Latest News
Quaker testimony to simplicity leaves lasting mark at Scottish university
Peace activists blockade NATO base.
Climate change action
Quaker involvement with climate change campaigning has been on the increase in the run-up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this December. In particular, this involvement has recently been galvanised by two international movements: ‘350’, which aims to raise awareness of the need to reduce carbon dioxide in...
Early years curriculum exemption refused
The first parental exemption request to the compulsory Learning and Development Requirements of the English Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum has been refused. Frances Laing, a member of Wirral and Chester Meeting, received a letter from her child’s state-funded school saying: ‘The school feels… it would not...
Bournville connections celebrated at Rugby Meeting House centenary
On 19 October 1909, the Rugby Advertiser reported that, a ‘Mrs WM Darby, of Birmingham, formally opened a new Friends’ Meeting house, which will be available for Adult School purposes’. The paper liked the new building. ‘The new Meeting house is of a pleasing design, and reflects much credit upon the architect,...
Saving the bees – an update
Despite an international campaign on their behalf, the plight of the world’s bees remains critical. Apart from producing honey, these industrious insects play a vital role in pollinating food plants and an estimated one-third of our human diet depends on their efforts. As reported in the Friend (19 June)...
Alternative economies?
At the very beginning of this year, the Friend dedicated an entire issue to looking at ‘human economics’ or, in the words of the BBC’s Robert Peston, ‘the new capitalism’: that is, different attempts to experiment with ways in which economics operate on a human level. These attempts are...
Should assisted suicide be sanctioned by law?
Recent high-profile cases, such as those of Debbie Purdy and Sir Edward Downes, have intensified the debate about whether it should be made legal to assist a person to take their own life. The archbishops of Canterbury and Westminster, with chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks, published a joint statement objecting...
Quaker approach to business under the spotlight
Quaker attitudes to business and employment have been in the spotlight this week, following the attempted takeover of Cadbury by American food giant Kraft. On BBC Radio 4’s Thought for the Day on Friday 11 September Catherine Pepinster, editor of Catholic weekly The Tablet, used the news story to fulsomely praise...
The future begins today
‘How can we integrate our buildings with our witness and service, and with our testimonies for peace and justice? Ten years ago we saw a moral imperative – to minimise this Center’s impact on the earth. Friends Center now represents the marriage of our faith and our practice.’ In their...