Fewer people might have died in the Grenfell Tower fire had residents been evacuated while it was still possible an official report into the tragedy said.

The public inquiry’s first report into the blaze, due to be published on Wednesday but seen by the PA news agency, identified “systemic” failures by the London Fire Brigade (LFB).

Inquiry chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick criticised the London Fire Brigade for its “stay-put” strategy when residents were told to remain in their flats by firefighters and 999 operators for nearly two hours after the blaze broke out just before 1am. The strategy was rescinded at 2.47am.

Rt Rev Graham Nichols, Bishop of Kensington, who was part of response and relief efforts, told Premier he was filled with ‘admiration for the fire service and the way they responded, but on the other hand, he said there’s been a feeling that if policy had been changed earlier, more people would have escaped from the fire.

“I think it illustrates something about the way we run our institutions,” he said.

“Do you follow the rule of regulations write the way down to the last minute? Or do you respond to the needs of the time? 

“It seems to be obvious in some ways emergency services were overwhelmed by what happened with Grenfell Tower. Nothing had happened of that scale in London for years and they were rather woefully unprepared for it.”

“And that’s a great regret for them looking back on it.”

Sir Martin also said “the LFB’s…

New contactless donations points have been set up in shops, cafés and public buildings in the city centre to benefit Leicester’s Homelessness Charter.

The diocese of Leicester set up the charter last year, uniting agencies, council, business and faith groups all with a goal to tackle homelessness.

Leicester Homelessness Charter Chair, Canon Pastor at Leicester Cathedral, Rev Canon Alison Adams, commented: “I am delighted that two core Charter members, BID Leicester and Leicester City Council, have together given the public a really practical way of supporting initiatives to reduce homelessness.

“Many people are concerned but unsure about how to respond. In raising awareness, Give Leicester and the online directory we are also launching will begin to address this.”

The ‘Give Leicester’ donation points are small, contactless terminals, which will enable people to make a £3 donation simply by tapping their card.

Donations collected over the first six months of the scheme will go towards the One Roof Night Shelter operated by local charity One Roof Leicester. The shelter provides additional emergency accommodation and food for those in need.

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The listed places of worship grants scheme (LPWGS) is to be extended by the Treasury for a further year until March 2021.

Although churches and cathedrals are responsible for fundraising for their own repairs, the scheme will pay grants to cover the VAT incurred on urgent structural work and new roofs in a bid to reduce the burden on congregations to raise funds.

According to the Church of England’s 2016 Statistics for Mission, churches and cathedrals collectively run some 33,000 social action projects and contribute £22m a year to the UK economy.

A government commissioned report published in 2017 called for measures to ensure the upkeep and use of church buildings after finding them to play a ‘vital role’ for community identity and public service.

The decision to extend the grant comes in direct support of the Taylor Review: Sustainability of English Churches and Cathedrals and its recommendations to support the care and maintenance of such buildings to ensure their sustainability for the future.

The LPWGS funding will be guaranteed until 31st March 2021 under the new extended plans, to the benefit of hundreds of additional churches.

Dr David Knight, Senior Church Buildings Officer, said: “We want to thank the Government for their continuing support for churches through the Taylor Pilots and the extension of this scheme.

“It will be a welcome reassurance to many churches with plans for the next year or two…

It wasn’t long before clergy and parishioners who know their history picked up on the error, with Lloyd Llewellen-Jones professor of ancient history at Cardiff University and an Anglian tweeted: “I think that we can trace the roots of the established Church in England to at least 664CE, if not earlier. 485 years? Pah!”

The 664 date refers to the Synod of Whitby, when the kingdom of Northumbria chose to follow Roman rather than Celtic church practices.

Some members of clergy commented an earlier start date to the CofE was accurate. One of Anglican chaplain responded to the tweet: “That’s funny, I thought my diocesan cathedral dated to the mid-4th century as a site of Christian worship? Are we simply one of many protestant sects, or Ecclesia Anglican, the Church of England? Please delete this and read the history page of the CofE website.”

As the historians came out of the Twitter woodwork, not to be outdone, a canon in the south of England said that “coming originally from the diocese of St Albans” he regarded the Church’s starting point to be around 209AD, the date traditionally given for the martyrdom of the British saint.

The CofE’s tweet was welcomed by at least one Roman Catholic, however, who described its claim of a 16th-century origin for Anglicanism as a “very revealing slip-up”.

A spokesperson for the CofE told The Times newspaper, that the CofE “derives many of its distinctive features from the events of the 16th and 17th centuries. Of course,…

New contactless donations points have been set up in shops, cafés and public buildings in the city centre to benefit Leicester’s Homelessness Charter.

