Abbey to host Reformation service and symposium

WESTMINSTER ABBEY and the Council of Lutheran Churches are to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation with a service and symposium, on 31 October. The service, at noon in the Abbey, will include an address by the Archbishop of Canterbury and a new anthem composed by the Danish composer Bent Sørensen. The ensuing symposium will be held in St Margaret’s, Westminster, and include a talk by the Bishop of the Lutheran Church in Great Britain, Dr Martin Lind. Free tickets are available at www.westminster-abbey.org/reformation.

Another unmade Irish cake is tested

A MAN who took a case against a Co. Dublin bakery that declined his order for a cake decorated with anti-gay messages was not a victim of discrimination on religious grounds, the Irish Workplace Relations Commission has ruled, writes Gregg Ryan. In May 2016, the claimant (names were redacted) had asked for a cake that carried the message “‘Gay marriage’ is a perversion of equality” and a call for the 34th Amendment to the Constitution (which provided for gay marriage) to be repealed. He said that he was responding to another case, brought against Ashers Bakery (News, 28 October). The respondent argued that their order book was full.

University in partnership for social entrepreneurs

UNDER a new partnership between St Mary’s University, Twickenham, and SEED, a Pakistan-based social-entrepreneurship organisation, students will be supported in developing new business models to “deliver positive social and economic development in the UK and abroad”, the university announced this week. The plans include a Centre for Global Public Service and Social Innovation at the university, and a new Master’s degree programme in Global Public Policy and Social Innovation.