Issue 01-05-2020
Featured story
‘In which kinds of renewal or “self-correction” may we partake?’
‘Unprecedented’ has become an overused word. But it fits. It’s already been claimed that historians may divide time ‘Before’ or ‘After’ COVID-19.
Top stories
‘Eccles lumps all music together as an inadequate expression of the true music God requires.’
My reading during the lockdown has thrown an interesting light on early Quaker history. I’ve been reading literary treatments of various plagues, and the parallels with the present crisis aren’t comfortable reading. There’s fourteenth-century Florence (from Giovanni Boccaccio’s The Decameron); a city on the Algierian coast...
‘Our tax system is built on mutual distrust.’
At Yearly Meeting Gathering 2014, Richard Murphy gave the Salter Lecture on tax justice. In his following book, The Joy of Tax, he describes the Quaker testimonies of Peace, Equality, Truth and Simplicity as the ‘underpinnings of a good tax system’. Simplicity, he claimed, is what everyone seems to say that...
‘One week after our move back it was announced that Greenham was to become a US base.’
I was born and brought up in Newbury during the second world war. One of my first memories was of D-Day, when planes took off from Greenham Common, carrying US paratroopers to France. The Common has had quite a history since then! Now, with the challenges of the COVID-19 virus,...
‘Clearly the reluctance to change, with all its rationalisations, is a sign of age.’
I know I belong to an ancient generation. My favourite singer by a country mile is Ella Fitzgerald. And this period of social isolation has given me time to explore the lives and work of Miles Davis and Bill Evans. So, we’re talking about a focus on the late 195...
‘COVID-19 is what upsetting the ecological balance really looks like.’
Last October’s issue of the Extinction Rebellion (XR) newspaper carried a short article by a doctor, Amelia Cussans, on the health aspects of climate change. Her concern was with the effects of heat. She noticed that ‘the traditional NHS winter crises are now matched by summer crises’. Heatwaves were...
All articles
Friends celebrate Earth Day 2020
Quakers across the world celebrated Earth Day 2020 last week, which this year marked its fiftieth anniversary. Central England Quakers (CEQ) joined three other groups to hold an online gathering for the day, focusing on how cities are responding to the climate emergency. The interfaith event ‘Our Cities and Climate’ on 22...
BYM moves forward with Vibrancy plans
The joint Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM)/Woodbrooke project to radically reshape support for Quaker communities took what it described as ‘a significant step forward’ this week with news of more local development workers and a key hub office in Leeds.
Roots of Resistance write to MPs
Huddersfield Quakers and the local Roots of Resistance (RoR) group has sent an open letter to MPs raising concerns about the University of Huddersfield’s links with police in Bahrain.
Eurosatory 2020 cancelled
The French Quaker group ‘Stop Fuelling War’ has been celebrating the news that the Eurosatory arms fair in June has been cancelled due to health concerns surrounding COVID-19. The group said on its website: ‘This year we have a unique opportunity: to recognise and act to secure the quality of...
Woodbrooke launches Twitter-based learning
Woodbrooke has launched its first Twitter-based course in response to the coronavirus lockdown, as its online presence grows. The ‘Talking to God’ course, launched on 17 April, is led by Rhiannon Grant, the tutor for Quaker roles at Woodbrooke and deputy programmes leader for the Centre for Research in Quaker Studies.
FWCC furloughs staff
Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) has furloughed two members of its five-strong staff due to the coronavirus outbreak. Gretchen Castle, FWCC general secretary, told the Friend that the staff were furloughed from the World Office as ‘the work of booking flights and updating information dwindled’.
Entering the Space
Where the river flows that’s source-less and ocean-less and bubbles its full stops without a single catching sentence.
Eye - 1 May 2020
A touching offering Lydia Vulliamy, of Ipswich Meeting, sent in the photo (above) to share a gesture that warmed her heart this Easter. ‘We received this lovely card with the message “to let you know we are holding you in our hearts and thoughts during this unusual time…” A family...
Letters - 1 May 2020
Feel the depth I was interested to read Maud Grainger on online worship (27 March). My experience has been somewhat parallel. First, in March 2019, we were glad to be part of the Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA) Study Tour, which we were unable to go on, by meeting with them...