Issue 20-03-2015
Featured story
Thought for the Week: Springwatch
The annual Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) watch is over for another year and Springwatch is around the corner. I am sure that many Quakers enjoy both. Taking an hour out to watch the range of avian visitors in the garden is a restful and rewarding experience....
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Quaker Equality Week
The first Quaker Equality Week took place from 6 to 15 March 2015. More than eighty Meetings took part. The week was an initiative of Manchester and Warrington Area Meeting. Enid Pinch, one of the organisers, told the Friend that the Area Meeting Social Justice Group had wanted, for some time, to run...
A snapshot of British Quakers
In 2013 a team based at the Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre and associated with the universities of Birmingham and Lancaster carried out a major survey of British Quakers. The survey was a representative sample of adults attending Quaker Meetings on one of two particular Sundays. The response rate was impressively high,...
Financial inequality
Luton and Leighton Area Meeting recently held a workshop-based discussion on financial inequality. The subject is the cause of major social ills and far more marked than most people think. The Area Meeting workshop was a success in raising awareness and imparting some knowledge on what is largely an invisible...
A convenient truth
In recent powerful statements, Quakers in Britain have committed themselves to reducing the damage we do to the planet by use of carbon fuels and to working for greater economic equality. Both of these concerns are rooted in hundreds of years of Quaker inspiration and experience. But it has not...
Friends in Scotland
Friends gathered for General Meeting for Scotland in St Andrews on 7 March in a rather sombre mood following the recent deaths of a number of well-known and well-loved Friends who had given much service to our Religious Society. Indeed, the funeral of Christine Davis, clerk of London Yearly Meeting in...
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Friends join faith leaders in opposing nuclear weapons
Quakers in Britain have signed up to a statement issued by twenty-six faith leaders across the UK calling for new initiatives to eliminate nuclear weapons. Senior representatives from eight faiths, including Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists, say that nuclear weapons ‘violate the principle of dignity for every human being...
NZ Quakers write to their prime minister
Members of the Yearly Meeting of Aotearoa/New Zealand have asked their prime minister to ensure that the country responds effectively to its environmental responsibilities, in particular the control of greenhouse gas emissions.
Friends invited to become citizen-journalists
Citizen journalism has been selected as a key focus for the 2015 spring gathering of the Quakers and Business Group.
Jean Vanier wins Templeton Prize
Many Friends have welcomed the news that Jean Vanier, founder of L’Arche, has won the 2015 Templeton Prize.
Campsfield expansion on hold
The application was submitted by the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice. It was withdrawn on 12 March on the instruction of the home secretary. ‘This is a great achievement for Stop Campsfield Expansion, a coalition of local organisations which has devoted an enormous amount of time and energy into...
Eye - 20 March 2015
Wheel Stop Trident Passion, puns and pedal-power have come together in the name of a upcoming awareness-raising initiative. Wheel Stop Trident is a group of about eight Young Friends and others associated with Friends’ work, who are united in the belief that the renewal of the Trident nuclear weapons system...
Letters - 20 March 2015
Tax justice I was puzzled by Ernest Hall’s letter (6 March), which appeared to suggest a substantial cut in income tax for high earners, who currently pay forty-five per cent on income over £150,000. I don’t think many multi-millionaires would object to his proposal, let alone threaten to leave the...