In Brief

JESUS AND POLITICS

The Frontier Youth Trust will host the ‘Christian Youth Work: Jesus and Politics’ event at the Houses of Parliament. The event, in partnership with Worth Unlimited, aims to bring together Christian youth workers to explore the impact politics has on their work. The event is sponsored by Gavin Shucker MP and takes place on 30th January. To register email nigel@pimlott.org

BLACKOUT

Open Doors’ Blackout event returns in March. The campaign encourages youth groups to fast from mobiles, the internet, gaming and even talking for a weekend to support the persecuted Church. Emma Worrall, Open Doors youth spokesperson said: ‘In places around the world, followers of Jesus are being silenced. Blackout is an opportunity for us to turn down the volume for a couple of days and stand with the silent heroes in the persecuted Church.’ For more information go to opendoorsyouth.org/blackout

ENGAGE WORSHIP DAY

Engage Worship, led by Sam and Sara Hargreaves, is running a training day on 15th February in Luton, with the theme of ‘engaging everyone in worship’. The event will be run with the London School of Theology, Big Ministries and Junk Tank - more details and tickets are available from engageworship. org/events/Luton2014

ONLINE VOTING

John Bercow, the Speaker of the House of Commons has suggested a change to the current system that would allow people to vote in parliamentary elections online. The plan, designed to modernise the system and appeal to those who don’t currently vote (many of whom are young people), is going to be part of a ‘digital democracy’ commission. Estonia was the first country to use online voting, and a quarter of the electorate voted online in 2011.

YOUNG PEOPLE’S SEXUAL VIEWS

The National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (NATSAL) has revealed some interesting facts about young people’s attitudes towards sex and relationships: it is the younger generations who are most hostile towards adultery and teenage pregnancy is at its lowest level since 1969. NATSAL also showed that young people are drinking less and taking fewer drugs than in previous generations.

‘TWO NATION’ GAP CRITICISED BY OFSTED CHIEF

Ofsted’s chief inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, has said that the regional gap in education standards is like ‘two nations’. Wilshaw has called on the rest of the UK to match the standards set in London and to fight a ‘battle against mediocrity’. Wilshaw also criticised the ‘casual acceptance’ of poor behaviour in lessons, saying it was affecting the education of 700,000 thousand pupils.

POPE : YOUNG UNEMPLOYED ARE FORGOTTEN

In an interview on Argentinian television, Pope Francis warned that our ‘throwaway culture’ has discarded a generation of young Europeans. The Pontiff said: ‘Today we are living in an unjust international system in which “King Money” is at the centre. It’s a throwaway culture that discards young people as well as its older people. In some European countries, without mentioning names, there is youth unemployment of 40 per cent and higher. A whole generation of young people does not have the dignity that is brought by work.’

SIBLING BULLYING

A new study has shown that sibling-on-sibling bullying may be more common than previously thought. Almost a third of the children questioned for the journal Pediatrics said they had experienced ‘sibling aggression’ in the last year. This term includes theft, psychological abuse and physical assault. This figure is more than the quarter who said, in similar research, that they were victims of aggression at school.

SEXISM A DAILY REALITY

A new report claims that sexism is so widespread that it affects ‘most aspects’ of girls’ and young women’s lives. The ‘Equality for Girls’ report, carried out on behalf of Girlguiding, showed that 87 per cent of the respondents (aged between 11 and 21) thought women were judged more on their appearance than ability. Sixty per cent of those between 16 and 21 said they had been patronised or made