Issue 28-10-2022
Featured story
Bear in mind: Dave Dight’s Thought for the Week
The human brain is possibly the most complex object in the universe – with it we out-competed other hominins. It gives us frameworks for meanings, including belief systems. These in turn offer coherence to our lives, and give rules for social organisation. But they also provide solutions to existential concerns by...
Top stories
Anti-frackers vow to carry on
Anti-fracking campaigners, including Friends, are gathering to discuss resistance to the government’s plans to reverse the ban on fracking.
Going forward: Paul Hodgkin writes from the year 2037
Looking back from 2037, it all started very quietly. Back in 2022, five Meetings decided independently that they wanted to sell their Meeting houses. It seemed a bit sad, but perhaps it didn’t matter that much – after all, seventy per cent of new members came from the thirty per cent of...
Not the same old story: Roland Carn revisits a popular tale
Do you remember the story of the blind priests? Long, long ago, and far, far away, the sage told of the blind priests who each touched the same thing. One said, ‘It’s a pointy spear.’ The next said, ‘It’s a twisty snake.’ The third said, ‘It’s a...
Death do us part? Molly Meacher, Anne Charvet, Eileen Aird and Terri Banks on assisted dying
In the past few years, major changes have been made around the world regarding assisted dying. It is the right time to revisit the subject.
When Autumn comes
I have come to the time When I watch seasons change, Mainly from my window, Nature is framed like some Constable or Turner, Startling, I notice garden choices Some not mine, a year’s growth Will fade, Autumn is here, The full eye blasting colour of the reds Of the...
All articles
Public Order Bill passes milestone
Quakers are expressing dismay that a bill which would drastically limit the right to protest has passed through parliament.
New fund for young climate activists
Quakers have helped set up a new memorial fund to support young climate activists.
BYM reports on party conference season
The leaders of both major parties – one, of course, now changed – seemed committed to tackling the climate crisis, but had different solutions to achieving this, Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) said, after staff attended Labour and Conservative Party conferences.
Friends raise issue of military emissions
Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA) has welcomed an intervention during a meeting of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) raising the issue of military emissions.
A close encounter: Eoin McCarthy visits Northwest Border Meeting in Strasbourg
Last month, fifty-two Friends from eleven countries met in Strasbourg for Northwest Border Meeting, a gathering of Friends from across Europe. Having missed the joy of being gathered in person for the last two years, there was much joy and many new encounters.
All Ways Walk Cheerfully, by Peter Schweiger
Life is a patchwork of happenings, some planned for, many disjointed, and countless repetitive. The richer the incidents that make up these happenings, the richer the patchwork, and this book unpacks a fascinating and busy life in a refreshingly honest style – at times planned, at times disjointed, at times repetitive,...
Letters - 28 October 2022
Language The quote from Quaker faith & practice (Qf&p) in Ol Rappaport’s article on antisemitisn (30 September) really spoke to me. ‘The language in which we express what we… say is of vital importance; it both shapes and reflects our values’ (Qf&p 23.44). Language is indeed important,...