Issue 26-10-2012
Featured story
Thought for the Week: The common good
On Saturday in central London thousands gathered to protest against present and proposed government cuts. There was a contingent walking behind the banner: ‘Cut Trident, not jobs, health or education’.
Top stories
Lessons from Cuba: fifty years on
In late October 1962 cold war watchers were horrified by the imminent prospect of global annihilation. John F Kennedy, the charismatic but mercurial American president, had over 20,000 nuclear warheads under his command; Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet leader, had about 2,000. Berlin had been a flashpoint ever since the Soviet blockade of 1948. Many...
Coalition and party politics
Quakers attended all three party conferences as part of a nonconformist delegation of church leaders, including the Methodists, United Reformed Church, Baptist Union of Great Britain and the Salvation Army. We were united this year in our commitment to equality and a shared concern that austerity is sharpening social...
Census protester discharged
A leading protester against the census has had her case discharged. Sarah Ledsom had refused to participate in the census because a division of the American-based company Lockheed Martin, part of whose activities involve the production of arms, were given the contract to administer the census in Britain.
Quakers march against cuts
Quakers from all corners of Britain took part in the anti-cuts marches held on Saturday 20 October. Friends met at Westminster Meeting House in St Martins Lane, in central London, before proceeding to the march. Police estimated 100,000 marched through London to a rally in Hyde Park, although the TUC put...
Emotion without action is irrelevant
‘I don’t have material things, but I have ideas.’ Rahab Maina, a refugee from her homeland, spoke with great feeling about the impact of having had to leave everything, suddenly, in fear of her life. She left home with a small bag of possessions, not even family photos, and...
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‘Talking Friends’ goes digital
‘Talking Friends’ after many years of producing recordings in cassette format, has gone digital to improve its service to their subscribers. Talking Friends (TF) is a registered charity, run by Quakers, to provide blind/visually impaired Friends and attenders in Britain Yearly Meeting with access to Quaker periodicals and...
Quakers urged to support petition
Friends have been urged to support a popular on-line petition that asks the government to review the cuts that have been made to the benefits and services provided to disabled people.
Paths to change
In the UK the top one per cent own more property wealth than the other ninety-nine per cent in total. This was just one of the startling facts discussed at a recent gathering at Exeter Meeting House on 13 October focused on economics, justice and the planet.
What if?
Linda Hoy is a well-known children’s novelist – one of her books is a set text in schools – and a Friend. She is also an explorer who has presented us with a book – The Effect: Where science meets spirituality – that I can only describe as warm-hearted, imaginative, a mine of...
An elephant made of fudge
Recently, I inherited two elderly, black-lacquered, teak elephants, obviously intended to be bookends but used as doorstops in my parents’ home throughout my childhood. I don’t need either bookends or doorstops, but I felt I had to give these tuskless veterans a retirement home. One occupies a corner in...
Eye - 26 October 2012
Dorothy’s description Friends House Library has a copy on the open shelves of Dorothy Richardson’s The Quakers, past and present, mentioned last week. But Eye wonders if our librarian is aware that there is a handwritten letter from her pasted inside the front cover, describing the origin of...
Letters - 26 October 2012
Benefits According to ‘i’ newspaper from 10 September 2012 in a report on claiming benefits – ‘Millions will struggle to claim’ – the Citizens Advice Bureau says ‘the new system risks causing difficulties to the 8.5 million people who have never used the internet and 14.5 million who have virtually no ICT skills’. Please draw these...