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Quakers lobby on controversial bill
Quaker lobbying was praised as the controversial Overseas Operations Bill was debated in the House of Commons last week. The bill passed through the Commons in November despite concerns raised by a number of peace and human rights campaigning groups.
London Friends explore debt and impoverishment
The narrative that ‘all economic debt is bad’ is damaging to society and should be challenged, said Mark Thomas, founder of ‘The 99% Organisation’, at a Build Back Better event organised by London Quakers.
Consider seeds of violence, says AFSC
The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) has called on the US to examine seeds of violence there, following the events leading up to Joe Biden’s inauguration when white supremacists and Donald Trump supporters broke into the US Capitol building to stop Congress from certifying the results of the presidential...
Gold Medal for Jocelyn Bell Burnell
The Quaker scientist Jocelyn Bell Burnell has been awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society 2021, following in the footsteps of former recipients including Albert Einstein, Edwin Hubble, Arthur Eddington and Stephen Hawking. The medal recognises her ‘extraordinary achievements’ and has been awarded not only for her personal research...
Quaker gets MBE for sponsored walks
Newbury Friend Ruth Saunders has been awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours List. The Quaker centenarian received the award for her sponsored walk for Thames Valley Air Ambulance in which she has raised more than £49,000.
BYM and Africa Section Friends meet
Sixty-six Friends from Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) and from YMs across Africa came together online to ‘visit’ with each other last month. Job Bikokwa, executive secretary of the Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) Africa Section, opened the gathering on 5 December with a Bible reading followed by worship.
To open or not to open
Places of worship are exempt under the latest restrictions, expected to last until spring, but faith leaders have expressed caution. While most Meetings have moved online, according to Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM), several have not, leading to some tension within the community over the differing approaches.
Bells ring out for Treaty
Newcastle Quakers are just one of the many Meetings which are displaying a banner to celebrate the day (22 January) when the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) is ratified.
Destitution growing, says JRF
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) has called for more sustained assistance for people experiencing extreme poverty, in the third of its destitution studies. The report released on 9 December shows that, even before the Covid-19 outbreak, destitution was rapidly growing. Since 2017, it said, ‘many more households, including families with children, have...
Closures ‘foolish’, says Sheila Hancock
Quaker Sheila Hancock has said that it was ‘foolish’ for the government to force places of worship to close down during the two national lockdowns in 2020. Speaking in Premier magazine on 1 December, the Hammersmith Friend said: ‘I think it was foolish of them. It’s rather like gyms… my gym...