Reviews Articles
The story of carols
The carols we love to sing, like Christmas itself, owe much to pre-Christmas midwinter rejoicings at having reached the shortest day – with the prospect of new growth and abundance to come. The many references, for example, in ‘The Holly and the Ivy’ to evergreens refer to the need to celebrate...
Making change happen
I approached this book with caution. I have read many books about ‘making change happen’ and been disappointed. Some consist of tortuously convoluted theories that fall to dust as soon as an attempt is made to apply them to the messiness of real-life struggles. Tim Gee’s Counterpower: Making...
Where does money come from?
Spiralling inequality, chaos in the financial world and the Occupy protests force us to engage with economics. Where Does Money Come From? - A Guide to the UK Monetary and Banking System is about money itself, a subject that has, surprisingly, received little attention and about which there is widespread...
Gerhard Richter: Panorama
Halfway round the Gerhard Richter exhibition at Tate Modern, I stop in my tracks and smile broadly at the wall. On it hang three massive paintings of an overcast sky, each flecked by a pale puff of cloud. Is this, I wonder, what the James Turrell skyscape in the refurbished...
Costing not less than everything
‘I want to see us living our testimony in such a way that other people think not just, “Quakers – peace” but also, “Quakers – peace – the environment”.’ Pam Lunn
Being a Quaker: a guide for newcomers
There is a difference between ‘narrow’ casting and ‘broad’ casting. In the first you are talking to the converted. In the second you assume little and communicate your message in an open, inclusive and engaging manner. If you can do so with humour, humility and a touch of irreverence then...
Radical Quakerism
Quakers must be not be afraid to take extreme positions and proclaim them to the world. That was the message from Simon Best, who delivered this year’s George Gorman Memorial Lecture in Canterbury on Sunday. Hundreds of Friends of varied ages displayed a range of reactions as Simon...
Prayers for daily life
Many of us find difficulty with prayer. We want to give thanks. We hope for peace and for an end to the sufferings of others. We may find it easy to offer up spontaneous thanks to God for the blessings of this world, but to engage in daily prayer is...
Stuffed and starved
This book will make you angry. And if you still have any illusions that the majority of those who process and manufacture our food have our best interests at heart, then they will be dispelled. Today on this planet, 800 million people are hungry, and they are outnumbered by one billion...
Drawing infinity
These are the words of one Harrogate Young Quaker reporting back to the main Meeting on their Sunday morning activity. Robin Wilson had been enthusing them with his fascination for infinity and he has now written a short and wonderful book entitled Of Infinite Beauty: a Quaker explores infinity.