential within mainstream schools.

Their other urgent suggestions include the provision of of the State School Inspectorate with adequate resources, including robust, detailed guidelines and procedures on how to identify, monitor and combat segregation in practice. And they also want the authorities to begin the systematic collection of data on education, disaggregated on the basis of gender and ethnicity.

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The head of the World Council of Churches has sent a message to Middle East negotiators in Washington to stress the concerns of Palestinian Christians.

The general secretary of the World Council of Churches has sent a message to the Middle East negotiators in Washington to stress the concerns of Palestinian Christians.

The message conveys concern over the final status of Jerusalem, the future of the Christians there and the need for a just peace in the region.

"Now is the time for a just peace," the Rev Dr Olav Fykse Tveit says in the message from Jerusalem, where he is visiting this week with a WCC delegation. "The Christians here pray for that; all peoples here need it desperately. The time of occupation and violence must end."

The message also talks about the need for the final negotiations on the status of Jerusalem to involve the heads of the local churches. "Palestinian Christians are also concerned about their future here and about their status in Jerusalem," his message said.

In the message Tveit also says the Christians in Jerusalem are "very much concerned by the discourse about religious identity of states in this region, which they fear will marginalize not only their presence and witness but also that of all Christians elsewhere in the region."

The message came as discussions between the Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams were about to resume. At a meeting between US President Barack Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday, 1 September, each of the leaders pledged to work diligently toward peace.

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The Education Secretary Michael Gove has been urged not to “jeopardise green education” after threatening to axe a scheme aimed at creating sustainable schools.

The Education Secretary, Michael Gove, has been urged not to “jeopardise green education” after threatening to axe a scheme aimed at creating sustainable schools.

The news comes after the government controversially cut the schools rebuilding programme and axed a scheme to create 5,000 green work experience placements. Now the Department for Education looks set to drop the Sustainable School Strategy.

The plan was condemned by People & Planet and Friends of the Earth.

People & Planet, the UK's largest student campaigning network, said that evidence from the previous education department and numerous other sources has shown that those schools who implement sustainability have raised standards as well as staff and student wellbeing.

The organisation, which coordinates the Go Green campaign to help schools cut their carbon emissions, called on the government to ensure that there are opportunities and resources for all students to learn about sustainability issues.

“Abandoning a coordinated approach to creating sustainable schools is akin to abandoning hope that the next generation can tackle the greatest threats to our society,” insisted Jamie Clarke, People & Planet's Education Manager, “It further compounds the impression that the coalition government is saddling the future generation with an environmental debt”.

He pointed out that schools produce a fifth of all public sector greenhouse emissions. “Schools need to be at the heart of the green society, preparing the next generation for the challenges that face our world, and to be at the forefront of the future economy,” he said.

Student Matt McMullen added, “It is vital that we continue to support schools to become sustainable, especially at this critical moment, so that we can create a big society where we can tackle the defining issues of our generation. We want a better future.”

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Disabled people are hidden in daily life despite the public believing that they should be given a level-playing field of opportunity, a new poll shows.

Disabled people are largely hidden in day-to-day life despite the public believing that they should be given a level-playing field of opportunity, a new poll shows.

In an opinion survey commissioned from ComRes by the charity Scope, 91 per cent of people stated that they believed disabled people should have the same opportunities as everyone else.

Worryingly, nearly 40 per cent of people who are not disabled and do not have a disabled family member do not know any disabled people.

90 per cent of Britons have never had a disabled person to their house for a social occasion and only a fifth (21 per cent) have ever had the chance to work with a disabled colleague.

The results demonstrate that disabled people are already relatively invisible in daily life, says Scope.

Concern is also growing that the forthcoming Government spending cuts, which are likely to hit disabled people among the hardest, may end up pushing them into further social exclusion and even cut them out of society altogether.

The report by the Institute of Fiscal Studies ‘The distributional effect of tax and benefit reforms to be introduced between June 2010 and April 2014: a revised assessment' (Browne and Levell, 25/08/10) highlights the fact that 20 per cent of current recipients of DLA will lose their entitlement as part of the systems reform.

Richard Hawkes, Chief Executive of Scope, commented: “This is shocking evidence that shows that disabled people are still relatively invisible in day-to-day life. We are deeply concerned that the Government’s spending cuts will end up pushing disabled people even closer to the fringes of society."

He continued: “The Government needs to carry out a full impact assessment before making any cuts to ensure they understand the full consequences of reductions in critical support such as Disability Living Allowance and Incapacity Benefit. These form a vital lifeline for many disabled people and their families."

Hawkes continued,“Without fully understanding the nature of disabled people’s lives, or the impact these changes will have, the Government may find itself causing extreme distress and financial hardship to disabled people which could end up creating greater dependency on the state and an even greater demand on the public purse".

ComRes interviewed 2,030 British adults online between 20 and 22 August 2010. Data was weighted to be demographically representative of all British adults.

The leading disability charity Scope (http://www.scope.org.uk/) "believes disabled people should have the same opportunities as everyone else. We run services and campaigns with disabled people to make this happen. As a charity with expertise in complex support needs and cerebral palsy, we never set limits on potential."

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