Latest News
Work begins on Stockport Hydro site
Construction work has begun at Otterspool Weir, Marple, site of Stockport’s first community-owned hydro electricity plant. The plant is supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (see ‘Water power rising’, 1 April). The plant will generate enough electricity for around fifty homes for the next forty years or more.
The people’s security service
The world has its ‘first civil society intelligence agency’. That’s how the founders describe Open Briefing, an organisation set up with Quaker support. Open Briefing aims to provide comments and research on intelligence, defence and security. There is likely to be a focus on long-term approaches to the...
UK sends arms mission to Libya
Ministers are planning a trade mission to sell arms to the new Libyan government. The decision has been described as ‘shameless’ by the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT). UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), a unit of the Department for Business, is planning a trade delegation in March on behalf...
Chancellor closes loophole
British Quakers are celebrating a campaign success following the government’s decision to close a loophole that has allowed corporations to avoid millions of pounds in tax. The chancellor of the exchequer, George Osborne, made the announcement only weeks after being lobbied on the issue by Friends and other...
Roy Prockter case going to the European Court of Human Rights
A Quaker is to take his case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) after being convicted of withholding income tax. Roy Prockter, of Clacton-on-Sea Meeting, has refused to hand over money that could be used for war. A judge last week refused him leave to appeal within English...
St Paul’s Meeting for Worship
There is now a regular Meeting for Worship at 3pm every Sunday on the steps of St Paul’s in solidarity with the Occupy London Stock Exchange Movement.
Friends and St Paul’s
A weekly Meeting for Worship is now taking place at the ‘Occupy London’ camp near St Paul’s Cathedral. Meanwhile, several Quaker Meetings are formally considering their response to the ‘Occupy’ movement. ‘There must be measured consideration,’ said Jill Segger, a member of Bury St Edmunds Meeting, who will...
London Quakers face the future
The concerns of London Quakers took centre stage at Friends House last Saturday when two hundred Friends gathered together to consider a range of issues facing Quakers in the London area. A pressing problem facing London Friends is having too many Meeting houses with too few Quakers to support...
Civil partnership ban to be lifted
The ban on same-sex civil partnerships taking place in religious buildings will be lifted in England and Wales on 5 December. The change in the law will not at this stage extend to allowing same-sex couples to use the word ‘marriage’. Quaker Meetings are therefore expected to host a civil...
Soup runs will survive
Westminster Council has withdrawn plans to criminalise rough sleeping and soup runs in an area of central London. Their decision follows months of campaigning by charities and faith groups. There was a storm of protest when councillors proposed the by-law in March (see ‘Threat to soup runs’, the Friend, 11 March)....