Harassment in UK healthcare
Female doctors have launched an online campaign that exposes shocking gender-based discrimination, harassment, and sexual assault in healthcare. Surviving in Scrubs is an issue for all healthcare workers, say the campaign’s founders, Becky Cox and Chelcie Jewitt, who are encouraging women to share stories of harassment and abuse to ‘push for change and to reach the people in power’. The campaign has called for the GMC, which regulates doctors, to explicitly denounce sexist and misogynistic behaviour towards female colleagues and ‘treat them with respect’. Over 40 stories have been shared on the campaign’s website, ranging from sexual harassment by patients to inappropriate remarks and sexual advances from supervisors. The report stopped short of detailing where racism and classism overlap, but they wrote on Twitter: ‘Sexism in the healthcare workforce is intersectional. Race, disability, sexuality, ethnicity, class, gender all interlink to create a multitude of experiences. Sexism doesn’t exist in a vacuum.’
£5 million missing from diocesan funds
On 8 July Martin Sargeant was charged by the Metropolitan Police with fraud by false representation and money laundering in the diocese of London. The sum involved is in the region of £5 million. Mr Sargeant left his post in 2019 after a review by the incoming Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally. A diocesan statement says that, at the time, there was no suspicion or evidence of criminality. But, last year, the London Diocesan Fund contacted the police and the Charity Commission after a parish raised concerns about funds they had not received. Bishop Sarah thanked the police and the diocesan financial team for their work over the past year, as they continue to investigate the extent of this complex fraud which took place over a decade ago.
Germany: permanent gas pipeline cut?
Russian natural gas supplies to Germany have been halted for annual maintenance work. But the German economy minister warned that EU countries must be prepared for gas shipments not resuming, believing Russia is using gas ‘as a weapon’ in response to EU sanctions. Supplies to five European countries have already been cut over their refusal to comply with new payment schemes. Stopping supplying Germany could tip the country into a major recession. Entire industries rely on gas, and most German homes use it for heating. The head of the International Energy Agency has warned that Russia may cut off gas supplies to Europe entirely and that Europe needs to prepare now.
Europe: wildfires rage in heatwave
All week Europe has been battling wildfires fuelled by soaring temperatures in Portugal, France, Turkey and Spain. Pray for 3,500 Portuguese firefighters battling dozens of blazes in record-breaking temperatures. Pray for the 600 people in Leiria who were forced out of their homes, and over 3,000 who were evacuated in Turkey. Pray for devastated people like 77-year-old Adelino, a Portuguese farmer who said, ‘Everything burned. It looked like the end of the world.’ Pray for Spanish farmers who have lost over 70,300 hectares. Pray for 1,000 French firefighters trying to control two major wildfires. 4,000 hectares have already burned in southwest France.
