Many have not heard of the United Nations’ eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). They were a blueprint agreed by all the world’s countries and leading development institutions. The aim was to meet the needs of the world’s poorest by halving extreme poverty rates, halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by 2015. There is now a post-MDG agenda - the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. At the Sustainable Development Summit on 25 September 2015, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were proposed with the intention of finishing the job in the areas of Poverty, Hunger, Health and Well-Being, Education, Gender Equality, Clean Water and Affordable Clean Energy, Work and Economic Growth, Industry Innovation, Sustainable Cities and Communities, Responsible Consumption and Production, Climate Action, Life below water, Life on Land, and Peace and Justice. See also http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/

It’s hard to say how many young people attempt to take their lives each year. The way the data is reported and collected also means that exact figures for teen suicides are not readily available. We do know that more than 1,600 people below the age of 35 kill themselves each year, according to suicide prevention charity Papyrus. For many, suicide is still a taboo subject but Papyrus says we need to create opportunities for teenagers to talk more openly about it. Suicide remains a major gender and social inequality and is a devastating event for families and communities. The Samaritans have produced a strategy, ‘Working together to reduce suicide 2015-21’, which outlines their commitment to work to reduce suicide rates by reaching more people who may be at risk of taking their own lives. This can be achieved only by understanding which groups of individuals are particularly at risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviours. See also: http://www.samaritans.org/sites/default/files/kcfinder/branches/branch-96/files/Suicide_statistics_report_2015.pdf

George Osborne is turning his attention to his November spending review, and free school lunches for infants could be scrapped. To provide free hot meals for all schoolchildren between four and seven, regardless of their parents’ income, was a policy introduced under the coalition government by former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg. Despite an election promise to keep this policy, it is under threat as the Chancellor looks to reduce government expenditure across Whitehall, Sky News reports. The suggestion has attracted criticism from a variety of groups, who say that healthy school meals are essential for children's wellbeing. Tim Farron, a Christian and leader of the Liberal Democrats, said: 'All evidence suggests that children who have a school meal every day are two months further on in their studies than those who don't. To take away the policy is damaging to children, it's an insult to our schools.’

Campaign group Equal and Free has launched a website highlighting the impact of sharia law on UK women. Sharia discriminates against women and girls, and the site carries true stories of women who have faced such discrimination. Although women from any faith tradition, or none, may suffer abuse and problems associated with dysfunctional families, the plight of those in Islamic communities is exacerbated by the application of established sharia law principles which inherently discriminate against women and girls. Forms of such discrimination include inequality in access to divorce (for men it is often effectively free and unconditional), polygamy (practised by men with multiple ‘wives’ and numerous children), discriminatory child custody policies and inheritance laws, and the implicit sanctioning of domestic violence. The online resource also explains and promotes a bill introduced by Baroness Cox, due to be debated in the House of Lords on 23 October, that seeks to tackle these challenges.