Issue 27-10-2023
Featured story
Top draw: Kate Cramer on the art of forgetting
There is a pencil drawing that Paul Klee made in 1939 called Forgetful Angel. It’s like a child’s drawing, and to me, it depicts a child angel. It feels magic. That’s maybe because it is drawn with love; the simplicity of outline (both hesitant and sure) is as...
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Listening post
Silence is hardly pure. Life engenders Breathing aloud, spider steps, and white noise – Your nerves fretting to their own agendas – But there seems to be a spirit that employs What rises from near quiet. Just recall When Elijah, bloodied by raw righteousness, In hiding unclear how fate might befall, Heard...
QARN prepares for 2024 general election
Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network (QARN) has produced a new leaflet for Friends to share with MPs and party candidates on immigration issues.
Controlling substances: Voz Faragher on a call for decriminalisation
A long, long time ago a Friend from Cornwall brought a concern to his Local Meeting. This concern was accepted by the Area Meeting and then was tested at Meeting for Sufferings, where unity was elusive. Cornwall Area Meeting continues to carry the concern for the decriminalisation of the possession...
Splitting the vote: Tony D’Souza on the recent referendum in Australia
We arrive in Australia at a time of great social change. A nationwide referendum, called ‘The Voice,’ was held on 14 October. In Britain, readers will remember the acrimony of the Brexit debate. It was much the same here. If you remember Brexit, you would not be surprised by the amount...
Money talks: Marian McNichol on a Settle workshop
It’s not easy to talk about money but we can’t afford not to. Earlier this month, Quakers in Settle in North Yorkshire helped organise a workshop focused on this subject, with partners in our local ‘justice and peace’ group. We were inspired by the resources from the Just...
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Quakers call for ceasefire
Britain Yearly Meeting has joined American Friends Service Committee, Canadian Friends Service Committee, Friends Committee on National Legislation, and the Quaker United Nations Office, in calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Huddersfield Peace Lecture on gender-based violence
Huddersfield Friends held their annual peace lecture earlier this month. It was titled ‘From Yorkshire to Brazil and Back Again: Getting better responses to violence against women’.
Meeting for Sufferings: Modern day slavery
Sunday morning started with Friends considering a minute from Surrey & Hampshire Border Area Meeting (AM) on modern day slavery.
Meeting for Sufferings: Sudan
Next on the agenda was a letter of concern from Doncaster Friends calling on church leaders to show support for the city’s large Sudanese community, and Sudan as a whole.
Meeting for Sufferings: IPP sentencing
Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences were also considered, with a minute from Central England AM. A representative from the Community Justice Group said that, with 3,000 people still in jail under these indeterminate sentences, ‘We ask that renewed energy is put into lobbying the government on this matter, particularly in...
What’s Eating the Universe? And other cosmic questions, by Paul Davies
When he was living in Australia, Paul Davies was interviewed by the journal Island (Winter 1992). Davies is a theoretical physicist, cosmologist, astrobiologist, broadcaster, and best-selling author. In the published conversation, he discussed the philosophical implications of current cosmology. Some of what he said would have encouraged an exponent of the...
Letters - 27 October 2023
Coexist in peace Quakers are used to reading and listening to many things that challenge ideas and are good at responding, I find. I shall take up Ol Rappaport’s invitation to read Israelophobia (6 October) and hope in reply he will accept my invitation to read Nathan Thrall’s A...
Eye - 27 October 2023
Friends in Hitchin Meeting have been hard at work fundraising for a new addition to their Peace Garden. Local Friend Chris Kell set the scene: ‘It has taken several years to convert our Quaker burial ground into a Peace Garden for use by the people of Hitchin. Our Meeting house...