Issue 26-03-2010
Featured story
Friends gather to witness a hundred years of Ramallah Meeting House
Quakers from various parts of the world gathered in celebratory worship with Ramallah Friends and attenders to mark the centenary of the dedication of the Meeting house on 6 March 1910. After an opening address by Jean Zaru, the clerk of Ramallah Monthly Meeting, greetings were given by Jeanette Mikhail, the mayor...
Top stories
A house to call a home
What sort of house would you really like as your future home? One with minimal heating bills, airtight and with controlled ventilation? Made of responsibly sourced sustainable materials? With good day lighting, sound insulation and rainwater harvesting? Adjustable to changing living patterns? The challenge currently facing the building industry...
Epistle from the Friends International Center in Ramallah
It’s the economy, clever
The end of money and the future of civilization by Thomas H Greco Jr. Floris Books. ISBN 978-086315-733-2. £12.99. Prosperity without growth by Tim Jackson. Earthscan. ISBN 978-1-84407-894-3. £12.99. Back in the 1970s, an academic called Theodore Roszak roused some of us with fighting talk...
X marks the spot – Quakers prepare for general election
Quakers across Britain look set to play an active role in the general election, with several Local Meetings involved in running hustings events while a number of national Quaker bodies lobby candidates on issues of particular concern. In Cambridge, Jesus Lane Meeting has taken the initiative in bringing together...
All articles
Education key to tackling new drug challenge, says QAAD
A legal ban on mephedrone – known as ‘meow meow’ – will not in itself be enough to tackle the dangers it poses, according to Quaker activists. Helena Chambers of Quaker Action on Alcohol and Drugs (QAAD) insists that education is key to tackling the problem. Mephedrone hit the headlines after...
Christians call for 75-1 pay limit
The excessive pay differences between company bosses and their staff have been criticised by the Church Investors Group, a network of Christian investment bodies. But the group has stopped short of calling on investors to ditch their shares. The average payment made to the chief executive officer of a...
Anger as lone politician blocks anti-poverty bill
Campaigners have expressed anger after a key anti-poverty bill was blocked by an isolated Conservative MP. The Debt Relief (Developing Countries) Bill would have restricted ‘vulture funds’ – companies that buy up the debts of poor countries and then sue for massive profits. Despite passing all stages in the...
Israeli boycotts, sanctions and divestments – is a corporate Quaker stance possible?
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu asserts Israel’s ‘right to build’ in Jerusalem. Israel pokes the US in the eye by announcing the building of 1,600 new settlements in sensitive East Jerusalem. The Palestinians regard this as extreme provocation and threaten a third intifada. When we were in Ramallah for the...
Farewell, pacifist Quakers
Pacifism was a key factor in drawing me to Quakerism. It saddens me to see pacifism steadily losing its place at the heart of the Society, at least in Britain. The Peace Testimony is not incidental to Quakerism. Through seeking to live out our commitment to nonviolence, we testify...
A lesson in stewardship
There’s a lot of talk these days about saving the environment and going green. I’ll join it, but not to declare any new high budget plan in saving the world or a great scientific discovery that will cut down on emissions and bring an end to global warming....
Letters - 26 March 2010
In comes the citizen approach
Beyond the Profits System: Possibilities for a Post-Capitalist Era by Harry Shutt. Zed Books. ISBN 978-184813-417-1. £12.99. How are we to get through the current global financial and economic crisis? Harry Shutt, who saw the storm clouds approaching several years ago, offers some radical solutions to the problems...
Because spiritual matters
Skeletons of trees on a high horizon, gleams of sunshine and curtains of rain: inside the school hall, wall bars, balloons and red hearts stuck on the walls, and groups of Quakers playing a boundary game. We were learning about how to be a Becoming Friends companion. Discussion was...
Eyewitness - 26 March 2010
The smallest room has a history Plumbing has never been our strong point but we have been fascinated by the discoveries we have made – and which readers have pointed us to – on the history of the world’s sanitation systems, after Eye’s story on loo-twinning for Burundi (5 March). ...