Yet another Minister for Faith

Florence Eshalomi (Vauxhall and Camberwell Green) was appointed Minister of State in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 21 July 2026. It has now emerged that she has been given the faith brief as Minister for Homelessness, Democracy, Communities and Faith. According to the Religion Media Centre, though she was appointed in July, her portfolio and appointment as Faith Minister was only confirmed in the last week. She’s the umpteenth (number 11?) in ten years.

Resurrecting the offence of blasphemy?

On 30 April 2026, Stephen Gray, a retired police officer and member of the Free Speech Union, was convicted at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates’ Court for posting an allegedly “grossly offensive” message on Facebook, contrary to s.127 Communications Act 2003. He had reposted a message from his Facebook feed which read: “Fun facts about bacon! People who eat bacon have a lower chance of marrying a 9-year-old!” He told the court that the post was a reference to the marriage between the Prophet Mohammed and Aisha, and that his purpose was to start a discussion about whether that marriage had contributed to the acceptability of child marriage in Muslim countries. He said that the post was satirical, but the intention behind it was serious.

District Judge Steven Hood ruled that the post was indeed grossly offensive. He dismissed the notion that it raised serious political issues regarding child marriage and concluded that it was designed to be offensive and that it was not capable of being a serious post because it was framed in such a light-hearted way. He concluded that a conviction would not be a disproportionate interference with Mr Gray’s right to freedom of expression.

According to the report in the Sunday Telegraph, Lord [Toby] Young of Acton, Founder and Director of the FSU, commented: “Prosecuting people for making jokes about Islam, particularly if they contain a kernel of truth, is a new low. No one making a similar joke about Jesus would face prosecution. Blasphemy laws were abolished in England 18 years ago and should not be resurrected by the courts and applied to just one religion.”

Mr Gray is to appeal. [With thanks to Trevor Cooper and Simon Hunter.]

Antisemitism just isn’t funny

Philip Simon, a Jewish comedian, was due to perform his stand-up show at last year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe, but the venue scrapped it at short notice after it carried out what were described as “routine” checks on his social media. It concluded that his views aligned with what it described as “groups associated with humanitarian violations”. Mr Simon, however, believed that he had been cancelled “just for being Jewish” – and he sued.

On Monday, his lawyer told Edinburgh Sheriff Court that the venue had conceded that it had acted unlawfully and had “discriminated against the pursuer, contrary to the provisions of the Equalities Act” – and that the issue of liability had been resolved in Mr Simon’s favour.

Sheriff Roderick Flinn confirmed that the parties had “agreed by joint minute that the defender discriminated against the pursuer, contrary to the provisions of the Equality Act 2010” and that the defender had acted “unreasonably” in leaving it until 5 August to accept that it had discriminated against Mr Simon. Expenses relating to preparations for a substantive hearing would be awarded at the higher solicitor-client rate.

Support for listed places of worship in Scotland

On Tuesday, the Historic Environment Scotland announced a pilot scheme, the Scotland’s Places of Worship Fund, to support eligible listed places of worship by helping them recover VAT costs associated with repair works. It is expected to open for applications in autumn 2026 and will operate as a standalone scheme until the end of March 2027, with up to £1 million available through the existing Historic Environment Scotland Grants budget. Funding will be allocated to eligible applicants first-come, first-served. The pilot is intended to help assess demand for the scheme and provide evidence to inform any potential future funding arrangements. The Scottish Government provided a confirmatory answer to a written question on Wednesday.

Quick links

• Joshua Rozenberg, A Lawyer Writes: Defining Cohabitation: Lessons from Scotland: If Parliament gives enforceable legal rights to cohabitants in England and Wales, how should it define cohabitation? And does recent Scottish experience cast any light on the matter?

And finally…I

The Times has reported that academics at the University of Oxford have drawn up a new version of the Hippocratic Oath for engineers, designers and programmers working in the world of AI. The Oxford Oath for AI Practitioners is a collaborative public project of the Oxford Collaboration on Theology and Artificial Intelligence (OCTAI), bringing theologians, AI practitioners, and business leaders into shared reflection on vocation, responsibility, and the moral realities of AI work.

And finally…II

David Campanale, a former BBC journalist, was selected as the Liberal Democrats’ parliamentary candidate for Sutton and Cheam in 2021 but was removed in August 2023. He argued before the Central London County Court that he had suffered discrimination on grounds of his Christian beliefs – and the Lib Dems admitted liability. The Guardian reports that Mr Campanale is currently claiming £788,740.75 in compensation – including for “loss of political capital”. The Lib Dems are offering him £14,000 for injury to feelings. Watch this space … possibly.