News and Opinion

From Frank   You'll have heard that I'm not well.  Here's an update about how we are. And I'll start with me, which I know isn't really polite, but here goes.   It's cancer of the gall bladder, and it's spread to other organs making it inoperable.  And because chemo carries a high risk of blood clots (which I didn't know about before) alongside all the other side effects, that's ruled out because of the stent plumbing in my heart.  So, I'm not going to get better.  In spite of it all, I'm in good spirits - happy in fact.   This is of course most devastating for Eleanor - we came here to an area we didn't know at all for life's last big adventure, and we've grown to love with the diverse land-, river- and seascapes around and across Morecambe Bay and the Forest of Bowland.  The community here isn't perfect but mostly supportive and interesting, and we have both got stuck in with playing an active part in hel...

The Government is planning to allow all state schools to  select all their pupils on the basis of parental religion, and allow religious groups to run state special schools for the first time. Please write to your MP to oppose this. Both Humanists UK and the National Secular Society provide links making it very easy to send an email (that you can personalise) to your MP. Links to these appear below. Humanists UK Letter National Secular Society Letter Alternatively you can copy and paste the text below into a letter and amend it as you see fit. Please ensure that you include your full name and address when writing to your MP. They will ignore your letter if they cannot establish that you are a constituent. Dear ******** , I am writing as your constituent to ask you to oppose new Government proposals to scrap the cap on new faith school admissions, which has been in place since 2010. Faith school admissions cap The cap works: the 50% cap has proven to increase ethnic integ...