Latest news with #NickPark
Irish Times
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Church live-streaming likely to lead to more defamation actions, evangelicals warn
Defamation actions arising from the live-streaming of religious ceremonies are 'likely to happen again', Nick Park, executive director of Evangelical Alliance Ireland (EAI) has said. His remarks follow a successful action by Warren Walsh who sued the Cornerstone Slieve Bloom Church in Tullamore, Co Offaly, for defamation arising from comments made by his daughter during a live-streamed Baptism ceremony there. 'If it happened once, it's likely to happen again,' Mr Park said. 'Churches would be perceived as easy targets.' Mr Park, senior pastor at Solid Rock Church in Drogheda,said he has never live-streamed ceremonies from his church, mainly because of concerns about potentially faulty technology. 'We pre-record and put them on YouTube or as podcasts,' he said. READ MORE He felt evangelical churches, such as the hundreds represented by the EAI, are particularly vulnerable to legal actions in live-streaming situations because, during services, 'people are encouraged to make contributions which are not scripted'. He recalled how in 2016 he was called as a witness in a Belfast court case, where an evangelical pastor who said Islam was 'satanic' and 'spawned in hell' was charged with making 'grossly offensive' remarks about the Muslim religion. Belfast Magistrates Court ruled that Pastor James McConnell had made 'offensive' comments but they did not reach the 'high threshold' of being 'grossly offensive'. In May 2015, at Whitewall Metropolitan Tabernacle Church in north Belfast, Pastor McConnell preached that a 'new evil had arisen' and there were 'cells of Muslims right throughout Britain' similar to IRA cells of the past. His sermon was also streamed online. He continued that 'Islam is heathen, Islam is satanic, Islam is a doctrine spawned in hell,' adding that there was 'powerful evidence that more and more Muslims are putting the Koran's hatred of Christians and Jews alike into practice'. He was investigated by the PSNI for engaging in hate crime, which led to his prosecution at Belfast Magistrates' Court under the UK's 2003 Communications Act. He denied charges of improper use of a public electronic communications network, and causing a grossly offensive message to be sent by means of a public electronic communications network. In the Tullamore case, the father concerned was awarded €14,400, with the Cornerstone Slieve Bloom Church deemed responsible 'for 40 per cent of that', Mr Park said. In its general guidelines for using parish webcams, Ireland's Catholic Church advises that 'any behaviour which is discordant with the holiness of the Church or which might cause hurt and scandal to members of the faithful is inappropriate and should be avoided'. It also advises that 'there should be no live streaming in churches when there is no Mass or Liturgy taking place'. A spokesman for the Church of Ireland was 'not aware of any cases of this nature involving Church of Ireland parishes or our other ministries.' It too has published guidelines for all parishes in relation to live streaming and recording of services, and on the use of social media and digital communications more generally. These note 'that legislation, including the law on defamation, applies to digital and online communication as much as it does to print communication.' The Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) was 'not aware of any similar circumstances affecting a PCI congregation,' a spokesman said. 'The main questions that we are asked, however, is in regards to the use of video clips and worship music copyright,' he said.
South Wales Argus
17-05-2025
- Business
- South Wales Argus
Nick Park on agriculture 'shouldering burden' of tax deal
However, there is a concern that agriculture is shouldering the burden to the benefit of other industries at a time when it is already under pressure. There is widespread worry in particular that the removal of UK tariffs on bioethanol coming into the country could spell disaster for UK production, with US suppliers able to produce and ship cheaper in bulk. While there is currently little-to-no bioethanol production in Wales, it's a renewable energy source for the industry that is regularly cited as having huge commercial potential here, with the country having significant grassland potentially suitable for its production. There are projects underway looking at the viability of extracting and fermenting the sugars from grass to make bioethanol. Any farmers in the region who were exploring this as a potential option may need to keep a close eye on the impact across the rest of the UK. Some good news is that though there has been a relaxing of tariffs on US beef into the UK (and vice versa), UK food standards on imports will remain, meaning no hormone-treated meat on our shelves. What this will mean for Welsh beef or the more than 600 beef and cattle farms in the Gwent region is unclear. However, with Wales seeing a stark rise in production over the last few years (producing 51,300 tonnes in 2023 alone), farmers are again having to hold their breath and see what happens. Overall the only thing certain about this tariff deal is how uncertain it all is - with China already grumbling the deal could compel UK companies to exclude Chinese products from supply chains. Considering that in 2024 China was Wales' second largest import market, and the fastest growing, this could again cause a knock-on effect for our agriculture industry. Add into the mix that this agreement is not an official trade deal - that can only be agreed and ratified by US Congress - so it could be discarded as quickly as it was arranged. Nick Park is the director of Cwmbran-based accountants & tax advisors, Green & Co, and a member of the Country Landowners Association (CLA) National Taxation Committee.
CNN
03-03-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
In pictures: The 2025 Academy Awards
From left, Nick Park, Richard Beek and Merlin Crossingham hold "Wallace & Gromit" figurines before the show. Park and Crossingham directed "Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl," which was nominated for best animated feature. Beek produced the film.
BBC News
20-02-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
'We just do what amuses us,' Wallace and Gromit co-creator says
One of the animators behind Wallace and Gromit is sure there will be another film "because it's so fun to bring those characters to the world".The disaster-struck duo's latest outing, Vengeance Most Fowl, scooped two gongs at the Baftas on Lord, co-founder of Bristol's Aardman Studios where the series is made, said the team were "delighted" by the film's warm credited Wallace and Gromit's creator Nick Park's "simple enthusiasm" for the characters' global appeal. Vengeance Most Fowl won Best Animated Film and the newly created Best Children's and Family Film to BBC Bristol, Mr Lord said: "I think we have all of us been so delighted by the success of this movie that we think 'yes, we want to do that again'."Not because it's good business, although it is good business, but because it's so fun to bring those characters to the world."He continued: "We don't make (Wallace and Gromit) for kids or families, we just do what amuses us."That's the only honest thing we can do, and if you're lucky and if you've somehow got the magic touch as Nick surely has, it ends up appealing to everybody." "Believe me we really appreciate it. We love the way everyone loves it. It's great," Mr Lord urged anyone with an interest in animation to give it a try, insisting "it's actually very easy" to bring some toy cars or a lump of plasticine to life with a smart phone."Do that for fun because it's a great feeling, and then just keep doing because it's just like any other art form. "It needs a lot of patience but it's not difficult."Mr Lord said he hoped young people would look at Aardman's films and think "there's a career there".He said: "There is a career for many different sorts of people, there's music, there's painters and makers and electricians and riggers and lighting."There are so many roles that when we started out we had no idea they existed, and in Bristol we end up employing a whole raft of different talents."
