Choirs have been told they are no longer welcome to sing Christmas carols in areas of Parliament because it puts MPs off their lunch, according to a report in the Daily Telegraph. Hemel Hempstead MP Mike Penning objected to the ban. The choirs come from his constituency and have entertained MPs and staff for the...
Religion is the most popular voluntary group activity, according to new figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). The new figures emerge from the 2006 Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) which is carried out throughout the European Union. They are published in the CSO’s Community Involvement and Social Networks document. In an...
Divorce or the death of a spouse severely damages a man or woman’s long-term health even if they remarry, according to a new study of over 8,000 people. Despite the fact that a person may have found stability and happiness in another relationship, the research showed that divorce or the death of a spouse continues...
The head of the British Government’s watchdog on IVF has said that the longstanding ban on selling sperm and eggs should be reconsidered to address a shortage of donors. Professor Lisa Jardine, of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, told the London Times that payments to donors might reduce the number of couples travelling abroad...
A Sunday school teacher has been told she can’t put up a poster at her local library to advertise a church children’s event because it ‘promotes religion’. Jacalyn Oghan’s poster invited children of any faith to “come along and have fun” at the craft, singing and drama day at her church. But staff at Jubilee...
A Catholic nurse in New York is taking legal action after her employers forced her to assist with a late-term abortion. Hospital officials demanded that Catherina Cenzon-DeCarlo help with the termination of a 22-week pregnancy despite having been aware of her religious objection to abortion since 2004. When she tried to remind staff at Mount...
Ireland now has a marital breakdown rate of 27.5 per cent, based on figures from the Courts Service Annual Report for 2008. The new data shows that there were 6,222 separations and divorces in 2008, an increase of 15.6 per cent from 2001, when there were 5,380 separations and divorces. Of these, 4,257 were divorces,...
Fathers and mothers each play a valuable but different role in raising children, according to research published by New Scientist magazine. The magazine cited a study looking at 80 human couples with new babies, which found that mothers and fathers made different contributions to their child’s upbringing. Increased levels of a hormone known as the...
The number of people aged over 65 is on course to overtake the number of children under the age of five for the first time in world history, according to a study published yesterday. Another 870,000 people turn 65 every month, according to the new figures. Thanks to rising life expectancy, their ranks will soon...
Charity shops are seeing an increase in the number of volunteers since the onset of the recession, as the newly unemployed seek to occupy themselves and retain some job skills during the downturn, according to a report in the Irish Times. “We have seen a big increase in the number of people volunteering their time,...
