The Evening Standard’s campaign to tackle food waste and hunger has won the backing of Sainsbury’s and the London Mayor, Sadiq Khan. The supermarket chain made an undisclosed donation to the charity ‘The Felix Project.’ It also agreed to create more food donation partnerships between Felix and its stores and depots. Mr Khan became the project’s most famous volunteer after being picked up from City Hall in a Felix van and donning a hi-vis jacket to help deliver fresh surplus fruit and vegetables to residents of St Mungo’s charity in Southwark. He said, ‘With the best will in the world you are going to have surplus food, and this campaign ingeniously turns the problem of food waste into a social solution to help address food poverty.’ Sainsbury’s chief executive said arrangements are in hand for Felix to collect fruit and vegetables from fifteen Sainsbury’s stores as well as an online distribution centre, with the prospect of more partnerships to come.

The BBC’s programme ‘Just a Girl’, aimed at children aged 6 - 12, is available online on the children’s website CBBC. It’s a fictional video diary of Ben who calls himself Amy and wears girls’ clothes explaining to viewers that he was born as a boy and is in the process of halting puberty and becoming a girl. The programme has had the public, campaigners and MPs complaining about how utterly inappropriate this is for children. Family Education Trust said, ‘The more we promote the idea that a boy can be born into a girl’s body and a girl can be born into a boy’s body, and drugs and surgery can put things right, the more children will become utterly confused.’ But the BBC has defended this piece of propaganda, insisting that it ‘reflects true life’ and there is enough context for children to understand the theme.

Jewish backpackers will be finding a welcome in Christian homes in the UK. A unique travel programme aimed at providing cheap accommodation for young Israeli backpackers is becoming an international hit! Host Israeli Travellers (HIT) offers the hand of love and welcome to youngsters touring the world after their demanding stints in the Israeli Defence Forces. It is seen as an opportunity for Christians to express their indebtedness to Israel for the Bible, and especially to talk about their Saviour. The scheme began in New Zealand and expanded to Australia, Fiji and Hong Kong. Now measures are being put in place for UK hosts to join this scheme, providing a bed, bathroom and cooking facilities, with the young people usually preparing their own meals. The most significant development over the years has been the ever-increasing openness of these young people to spiritual matters.

Plans to create a place for drug addicts to inject heroin under supervision have been welcomed by Glasgow City Mission. The scheme will tackle drug-related deaths, the spread of infections among users, and the amount of needles and injecting equipment left in public areas. GCM chief executive Grant Campbell said there was an urgent need for action. It will involve NHS staff, but the location and its cost are still to be established. Pray that this service will not mean cuts in funding for services helping drug addicts kick the habit and will prove cost-effective from a societal perspective. Such safe places have been described as ‘fix rooms’ or ‘shooting galleries’ by some; the controversial plan has been considered in other UK cities but not implemented.