Tony Blair says Christians should “speak up and speak out”; MPs In Bid To Relax ‘Outdated’ Gambling Laws; Local casinos: John Whittingdale’s crazy plan to extract revenue from human misery; Christian campaigners hit out tax evasion; New Archbishop of Glasgow announced; Tearfund calls for prayer to end hunger
Tony Blair says Christians should “speak up and speak out”
Telegraph – Tony Blair, the former Prime Minister, says it is important the views of Christians are heard and speaks openly about his belief in “salvation through Jesus Christ”.
Tony Blair has insisted that Christians should not be afraid to speak in public about faith – even though he was once instructed not to “do God”.
The former Prime Minister laughed off the way in which his former press secretary Alastair Campbell advised him to avoid discussing religion when he was in power as he made his most explicit public profession of faith.
Speaking at a debate in London with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, Mr Blair spoke openly about his belief in “salvation through Jesus Christ” and even attempted to explain the resurrection.
He disclosed for the first time how he even once ordered his aides to kneel down and pray at a meeting with members of the Salvation Army.
And he dismissed claims that he prayed with George Bush – but insisted that it would “not have been wrong” to do so.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/9424859/Tony-Blair-says-Christians-should-speak-up-and-speak-out.html
MPs In Bid To Relax ‘Outdated’ Gambling Laws
Local councils should be allowed to permit betting shops to operate more than four high-stake gambling machines, which can accept stakes of up to £100 and offer prizes of £500, the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee said.
Casinos should be allowed up to 20 of the machines, the MPs said, adding operators across the sector should be charged lower fees by the industry regulator, the Gambling Commission.
The Gambling Act 2005 originally set out to allow the introduction of Las Vegas-style super casinos across the country, with fruit machines offering unlimited payouts.
However, the plans, proposed by then culture secretary Tessa Jowell, were watered down significantly in the face of fierce public opposition, with super casinos cast aside and the creation of the Gambling Commission to regulate the industry.
The MPs say the commission was too bureaucratic and expensive, adding it was not for Whitehall to decide on the location of casinos in the UK but local councils instead.
John Whittingdale, Tory chairman of the committee, said: “Gambling is now widely accepted in the UK as a legitimate entertainment activity.
“We took a lot of evidence in this inquiry, from all sides, and while we recognise the need to be aware of the harm caused by problem gambling, we believe that there is considerable scope to reduce and simplify the current burden of regulation and to devolve decision-making to a more local level.
“The ‘reluctantly permissive’ tone of gambling legislation over the last 50 years now looks outdated.”
The committee of MPs, from across the main parties, said the Government also needed to make it more attractive for online operators to base themselves in the UK.
Taxes on the industry were too high, pushing most internet-based operations abroad, their research found.
And the MPs say that by allowing high street betting shops to operate more than four high-stake machines, it would prevent them clustering together in town centres.
Local casinos: John Whittingdale’s crazy plan to extract revenue from human misery
Tom Chivers, Telegraph – I lived in Australia for a year, in Brisbane and then Sydney, when I was 20. In almost every pub, there was a room full of “pokies” – slot machines, one-armed bandits – out the back. In every one, even on gorgeous summer days a hundred yards from Koogee Beach, a few pale, troglodytic creatures would stand in these darkened caves, surrounded by dozens of jangling, flashing boxes. They stood silently, dropping coins in one after the other, sporadically standing back when a machine disgorged coins. Under Australian law, the pokies are allowed to pay out up to AU$10,000 (£6,600).
Since the liberalisation of the Australian gambling laws in the early 1990s, the country has become the most bet-crazed nation in the world. In 2010 The Economist put Australian gambling losses per head at US $1,250 (£800), compared to less than $400 for Britain and the US. There are an estimated 300,000 people in the country – more than one person in a hundred, of the population of 22 million – who lose more than AU$12,000 a year. And more than 80 per cent of the problem gambers in Australia are regular pokie players.
Christian campaigners hit out tax evasion
A Christian movement to end poverty has spoken out against tax evasion by wealthy people
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/christian.campaigners.hit.out.tax.evasion/30336.htm
New Archbishop of Glasgow announced
Bishop Philip Tartaglia has been announced today as the new Archbishop of Glasgow
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/new.archbishop.of.glasgow.announced/30337.htm
Tearfund calls for prayer to end hunger
Tearfund is appealing to Christians to pray for the millions of people around the world going hungry today
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/tearfund.calls.for.prayer.to.end.hunger/30338.htm