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CND visits fifteen embassies
Members of the Christian Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CCND), including Friends, have called on fifteen London-based embassies to ask what steps their countries are taking towards achieving international nuclear disarmament. CCND’s action, on 1 March, comes ahead of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference, due to take place...
Now is the time for nations to commit to a world free of nuclear weapons, say UK churches
An alliance of UK churches, including Quakers, last week launched a campaign, entitled Now is the Time, to press governments to put all bomb-grade material under international control and commit to making the use and possession of nuclear weapons illegal through a new Nuclear Weapons Convention. The churches are...
Same-sex marriage amendment passes in House of Lords
West Yorkshire Quakers speak out for equality
Quakers in West Yorkshire have spoken out against the growing gap between rich and poor. They joined with a range of other church groups to call on politicians to tackle economic inequality as a greater priority than economic growth. Along with other members of the West Yorkshire Ecumenical Council ...
Swansea group challenges Tesco labelling
A group of 100 Swansea residents and shoppers are seeking to prosecute the supermarket chain Tesco over their sale of goods produced in Israeli settlements on Palestine’s West Bank. The campaigners have signed a letter to the Swansea Trading Standards Office, urging them to begin prosecution proceedings. They were...
JRCT sells Vedanta shares due to alleged human rights abuses
The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT) has sold almost £2million worth of shares in the Indian-based mining company Vedanta due to the company’s alleged abuse of human rights and the environment. JRCT, a Quaker institution, had been in discussions with Vedanta about their concerns for nine months before making...
Calls for better alcohol labelling
Quaker activists have backed calls for compulsory health warnings on alcohol. They have warned the government not to rely solely on voluntary agreements with the alcohol industry. The government recently found that only fifteen per cent of alcoholic drinks provide enough information about unit measurements and health risks, despite...
Hunger strikes at Yarl’s Wood
Demands are growing for an urgent inquiry into conditions at the Yarl’s Wood detention centre in Bedfordshire. A hunger strike by women detainees has drawn attention to allegations of mistreatment. At least twenty women are thought to be refusing food at present. The Labour MP John McDonnell has...
Religious service for Civil Partnerships draws nearer
Support is gathering behind the amendment to the Equality Bill presented by gay Labour peer lord Alli that would lift the ban on Civil Partnerships taking place in religious premises. After an earlier defeat, lord Alli is trying again in the House of Lords on Tuesday, when Anglican bishops...
Friends turn out in peaceful Aldermaston blockade
Hundreds of campaigners brought the gates of the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) in Aldermaston to a virtual standstill on Monday in the biggest protest to be seen at the site for some years. The blockade comes at a time of major political controversy over the renewal of the Trident nuclear...