Fifty years ago corner shops advertised rooms to let with the warning, ‘No coloureds, no Irish, no pets’. The early Windrush migrants from the Caribbean faced enormous prejudice as they played a vital part in rebuilding Britain after the Blitz. The Home Office later destroyed their landing passes and other documents. Now, fifty years later, they have been issued with deportation orders. They believe they are still facing prejudice. Recently their situation was highlighted in the media, which led to parliamentary debates. Boris Johnson said there needed to be an immigration amnesty for longstanding Commonwealth immigrants to prevent others from getting caught up in the same situation. They should not have to produce overly onerous amounts of evidence to prove that they have been living here for years. Pray for attitudes to change, and that we will now value our Commonwealth brothers and sisters properly.

Recently we prayed for our children to develop discernment to navigate a disturbing social media landscape. On 22 April health secretary Jeremy Hunt threatened social media firms with new laws if they didn't do more to protect children online. He gave them until 30 April to outline action on cutting underage use, preventing cyber-bullying, and promoting healthy screen time. He said, ‘I am concerned that your companies seem content with a situation where thousands of users breach your own terms and conditions on the minimum user age. I fear that you are collectively turning a blind eye to a whole generation of children exposed prematurely to the harmful emotional side-effects of social media. This is morally wrong and deeply unfair to parents faced with the invidious choice of allowing children to use platforms they are too young to access or excluding them from social interaction that the majority of their peers are often engaging in.’

Institutions like the Church are putting their reputations ahead of victims of child sexual abuse, said an interim report from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse on 25 April. They examined 21 British institutions, including the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church. Religious institutions were the third largest group of abusers, after schools and children's homes. When it came to the effect on victims' faith, the report said, ‘Victims and survivors may question their religion and spiritual beliefs, particularly where the perpetrator was connected to their religion or faith. They may also use religion and faith as a coping mechanism for resilience and recovery.’ The CofE's deputy safeguarding bishop welcomed the report and said, ‘As a Church we will be studying the report and the panel's recommendations carefully, particularly those which suggest specific changes to help us as an institution to give children better protection from sexual abuse.’

The Guardian’s headline on 26 April was ‘Highest number of knife crimes registered since comparable records started in 2010’. This week St Mary’s Church, Primrose Hill hosted a citizens’ assembly for institutions across Camden and Islington to hear from those on the front line against crime and to plan their response to knife, gang and racist violence across London. Local leaders, MPs, councillors and police discussed views which in turn launched a ‘safety commission’ to look more closely into the causes of knife and gang violence. They will work in partnership with politicians and other services. Rt Revd Rob Wickham, Bishop of Edmonton, said the citizens’ assembly was timely, given that fatal stabbings have claimed 35 lives across the city so far this year. He encouraged people to support the event, saying, ‘This issue affects everyone, so everyone needs to respond.’ Listen to his comments on Premier Radio at