With a chronic shortage of qualified RE teachers in schools, greater incentives are needed to attract new recruits. Without such teachers, pupils in later life will fail to filter out the stereotypes that contribute to religious discrimination. The Religious Education Council (REC) believes that high-quality specialist teaching about all faiths, beliefs, and worldviews is essential for all school children, and is leading a consortium to relaunch the Beyond the Ordinary campaign, designed to attract career-changers and graduates to train as RE teachers. For entry into initial teacher training in 2017, 405 places were filled, well below the Government target of 643. To reach that figure requires 1 in 20 graduates with a relevant degree to elect to train as RE teachers. Currently 55% of staff teaching RE in schools have no post-A level qualification in the subject. The REC is pressing the Department for Education for higher bursaries for RE teachers.

Theresa May’s post-Brexit plans for Northern Ireland to be under the same rules and regulations as the rest of the UK and to leave the EU customs union were challenged in the EU’s 120-page draft withdrawal agreement that includes Northern Ireland in a future customs union. The draft requires checks on goods coming in from the UK; in order for this to happen, single market legislation will also apply. The EU plan would create a border through the Irish Sea, which the UK will not accept. Michel Barnier challenged May to offer something different. The DUP is propping up the UK Government; some believe one wrong decision could see their support withdrawn. Boris Johnson said that the Northern Ireland border row is being used to frustrate Brexit, and there were ‘very good solutions’ to avoid the need for a hard border. Pray for the UK’s future to be directed by God’s Spirit, prompting MPs in all decisions they make.

Scotland’s Catholic Church was savaged by children's rights campaigners for opposing a ban on smacking. A top church official said plans to outlaw the physical punishment of children would ‘criminalise parents’, and it is not the role of the state to interfere in parenting. Scotland's children and young people's commissioner, Bruce Adamson, said that many nations with Catholic majorities - such as Ireland, Spain and Portugal - had already outlawed hitting children. Green MSP John Finnie, who introduced the ‘ban smacking’ bill, said the church is out of step with international opinion, adding, ‘Smacking is banned in the Pope’s home country Argentina’. The SNP government confirmed that the bill will become law.

Bishop Steven Croft, who sits on the House of Lords artificial intelligence committee, has published a list of ten commandments on AI. He said Christians need to be part of the AI dialogue and make contributions for the sake of the common good. His ten commandments are that AI should: be designed for all and benefit humanity; operate on principles of transparency and fairness, and be well signposted; not be used to transgress data rights and privacy of individuals, families, or communities; not create inequality of wealth, health, or opportunity; not be used for criminal intent, subverting democracy values, truth, or courtesy in public discourse; enhance, rather than replace, human labour and creativity; never be developed or deployed separately from consideration of the ethical consequences of its applications; and never be given autonomous power to hurt or destroy. Everyone has the right to be adequately educated to flourish mentally, emotionally, and economically in a digital and AI world.

On 1 March, MPs Jim Shannon and Norman Lamb led a debate on Christian freedom in the House of Commons. Earlier this month Barnabas Fund published a booklet entitled ‘Turn the Tide’ showing how religious freedoms in the UK are being eroded. It quoted the Magna Carta: ‘The English Church shall be free, and shall have its rights undiminished, and its liberties unimpaired.’ The booklet gave many examples of the various ways in which religious freedoms in the UK have been eroded by political correctness and anti-Christian prejudice in universities, schools, social work, prisons, NHS, street preaching and much more. Barnabas Fund is calling for a new law ‘which positively affirms all aspects of freedom of religion that have been written into our laws’. View the debate at

No UK area has escaped snow showers, icy roads, or blizzard conditions. Please pray for the homeless at this time. Many charities and churches have opened their doors, but it is believed that some vulnerable people might have slipped through the nets of compassion. Some areas will soon see snow easing, but freezing rain threatens to make conditions even worse. Pray for safety on our roads when people resume their normal travelling arrangements. When weather causes havoc, the NHS’s workload rises as fractures from falls, chronic flu, and chest infections increase. The elderly are more susceptible to hypothermia. If people go outside in extreme weather, the heart works harder to keep them warm, leading to increased heart rate (causing more heart attacks) and higher blood pressure, risking strokes. Pray that our hospital departments, police, fire and all emergency services can cope with the added workload, and for all those driving in bad road conditions.

Ken Livingstone's suspension from the Labour party over anti-Semitism claims has been extended indefinitely pending the outcome of an internal investigation. The former London mayor's suspension had been due to expire on 27 April, but in his last official act as Labour general secretary, Iain McNicol signed off on an indefinite extension, the Huffington Post UK has revealed. Mr McNicol employed a rarely-used procedure to impose an ‘administrative suspension’ on Mr Livingstone. Mr Livingstone said he had been ‘suspended for stating the truth’.

‘Five months after the elections we still do not have a new government in Germany! We await approval of SPD party membership for the SPD to join the CDU/CSU in a ‘grand coalition’ new government. In February Watchman International intercessors joined Prince Philip von Preussen (descendant of Kaiser Wilhelm II), the Sisters of Mary, and Harald Eckert (who leads Christians for Israel), in obedience to a call for repentance on behalf of Germany, and to seek God's face so that our land can be healed. We are now in a Lent period of prayer and fasting for our nation as we approach Easter.'

Clashes between anti-fascist and far-right activists have increased ahead of a general election on 4 March. Recently, police in Milan used batons as left-wing demonstrators tried to break through a police cordon. The Anti-immigration League party leader, Matteo Salvini, told supporters that defence of the country was a ‘sacred duty’. There have been protests in Milan, Rome and Palermo as campaigning enters its final week. The right-wing Forza Italia party, backed by 81-year-old Silvio Berlusconi, could be in the lead. The anti-establishment Five Star Movement opposes Berlusconi, as does the far-right League and the Brothers of Italy parties. Former prime minister Matteo Renzi joined a National Partisans organisation with the slogan ‘Fascism Never Again’.

The state has again blocked the long-delayed election of a new Armenian Apostolic patriarch, arguing that an election would be contrary to the community's traditions. Yet freedom of religion protects the right of religious communities to elect leaders in accordance with their traditions as they interpret them. The Istanbul governorship (a state institution under the Interior Ministry responsible for state administration in Istanbul province, where the patriarchate is based) argues that a new leader cannot be elected because the previous patriarch, unable to fulfil his functions since 2008 because of illness, is still living.