Culture Articles
Bombs and friendship
You were warned what would happen if you invaded Iraq but you left us facing a predictable fate with bombs. We needed friendship, not an attack.
Poems for peace
There’s something about poetry which reaches directly into the heart in a way which no other medium can. Poems For Peace is a collection which spans a diverse range of poets, each with a completely different style.
The truth about Trident
In December 2006 Tony Blair’s government published The Future of the United Kingdom’s Nuclear Deterrent. It was clear to a bitterly disappointed anti-nuclear movement that a decision to replace Trident had already been taken. The only question was: when? The Conservative-Lib Dem coalition government was coy on the timing;...
A sharing economy
It is now generally agreed, with a few exceptions, that the model of the economy to which we have subscribed in the last twenty years, the market capitalist model, can only deliver in fits and starts and that its benefits, which are principally material, are only available to a diminishing...
What Jesus really said
In his new book The Upside-Down Bible: What Jesus really said about money, sex and violence, Symon Hill admits that he and, indeed, all of us are biased! His perspective is that of an associate of the socialist Christian thinktank Ekklesia, a broadcaster, journalist (formerly with the Friend), Christian activist...
Winter walking
Walking in solitude, Heartbeat heavy, pulse, The steady rustle of wind In the sorrowful trees Bent to the growing Demands of the elements.
Waging peace
Born in 1940, one year after myself, the Quaker, activist and writer David Hartsough has participated in the most significant protests for peace, justice and equality of my lifetime: protests against military armaments destined to kill millions of civilians, against racial bigotry tearing our society apart, and against dangerous nuclear power...
Thoughts on committees
Oh what a pity, another committee has messed it up again And safeguarding measures that give me no pleasure are driving me insane. Whatever I do – in a moment or two – we’re back in square one again. Every time a plan is tried, it goes straight down the drain.
The Candle
It is dark outside and, I am on my own. Preparations are in hand: The room is tidied, curtains drawn and the phones silenced. The white candle, living in an old box under the stairs, is brought out, dusted, lit and placed on the floor. Other lights are extinguished. All...
Earthly limits
Dear Lord, thank You For the light of day For three birds flying across the sky For grey and white clouds