Rev Chris Viney from St James Millbrook believes God has been protecting his community, even though dozens of people needed to be evacuated from their homes in Saddleworth Moor on Tuesday evening.

The associate minister – based a mile away from land engulfed by the flames – said: “One of the things that we did in the church here [last night] was gather together and pray.

“God was at work because it could have been so much worse than it was.”

Sleeping bags, roll mats, food and drink were stockpiled at the church in the event displaced families or members of the emergency services would need them.

It is understood the majority of evacuated houses were in the Stalybridge and Carrbrook areas.

Local residents, who have described seeing 20 foot flames and ash falling from the sky, have been urged to stay inside and keep their windows closed.

The army has been on standby to step in.

Rev Viney added: “We should all pray for the community of Carrbrook at this time that they receive the peace of God into their lives, having suffered the trauma that they did last night.

“We could see the fire coming down the hillside, towards the top end of the village.

“It must have been very, very scary for the people who live in the houses near to where the fire was.”

Greater Manchester Fire and…

In a joint report on social care funding by the Health and Social Care and Housing, Communities and Local Government Committees, MPs say the cash raised from a premium in England would be held in a dedicated and audited fund.

Under the current system, most people fund social care through personal assets, leaving many unable to afford it.

The Salvation Army has highlighted the current difficulty for old people who don’t own their own homes.

Speaking to Premier, Jonathan Graham, policy adviser for the Salvation Army said: “There are obviously some very clear problems in how the system current functions and I think a lot of those are to do with how the system is funded and in particular how that system disadvantages people who, in later life, don’t necessarily own their own home so aren’t allowed to put the value of those homes up as collateral against the costs of their care.

“There’s a very clear sense that we need to have funding options that both in the short, the medium and the long term ensure that people can receive good quality care both when and where they need it.”

Graham said the Salvation Army support the recommendations of the report to have some sort of tax-based or insurance funding: “Provided that people are clear where their money is going and what it’s being used for, then often they’re much happier to contribute.”

The report based their recommendations…

The reality star – who is also known as the GC, will be releasing “The GC: How To Be A Diva” on Thursday.

Speaking to Heat Magazine, the 37-year-old drew comparisons between her book and the Holy Christian text.

“I think this book is bigger than the Bible and do you know why? Because this is going to spread cheer like the Bible.

“You know how that touches our hearts and everything? My book does the same. It spreads happiness and it’s not the sort of book you’ll read once either – you’ll go back to it and back to it. I cannot stop reading it.”

 

In another interview about her book, Collins shared where the inspiration for the text came from.

Speaking to CelebsNow she said: “Basically, I read Pocket Kim Wisdom [a book of quotes from Kim Kardashian]. My mum bought it for me, and it was absolutely hilarious, so I thought, ‘you know what? I need to do my version of it’ and that’s literally what I’ve done.”

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Five Supreme Court justices unanimously allowed an appeal by Rebecca Steinfeld, 37, and Charles Keidan, 41.

They are currently prevented from having a legal union through the route of civil partnership because the Civil Partnership Act 2004 says only same-sex couples are eligible.

The academics, who live in Hammersmith, west London, suffered defeat at the Court of Appeal in February last year, but were given the go-ahead in August for a Supreme Court hearing.

The panel of Supreme Court justices, including the court’s president, Lady Hale, heard the couple’s case in May and announced their decision on Wednesday.

The judges granted a declaration that the 2004 Act was “incompatible” with human rights laws on discrimination and right to a private and family life.

Lord Kerr, announcing the court’s decision, said the Government “does not seek to justify the difference in treatment between same-sex and different sex couples”.

He added:”To the contrary, it accepts that the difference cannot be justified.”

What the Government sought was “tolerance of the discrimination while it sorts out how to deal with it”.

He concluded: “That cannot be characterised as a legitimate aim.”

Lord Kerr said it was “salutary to recall that a declaration of incompatibility does not oblige the Government or Parliament to do anything”.

The couple, who have two daughters aged nine months and two, claimed…

Archbishop Mario Conti said he had been “blindly satisfied” in the past that youngsters were being properly cared for at Nazareth House in Aberdeen, the city where he became a bishop in 1977.

The 84-year-old clergyman expressed his “pain and sorrow” to those who have suffered mistreatment and later issued a statement saying he stands with “all those who have been abused”.

And the former church leader – who has faced criticism from some survivors for past comments about the allegations – asked for their forgiveness “if they feel I was insensitive to their pain”.

The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry was also told he believes allegations of a cover-up by the Catholic Church are unfair.

Over the last eight weeks, the probe has been looking specifically at the now-defunct children’s homes run by the Catholic congregation the Sisters of Nazareth in Scotland, including one in Aberdeen.

The inquiry has been told of a string of alleged abuses by nuns at those institutions decades ago.

On Tuesday, the probe was shown a BBC documentary from 1998 on the allegations of Nazareth House survivors.

Archbishop Conti said he was “horrified” by some of the claims.

He told the inquiry: “I am deeply ashamed of what has been revealed and I express my pain and sorrow to those who were abused.

“Clearly all we are doing (in the inquiry) is an attempt to get to the truth and provide an opportunity…