What happened?
Seven people died and 48 were injured in an attack by three Islamist terrorists at London Bridge on Saturday night. The terrorists drove a van at pedestrians before running through Borough Market and stabbing victims. ISIS claimed responsibility.
Theresa May promised to consider several legislative responses, such as increasing police powers to issue control orders and investigate potential offenders. Jeremy Corbyn criticised the Tories for cutting police funding.
What the British media are saying The Guardian’s Matthew d’Ancona said the attack, combined with the Manchester bombing last month, demands a firm response. The “ideological phenomenon” of Islamist extremism “cannot be tolerated or contained with half-measures for fear of causing offence”. May clearly intends to increase sentencing for terror-linked offences, and wants the “tech giants” to take more responsibility.
The Spectator’s political editor James Forsyth suggested a few other ideas. “We need to consider whether leaving the UK for certain states that have a particular terrorist problem, for example Libya, should require an exit visa”. We might also use “Singapore-style rules to prevent public housing from becoming racial or religious ghettoes”, and tighten the rules on foreign funding of religious institutions.
What Catholics said
At catholicworldreport.com, Joanna Bogle described Mass in the parish, Most Precious Blood, where the attacks took place. Fr Christopher Pearson said in his homily: “You’ll hear people say when an atrocity like this happens, ‘All I could do was pray’. But that’s the wrong way round. Prayer is the best thing: it’s not the last option, the last resort. It’s the first thing, the best thing.” Londoners are proud of their city, said Bogle; but there is also a reluctance to talk about the West’s “social and moral crises”.
At crisismagazine.com, William Kilpatrick said “Europe’s governing class” needed to rethink its beliefs on immigration. “In Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic which have strict immigration laws and few Muslims, there have been no major terror attacks.”
✣Teen pregnancies fall as birth control budgets are cut
What happened?
A new study challenged the consensus on sex education. Two academics, David Paton and Liam Wright, studied the impact of sex education programmes and birth control clinics for teenagers. They found that areas where these services were cut also saw a larger fall in teen pregnancies. Sex education advocates had predicted the opposite effect.
Why was it under-reported?
The need for sex education, and its expansion, has become entrenched as conventional wisdom. The Conservatives want to extend sex education to deal with threats to children online: they have proposed that “relationships education”, whose definition is unclear, be compulsory in primary schools. Labour also supports sex education. Among the dissenters is Tory MP Sir Edward Leigh, who has described the plans as “a state takeover bid for parenting” and has said that parents should be allowed to remove children from classes.
What will happen next?
This is not the first study to cast doubt on conventional wisdom, but the consensus is unlikely to change soon. In the immediate future, the battle is likely to be over the definition of “relationships education”, which may be extended to children as young as four. Many of the most powerful groups in the world of sex education have radical ideas: for instance, the group Brook says that consensual sexual activity involving those 13 and over can be “safe and healthy”. Catholic schools will have to be vigilant in the coming years.
✣The week ahead
A pilgrimage in honour of St Margaret of Scotland will take place in Dunfermline on Sunday. A procession of her relics will proceed from Pittencrieff Park to St Margaret Memorial Church. St Margaret was an 11th-century Scottish queen renowned for her piety and good works. The ancient summer pilgrimage was stopped in the 1970s but revived two years ago.
The Vatican’s chief astronomer is coming to Essex. Brother Guy Consolmagno SJ (right) will be leading a study day from 11am to 3pm tomorrow at the parish of Christ the Eternal High Priest at Gidea Park. Admission is free.
American bishops are meeting in Indianapolis on Wednesday. Much of the meeting will be streamed live on the bishops’ conference website. Items on the agenda will include the persecution of Christians abroad and the situation of immigrants at home. Bishops will also discuss the synod on youth called by Pope Francis and scheduled for next year.
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