Issue 18-09-2105
Featured story
Thought for the Week: Refugees
People are leaving desperate situations and risking their lives to seek a place of safety in Europe. They are fleeing wars, conflict and dictatorships, situations for which our western governments share the responsibility. They are not coming for our benefits; they are coming to rebuild their shattered lives, hoping for...
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Calais: What crisis? Whose crisis?
Images of refugee trains crossing Europe have replaced those of asylum camps in Calais in the rapidly evolving media framing of a ‘migrant crisis’ facing the UK. But how should we approach the task of thinking about this crisis? If it is a crisis, what kind of crisis is it? ...
Drop a small stone
In mid-July we were notified through ‘Churches in Cheltenham’ of a civic service to be held on 15 August at the St Mary’s Minster marking ‘Victory over Japan’, which would begin with a celebratory peal rung from the Minster bells. I struggled with this, and how to respond, for some...
A dilemma
You have probably all heard the one about the bishop being interviewed by the cub reporter. He asks the bishop: ‘What do you think about sin?’ The bishop replies dryly: ‘I’m against it.’ Peace is rather the same – except that everybody’s in favour of it. For me, the...
Am I my brothers’ keeper?
In the past few weeks we have seen unprecedented pictures of tens of thousands of people from the Middle East trying to reach safe destinations. The UK government’s response seems to have suddenly changed from building fences, employing soldiers and weapons to ‘generously’ taking in 20,000 Syrian refugees over the...
Exhibition highlights fraternity
Dorking Friends chose Heritage Open Weekend to launch an exhibition charting the lasting connection between a conscientious objector and a handful of French towns.
All articles
Friends at arms fair protests
Friends were among the crowds protesting at the Defence Security and Equipment international (DSEi) arms fair, held from 15 to 18 September at the Excel Centre in London’s Docklands.
Friends welcome refugees
Quakers were among tens of thousands of people who took part in events across the UK on Saturday 12 September in support of refugees.
Friends mark International Basic Income Week
South Belfast Friends joined local Methodists – and others – on 15 September to mark International Basic Income Week (14 to 21 September 2015) with a discussion on ‘citizens’ income’.
Housing concern continues
A threshing meeting on housing took place at the Woodbroke Quaker Study Centre from 11 to 13 September.
Scottish Friends hear of tax reform
More than thirty Quakers attended General Meeting for Scotland at Glasgow Meeting House on 12 September.
Quaker academics meet
‘Nonconformist responses to the world war one’ was the theme for the Quaker Studies Research Association’s annual conference.
Friends take to the waves
Irish Friends were among members of Eco-Congegration Ireland who prayed in the sea on 30 August.
Expats are migrants, too
From the time that we moved to the Canary Islands, each year has brought with it attempts by migrants to land on the islands. Some have been successful, whilst the police, as well as Frontex, the organisation responsible for promoting, coordinating and developing European border management, have thwarted others. Most...
Looking at ‘the red book’
‘We are seekers but we are also the holders of a precious heritage of discoveries. We, like every generation, must find the Light and Life again for ourselves. Only what we have valued and truly made our own, not by assertion but by lives of faithful commitment, can we hand...
Ploughshares
Always the guns he used Were those that had killed. Rendered safe, they were flattened With a strong force for once positive And made into sturdy shovels, Gleaming spades, with which people In the Third World planted trees, Dug in other fruitful crops And made earth banks to protect Their...
Eye - 18 September 2015
Friends at Farfield After two centuries, the presence of Friends is being felt at Farfield Meeting House in Yorkshire. Chris Skidmore, of Craven & Keighley Area Meeting, told Eye: ‘After a long period of absence by Friends, this summer has seen a renaissance of Quaker use of the Meeting house....
Letters – 18 September 2015
Life and Death I read Anne Wade’s article (4 September) with anguish. My arguments are also experiential. I, too, was privileged to be with my mother as she slipped quietly from this life to the Hereafter. Yes: it was ‘a good death’. But anyone who truly loved my mother would...