Issue 10-01-2020
Featured story
‘Now, if ever, is a time for us to witness to our ancient testimony.’
We have no current Yearly Meeting programme focused on the Quaker testimony to Truth. Yet we live in an era of ‘post-truth’, ‘fake news’ and promises which won’t be kept. Advertising, either vacuous or misleading, stimulates the greed that is destroying our home planet. Financial misreporting appears to be...
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‘Health resides in the relationships that we build on a day-to-day basis.’
Another New Year, another slew of ‘New Year, New You’ dieting articles. Belts tighten and, all over the UK, thousands of people write up their 2020 resolutions and pledge to shed more pounds and go easy on the calories. To Quaker Lucy Aphramor, who uses the pronouns them/they/their, it...
‘I see differently than longer-time Quakers… I see a need to get to know one another better.’
I I have been interviewing people for more than fifty years. It is amazing what we can learn from others when we ask respectful open-ended questions and simply listen and record. At a Belgium and Luxembourg Yearly Meeting last summer, in Meeting for Worship for Business someone asked if our...
‘One recent episode demonstrated the influence that Quaker values can have.’
I have been the principal of the Quaker high school in Brummana for a year. Recent months – of mass protests, relatively peaceful conflict, the disintegration of the economy, general strikes, and bank and school closures – have proved challenging, but the school survives. Children continue to learn and extra days’ teaching,...
‘Many of us, even committed “greens”, are not doing as much as we would like.’
What would achieving ‘zero carbon’ in our Area Meeting look like? Recently, about twenty-five Friends in Sheffield and Balby Area Meeting gathered to explore this. The day was a great success and people went away with ideas, enthusiasm and energy.
‘The ZCB model is one of the most detailed studies to date.’
In early December the Centre for Alternative Technology (Canolfan y Dechnoleg Amgen) (CAT) ran a course on a possible route to producing 100 per cent of the UK’s energy needs from renewable energy. The work is called Zero Carbon Britain (ZCB).
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‘Veganuary’ could save carbon equivalent of 450,000 flights
Members of Quaker Concern for Animals (QCA) are urging others to join ‘Veganuary 2020’, which campaigners claim will save the carbon equivalent of 450,000 flights and more than one million animals.
Quaker centres discuss ‘controversial bookings’
‘Dealing with controversial bookings’ is to be one of the main topics at the annual gathering of Quaker centre delegates, held next week at Edinburgh Meeting house. According to Sue Proudlove, from Edinburgh Meeting, the Quaker Centres Gathering on 15 and 17 January will also focus on ‘planning for an uncertain future...
BYM challenges government on ‘key priorities’
A just transition to a net-zero carbon economy and creating a culture of welcome are just two of the key priorities that Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) has challenged the government to committing to, in the wake of the general election result. The other priorities include: promoting peace and transforming justice –...
Headteacher removes ‘Lord’ in nativity hymn
There was controversy last month when a headteacher chose to remove the word ‘Lord’ from the lyrics of the hymn ‘Away in a Manger’ in a nativity service for primary school children.
QSA reaches target
Quaker Social Action (QSA) was celebrating last month when it reached its £10,000 target for the Big Give Christmas Challenge. The money will go to its Down to Earth programme, which provides practical support for people struggling with funeral costs.
CND highlights fifty-seven per cent who don’t embrace nuclear weapons
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) has said that the general election result shouldn’t necessarily be interpreted as reflecting ‘a growing enthusiasm’ for nuclear weapons.
‘The Education of an Idealist’, by Samantha Power
In Australia, the word ‘idealist’ has connotations of inevitable failure. In the US, people are more accommodating. ‘It is perfectly reasonable to build castles in the air,’ they assure us, ‘you just have to put foundations under them.’ Although born in Ireland, Samantha Power’s family moved to the USA...
Letters - 10 January 2020
The work continues I would like to reassure Howard Grace (20 & 27 December 2019) that the work of Saskia Jones and Jack Merritt (both killed at Fishmongers’ Hall in London on 29 November) is indeed continuing – with direct input from Quakers. Britain Yearly Meeting part-funds research by Ben Jarman, a Friend from Westminster...