The diocese of Leicester set up the charter last year, uniting agencies, council, business and faith groups all with a goal to tackle homelessness.

Leicester Homelessness Charter Chair, Canon Pastor at Leicester Cathedral, Rev Canon Alison Adams, commented: “I am delighted that two core Charter members, BID Leicester and Leicester City Council, have together given the public a really practical way of supporting initiatives to reduce homelessness.

“Many people are concerned but unsure about how to respond. In raising awareness, Give Leicester and the online directory we are also launching will begin to address this.”

The ‘Give Leicester’ donation points are small, contactless terminals, which will enable people to make a £3 donation simply by tapping their card.

Donations collected over the first six months of the scheme will go towards the One Roof Night Shelter operated by local charity One Roof Leicester. The shelter provides additional emergency accommodation and food for those in need.

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.

The organisation said that amounts to 3,969 languages that are yet to reach the Bible.

James Poole, executive director of Wycliffe, said this shows there’s still much work to do.

“That’s why Wycliffe continues to work with urgency to translate God’s word into all these languages.”

Despite this, Wycliffe’s annual figures show a lot of progress.

Among the highlights are that 698 languages now have the complete Bible (up from 683 in 2018), and that 1,548 languages have a complete New Testament (up from 1,534).

A further 1,138 have some translated portions of the Bible (up from 1,133).

Peter Brassington, who compiles the statistics said: “These are encouraging figures, and represent the tremendous work that translation teams are doing across the world.

“Changes year to year don’t always look dramatic on the surface, but Bible translation requires dedicated, long-term effort, and the translations finished now often started many years ago. I joined Wycliffe in 1996: the number of languages in which there is a complete Bible has doubled in that time.”

Wycliffe said there is also active translation or preparatory work going on in 2,617 languages in 161 countries.

Poole said every time a translation is competed is momentous occasion.

“Yet again, we have seen that when people get their New Testament or Bible in their language, it makes such a difference,” he said.

“Seeing the…

The rapper has long been linked with an appearance on The Late Late Show’s popular Carpool Karaoke, with Corden previously revealing West had cancelled three times.

He finally made an appearance of sorts during Monday’s episode.

However, in a twist befitting an artist with the grandiose pretensions of West, he and Corden ditched the usual 4×4 and instead took to the skies in a jet packed with the musician’s Sunday Service choir.

During the flight West, who has just released his latest studio album, Jesus Is King, opened up on family, religion and his struggles with mental health.

Prepare for takeoff.

James and @kanyewest take Carpool Karaoke to a whole new level TONIGHT on CBS pic.twitter.com/H5DRBZKuH2

— The Late Late Show with James Gore-den (@latelateshow) October 28, 2019

Speaking about his five-year marriage to reality TV star Kim Kardashian, West explained: “Marriage years are different than human years.

“Like you know how dog years are like seven years? Every marriage year is like 100 years.”

West joked it felt as though he had been married for “500 years”. West, a father of four, said during his darkest moments his loved ones struggled to help him.

“People in my family were praying for me, but they couldn’t call me and scream at me. I’m a grown man,” he said.

“But it was God that came and put this thing on my heart and asked if I was ready to be in service to him.”

West added: “I have no regret and no shame.”

West, 42, was joined by his choir…

In a tweet posted on Monday afternoon she said sarcastically: “It’s super cute when journalists/interviewers for magazines leave out the massive part where I give God the glory for the success/ achievements in my life.

Haha I still love you and God will still be praised.”

It’s super cute when journalists/interviewers for magazines leave out the massive part where I give God the glory for the success/ achievements in my life.

Haha I still love you and God will still be praised

— Letitia Wright (@letitiawright) October 28, 2019

By Tuesday morning the tweet garnered almost 11,000 likes and almost 2,000 retweets supporting her statement and encouraging her to still be open about her faith.

LOVE THIS SO MUCH! I notice that with a lot of interviews where people give the glory to God – Some TV interviews do it too, by either cutting the interview abruptly or glossing over it to move on quickly. But like you said, regardless He will STILL receive the glory

— adenike adenitire (@Adenike1) October 28, 2019

Say that again for everybody in the back one time!! Jesus will be glorified no matter when or where! pic.twitter.com/MNfop3prWZ

— Connor (@Cdub510Connor) October 28, 2019

I don’t understand why are magazines doing this. They may not believe in God but you do and you know God helped you through thick and thin. Its your belief and they shouldn’t cut it out just…