Most of this will be meaningless, as I’ve deleted all the posts from last year to comply with neutrality of reporters required by some of my clients; but it is interesting (to me at least) none-the-less. Last year, the most popular search terms which brought people to my blog via search engines were: Gavin Drake […]
Tag: Archive
New front in Israeli / Palestinian conflict opens up in Britain’s system of advertising regulation
Last week, Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority released its latest adjudication on an advert by the Israeli Government Tourist Office in London. The advert featured the feeding of the five thousand and the authority ruled that it was not misleading or offensive for the national press and magazine advert to say “the masses have always been […]
The all-new singing and dancing Gavin Drake blog
Welcome to my new blog! Actually, it is my old blog, but without the old content. Having moved back into news journalism it is no longer appropriate to maintain a blog in which I espouse my opinions, thoughts and prejudices. Not least, because some of my clients don’t like their freelance (or in house) journalists […]
Rector loses employment tribunal case
A former Church of England Rector has today lost his employment tribunal claim against the bishop and diocese of Worcester. The Revd Mark Sharpe, former Rector of the Teme Valley South benefice near Tenbury Wells, alleged that the bishop and diocese had failed to protect him from parishioners in his “toxic parish”. He claimed a […]
Council and councillor join battle in court over prayers
The practice of saying prayers at the start of council meetings is akin to councillors’ reading pornographic or racist material, lawyers for the National Secular Society (NSS) told the High Court last Friday. The NSS and the former Bideford town councillor Clive Bone brought judicial-review proceedings against Bideford Town Council after councillors there twice rejected […]
Judge must decide on priests’ employment status
A former rector, the Revd Mark Sharpe, will have to wait up to three months before he finds out whether he can bring a case of constructive dismissal against the Bishop and diocese of Worcester. The chairman of an employment tribunal, A. J. McCarry, told Mr Sharpe at the end of a five-day preliminary hearing […]
Former Worcestershire rector takes bishop to employment tribunal
Gavin Drake reports on the case before an Employment Tribunal of Rev Mark Sharpe who was forced to leave his Worcestershire parish. The outcome of the case could change the status of clergy within the Church of England. The Sunday Programme, BBC Radio 4
QC: ‘Spirit of Trollope is alive’
A leading ecclesiastical lawyer has suggested that “the spirit of Trollope is alive and well in the Church of England.” Geoffrey Tattersall QC made the admission on the second day of a week-long preliminary hearing at an employment tribunal in Birmingham. The tribunal, chaired by A. J. McCarry, is being asked to decide whether the […]
MPs investigate whether UK Christians are marginalised
A committee of MPs are quizing senior church reprepsentatives about whether Christians face discrimination. The cross party group is chaired by the Conservative MP Gary Streeter and the inquiry has been inspired by well publicised cases in which Christians have apparently been discriminated against in their working lives. The Sunday Programme, BBC Radio 4