Religion and law round up – 31st August

A week that saw Donald Tusk approved as the next EU president, a continuation of the domestic row about the ECHR – and L&RUK passing another milestone… 

Halal and shechita

On Thursday we again posted on the debate surrounding religious slaughter, following a report in The Times (£) that the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Beef and Lamb has called inter alia for experiments on stunning sheep and cattle in order to satisfy consumers of halal meat.  Although not an official publication of the House of Commons or the House of Lords, the 16-page report is nevertheless an important document: it summarizes the results of the APPG’s Inquiry during which it receive oral and written evidence from a wide range of stakeholders such as industry experts: Shechita UK, the Halal Food Authority; veterinary professionals, the Farming Minister George Eustice and the European Commission.

The fact that it has been in the public domain since early August is perhaps a reflection of the balanced nature of its findings, to which we will probably return at a later date.  A more detailed summary is available here.

UK population statistics

Also on Thursday the the Office of National Statistics published the most recent data on the UK population in the period to the end of 2013: It includes annual estimates of the UK population by country of birth and nationality and annual statistics on live births, including the countries of birth for non-UK born mothers and fathers. For those interested in issues of religion and society it is extremely useful general background. It also confirms what many of us suspected: Polish is not far from overtaking Welsh as the second most widely-spoken language in the UK.

Human rights again

The low-level war of attrition over the Human Rights Act 1998 continues to rumble on. On Thursday The Times (£) published an interview with Lord Faulks QC, Minister of State for Justice, in which he told Frances Gibb that

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