April 18th, 2018
A House of Lords committee has expressed concern that Government proposals to lift the cap on faith-based admissions ‘could cause greater social segregation within faith schools’. In a report, published by the Citizenship and Civic Engagement Committee, the peers also praise Ofsted for ‘sanction[ing] schools which fail to teach about LGBT people’, voices support for […]
April 18th, 2018
Vaughan Gething, the Welsh Health Secretary, has announced that he has instructed officials to investigate the legislative changes needed to allow women to take abortion pills in the safety and comfort of their own homes, rather than being required to make multiple trips to a hospital or clinic. Humanists UK welcomes this announcement, which represents […]
April 17th, 2018
Humanists UK staff met yesterday with Sara Khan, the newly appointed lead Commissioner for Countering Extremism, to discuss the work of Humanists UK on related issues and the remit of the Commission going forward. Discussions focused on the work of Humanists UK in identifying and challenging extremist narratives in the UK, which spans across many […]
April 17th, 2018
Humanists UK has expressed dismay that the eighth periodic report from the UK to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) glosses over violations relating to abortion access and LGBT rights in Northern Ireland. Humanists UK, which has campaigned for the decriminalisation of abortion and the recognition of same-sex marriages in […]
April 17th, 2018
Humanists UK has responded to a joint consultation held by the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) for Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire, calling for an end to the funding of homeopathic treatments on the NHS. This consultation follows a similar one held by the CCG in the summer of 2017, and the recommendation of the […]
April 12th, 2018
Yesterday an audience of almost 900 people turned out at the Camden Centre in London to hear the 2018 Voltaire Lecture, which was given by best-selling author, renowned neurosurgeon, and Humanists UK patron Dr Henry Marsh. As per tradition, the Voltaire Lecture was chaired by the President of Humanists UK, comedian and author Shappi Khorsandi. […]
April 11th, 2018
Ealing Council has voted unanimously in favour of introducing a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) in the vicinity of a Marie Stopes abortion clinic to prevent anti-choice activists from harassing and intimidating users and staff. Councillors agreed with the conclusion of a report by the council’s community safety team that these activities had a detrimental […]
April 10th, 2018
The States of Jersey Assembly has today passed legislation adopting a ‘soft opt-out’ system for organ donation on the island, similar to the system which has operated in Wales since 2015. This means a deceased person will be assumed to have consented to organ donation unless they have previously opted out and their family members provide […]
April 10th, 2018
Following intensive lobbying by religious organisations, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Government has decided to scrap plans to regulate out-of-settings such as madrassas and yeshivas. The announcement comes in the Department for Education’s formal response to a consultation held on the proposals in 2015/16, and states that ‘a voluntary code of practice’ for out-of-school […]
April 10th, 2018
Northern Ireland Humanists and Humanists UK are encouraging all Republic of Ireland citizens living in the UK to travel to Ireland to vote in the upcoming referendum on the repeal of the controversial Eighth Amendment to the Republic of Ireland constitution on Friday 25 May. The repeal of the Eighth Amendment would remove one of […]
April 10th, 2018
Last night, Belfast City Council passed a motion to supporting decriminalisation of abortion and condemning the arrest and prosecution of women who use online abortion pills. The motion, which was proposed by councillors from Sinn Fein and the Alliance Party, passed by 34 votes to 16 with five abstentions. Humanists UK, which is intervening in […]
April 9th, 2018
Writers and academics Professor Timothy Garton-Ash, Professor John Worrall, Dr Helen Czerski, and Dr Kate Fox have all been appointed as patrons of Humanists UK in recognition of their considerable contributions to culture and human understanding. They join a stable of over 170 other high-profile figures from the worlds of art, science, music, comedy, broadcasting, […]
