Issue 01-03-2024
Featured story
In the fast lane: Tony D’Souza’s Thought for the week
We are in the season called Lent. Traditionally, this is when Christians fast for forty days, in preparation for Easter. This year, I am rediscovering my roots in that tradition. I am not going to cover myself with sackcloth and ashes, but I have decided to go without certain luxuries ...
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Different class: Ian Tod on a house group discussion
Our house group met recently to discuss ‘White privilege and social inclusion among Quakers’. We were happy to welcome Michael Wallace of Baltimore Yearly Meeting, who is a person of colour. In preparation we watched a talk that covered the history of Quakers in the US and the Caribbean (www...
In the line of duty: Robin Brookes campaigns for conscientious taxation
I first came across the organisation ‘Conscience: Taxes for Peace Not War’ in the early 1980s. This was around the time that cruise missiles were being stationed in Britain, and Ronald Reagan touted his theory of limited nuclear war. The organisation’s simple message struck home: we all pay for...
Open verdict: Neil Morgan on the doors of perception
What is religion all about? The secular view says it is like living in an enclosure with thick walls and fake doors. People push and pull on the dummy doors, but they do not open. They cannot find a way to look out. Other people say that when they pull...
The Good Soldier, by Ford Madox Ford
The Good Soldier (1915) is routinely included in lists of the best novels written in English. John Dowell, its narrator, is a Quaker from an old Pennsylvania family. He is one of those unreliable narrators, far from disinterested. He is one of the four main characters in the novel – the quartet...
A welcome change: Michael Bartlet on the Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network
Refugees are the human face of international injustice. For two decades, the Quaker concern for this issue has been expressed through Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network (QARN). QARN does not run its own projects, but we network with many NGOs that are working on issues of migration and refugees. Many...
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Quaker chaplain banned from prisons for five years
A Quaker prison chaplain was banned last month from working at any prison for five years.
Quakers form Wandsworth Prison support group
A group of Quakers from South West London has formed a group to support Wandsworth Prison. Gillian Ashmore, from Kingston Meeting, had the idea for the Wandsworth Prison Improvement Campaign (WPIC) after a talk by Liz Bridge, former Quaker chaplain.
Scots Friends witness against pipeline
Edinburgh Friends are supporting a Global Week of Action to prevent the proposed East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) from being insured.
Trident expensive and immoral, says BYM
Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) has reiterated its concern over the Trident missile system, after reports emerged of another failed test.
Leicester Friends spotlight Elizabeth Heyrick
Leicester Friends learnt about the historic local archivist Elizabeth Heyrick last month. Heyrick campaigned for the release of enslaved people.
Eye - 01 March 2024
On this day The ‘Science Notes’ column in the Friend of 1895 piqued Eye’s curiosity in the 1 March edition, with its note on the consequences of deep pondering. J Edmund Clark wrote: ‘That the brain grows heavier when we think may be shown in a curious way. If a man...
What the skeleton said
When alive I was male. My hips have Told you this. A warrior, a soldier. You need only see my shin, dented, Axe-marked, the whole leg mis-shapen While still in my teens. Fighting was harsh, and weapons primitive. My hands, when they held blood, damaged by war, My skin burned,...
Letters - 01 March 2024
George Fox and Mansfield We at Mansfield Meeting have been following keenly the events covering the 400th anniversary of George Fox’s birth. But we have felt that there has been something missing – his close connection with the Nottinghamshire town of Mansfield. This predates most of the other major events...