The race to be Christmas 2018’s number 1 has been won by LadBaby with the song about the joys of sausage rolls.

It’s the work of singer and YouTuber Mark Hoyle who is known as “LadBaby” for his viral videos about life as a dad.

The song, entitled “We built this city” is a cover of a track by Starship.

The city is built not on “rock and roll” but on a pork stuffed pastry instead.

The music video includes his wife and son and some of the lyrics include “We built this city on sausage rolls”

“Thank you for getting a sausage roll to the top!” Watch @LadBabyOfficial’s reaction to scoring 2018’s Official Christmas Number 1. More: https://t.co/drsfN33wWz #XmasNo1 pic.twitter.com/ePE1QaBxcs

— Official Charts (@officialcharts) December 21, 2018

All proceeds of the sale of the track are going to the Christian charity The Trussell Trust.

The Trussell Trust run a network of over 420 food banks across over 1,200 centres across the UK and provide a minimum of three days’ emergency food and support to people experiencing crisis. 

The Trussell Trust says: “Not only was December the busiest month for food banks last year, but year on year December figures are rapidly increasing, as it prepares for its busiest Christmas yet”

Some Christmas classics also made the top 10 singles this Christmas, including Maria Carey’s festive favourite “All…

It’s reported many carol services are using the words ‘offspring of the favoured one’ instead of ‘offspring of a virgin’s womb’ when singing the Charles Wesley hymn.

London vicar Rev Marcus Walker said it was ‘heretical’ to play down the reality of Christ’s birth.

Speaking to the Sunday Telegraph, Bishop of Crediton Rt Rev Jacqueline Searle also criticised the change.

She said: “It’s important we are not squeamish about singing ‘of a virgin’s womb’, which reflects nothing being impossible with God.”

“Just because something sounds difficult or new doesn’t mean it needs changing.”

Stay up to date with the latest news stories from a Christian perspective. Sign up to our daily newsletter and receive more stories like this straight to your inbox every morning.

Earlier this month, the Church issued a documents encouraging clergy to use liturgy “to enable people to mark a major transition in their lives”.

The guidance suggests a person can renew the commitments they made in baptism in a public setting marking their new identity.

The Church said water or oil could be used in the service which should be “celebratory” in nature.

According to the Sunday Times, a number of bishops, led by Bishop of Wakefield Rt Rev Tony Robinson, are now said to be calling for a conscience clause to be introduced for those who feel they couldn’t lead a service like this.

The original guidance was released with a commendation from Bishop of Blackburn Rt Rev Julian Henderson.

He initially said: “This new guidance provides an opportunity, rooted in scripture, to enable trans people who have ‘come to Christ as the way, the truth and the life’, to mark their transition in the presence of their Church family which is the body of Christ.”

However Bishop Julian later released a second statement as part of the Church of England Evangelical Council, contradictory to the first, in which he warned the guidance was “both highly divisive and theologically and pastorally questionable.”

The Church of England says there is no obligation on clergy to offer this service.

Stay up to date with the latest news stories from a Christian perspective. Sign up to our daily…

According to the Observer, the Foreign Office is supporting specialist civilian courts aimed at tackling terrorism.

Around £10 million has been spent since 2016. In that time 59 death sentences have been handed down.

While the aim is to tackle terrorism, Pakistan’s legal system defines terrorism as any crime designed to create a “sense of fear or insecurity in society”.

Critics claim people who have no connection to extremism are being caught by the system.

Harriet McCulloch, the deputy director of human rights charity Reprieve, told the Observer: “It is deeply troubling that Britain is assisting in the investigation and prosecution of crimes that carry the death penalty in Pakistan, particularly as those crimes are being tried in courts that do not uphold basic standards of due process and where the rates of wrongful conviction are alarmingly high.”

Christian mother Asia Bibi was sentenced to death in 2010 (before British money was introduced) after being accused of blasphemy. She was acquitted at the Pakistani Supreme Court earlier this year after spending 8 years on death row.

The Foreign Office says it’s confident all funding for programmes has been delivered in a way consistent to its opposition of the death penalty.

Stay up to date with the latest news stories from a Christian perspective. Sign up to our daily newsletter and receive more stories like this…

The governors of the Anglican Centre in Rome announced Archbishop Bernard Ntahouri’s resignation following an allegation of sexual misconduct.

Archbishop Bernard had also been the Archbishop of Canterbury’s personal Representative to the Holy See.

In a statement the Centre’s Governors said: “The Governors of the Anglican Centre in Rome have accepted the resignation of its Director Archbishop Bernard Ntahoturi following his suspension last week over an allegation of sexual misconduct.

“The Governors are now taking urgent steps to appoint an interim director, who will also act as the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Representative to the Holy See.”

Archbishop Bernard has held the role as Director since October 2017. Before he was ordained he was a civil servant who served as chief of staff to Burundi’s President and served four years in prison following a military coup in 1987.

Previously he has held the position of Bishop of Matana and he also served as the Archbishop of Burundi.

The details of the allegation are not public knowledge.

The governors have said “anyone with a safeguarding concern or requiring support” to contact the Church of Englands safeguarding team.  

Stay up to date with the latest news stories from a Christian perspective. Sign up to our daily newsletter and receive more stories like this straight to your inbox 

Some 12,000 people voted in the Classic FM poll with the 1847 classic coming out on top for the third year in a row.

Previous favourite Silent Night was second.

Classic FM presenter Aled Jones is full of admiration for the hymn.

“It has an incredible melody and beautiful words,” he said. “I never tire of it.”

In the Bleak Midwinter and Hark! The Herald Angels Sing were next in the list.

Stay up to date with the latest news stories from a Christian perspective. Sign up to our daily newsletter and receive more stories like this straight to your inbox every morning.

Sir Vince Cable and past Lib Dem leaders joined Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn and others including Tony Blair in hailing the dedication and decency of the politician and former commando, who passed away on Saturday evening.

The former party leader, who was credited with making the Lib Dems a significant third force in politics during his tenure between 1988 and 1999, had announced he was suffering from bladder cancer in November.

The party announced his passing, saying he would be remembered “as someone who made an immeasurable contribution to furthering the cause of liberalism”.

Sir Vince Cable, the party’s current leader, said it was “a hugely sad day” for the party and everyone else across politics “who had immense affection and respect for Paddy”.

He hailed a man who “was famous for his politics, but his talents extended well beyond that arena”.

Born in India and raised in Northern Ireland, he later served in the Royal Marines and Special Boat Service, including in Borneo and the Persian Gulf.

He hit the headlines four years into his leadership of the Lib Dems when, in 1992, he revealed he had had a five-month affair with his secretary, which led The Sun to nickname him “Paddy Pantsdown”.

His marriage to wife Jane survived the scandal.

After stepping down as leader, Ashdown, who was MP for Yeovil from 1983 to 2001, was first knighted and then made a peer as Lord…