Society and Politics

• Equalities policy change. Liz Truss, the equalities minister, has announced a policy reset, focusing away from identity politics and ‘protected characteristics’, with a greater focus on poverty and geographical disparities. It is understood that she is concerned that policy has been led not by evidence, but by those campaign groups who shout the loudest. Read more here.
• Judges rule that people must have a 'right to offend'. After a successful appeal by a woman accused of 'misgendering' a transwoman led to her conviction being overturned, the two judges, Lord Justice Bean and Mr Justice Warby, ruled in their report that “free speech encompasses the right to offend, and indeed to abuse another.” They also stated that, “Freedom only to speak inoffensively is not worth having”. Ms Scottow, who had originally been found guilty in February, said that it was a "victory for freedom of speech."
• BBC’s ‘Vicar of Dibley’ outrage. It has long been recognised that the BBC has a distinct pro-left-wing bias. Such bias is particularly obvious on comedy shows like ‘Have I Got News For You’, where right-of-centre politicians (if they’re allowed on at all) are openly ridiculed, and anti-Tory, anti-Trump/Republican, anti-Brexit and anti-Christian (though never anti-Muslim) views are regularly condescendingly aired. A thoroughly topical example is the airing of a Christmas edition of ‘The Vicar of Dibley’, which includes a scene where Dawn French takes the knee for Black Lives Matter. Even before the show was aired, the BBC had received scores of complaints from TV licence-payers angry at the Beeb’s 'lecturing' stance in using comedy to promote 'political' causes.
• Study finds huge "woke, anti-Brexit" BBC bias. The scale of the BBC's Left-wing comedy bias is laid bare in an audit of its entertainment output. Research shows that out of 364 comedy slots broadcast by the BBC over the past month, just four featured comedians with explicitly Conservative or pro-Brexit views. The overt bias has prompted Mark Lehain, director of the Campaign For Common Sense, to write to new BBC director-general Tim Davie to call on him to tackle bias in BBC comedy.

Church Issues

• Calls for gay conversion ban. 400 global ‘faith leaders’, with representatives of various different faiths, have signed a declaration calling for a ‘gay conversion ban’, including pastoral support or prayer for those asking for support over such issues. The declaration has been revealed at the launch of the new Global Interfaith Commission on LGBT+ Lives, directed by Jayne Ozanne, LGBT campaigner in the Church of England Synod. Read more here and here. 

Israel and the Middle East

• Morocco/Israel peace deal. Morocco follows Bahrain, the UAE and Sudan in normalising relations with Israel. Although PM Othmani maintains that Morocco still supports a Palestinian state, diplomatic relations are being re-established, with liaison offices in Rabat and Tel Aviv, and with the eventual opening of embassies. Moroccan schools are also to teach Jewish history and culture. The declaration was made by President Trump, whose team helped to negotiate the rapprochement. As part of the deal, the US is to recognise Morocco’s claim over Western Sahara. Netanyahu praised King Mohammed’s “historic decision” to make peace.
• Sudan delisted as sponsor of terror. In related news, Sudan has been formally removed from the US’s terror blacklist, which was part of the deal brokered by Washington to normalise relations with Israel.
• Saudis remove anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism from textbooks. Monitoring group IMPACT-se finds that there has been a notable reduction in offensive anti-Jew content in school books, and that there is a clear institutional effort to modernise school curricula. Nonetheless, although efforts are being made, some hatred of Jews and Israel is still being taught. This report comes alongside talk of a possible normalisation of ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

World Events

• Hundreds of Nigerian boys kidnapped by Boko Haram. Over 300 boys were kidnapped from a government boarding school in Kankara, Nigeria, last week, by, it is claimed, Boko Haram. Most have now been freed, but it is still unclear how many remain in captivity. 
• Argentina moves to legalise abortion. Argentina's lower house has passed a bill to allow abortion, moving towards being the first in South America to do so. It does, however, need to be passed by the Senate, which is likely to take a vote very soon, probably by the end of the month. The vote is expected to be very tight.