Issue 06-04-2012
Featured story
Thought for the Week: Easter
Among the astonishing stories of leaders of the world’s great religions, none is more astonishing than that of Jesus. More than two thousand years ago, a peasant from the northern outback of Jewish lands became a noted teacher, preacher and healer. Within a short time he so upset the...
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Adventurous gardening
My passion for gardening comes from my parents, who ran a nursery and market garden plus an extensive vegetable and flower garden. Although not Quakers, their life was a model of simplicity and reverence for the natural world. The Quaker testimonies, particularly simplicity, underpin every garden I make.
Quakers in the World (Europe): Growing in the Spirit
‘Pavel and his wife and two children get on a train at about 6am on Sunday morning. He usually has his accordion with him. The train journey to Prague takes three and a half hours.’
Meeting for Sufferings: Advocacy strengthened
Ministers and MPs can expect to hear more from Quakers in coming years. At their meeting on 31 March, Meeting for Sufferings (MfS), the national committee of British Friends, resolved that greater resources should be devoted to advocating Quaker views to decision-makers.
Meetings for Sufferings: Public statements
Public statements on behalf of Quakers look set to be issued more speedily in future. Meeting for Sufferings (MfS), the national committee of British Quakers, have resolved to review procedures for issuing statements to ensure they are ‘relevant to public events and timely’.
Dear prime minister
Friends are concerned about advocacy and how best to ‘speak truth to power.’ There are many ways in which we can do this. The internet and ‘new media’ have introduced revolutionary forms of communication – but some old-fashioned ones still have their place.
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Meeting for Sufferings: Public statement on economic equality
A statement on economic equality has been received from Quaker Peace & Social Witness. This is in response to Meeting for Sufferings (MfS), which minutes, in part: ‘We are distressed that the United Kingdom has now a greater disparity in incomes than at any time since the 1930s. We know...
Meeting for Sufferings: Indefinite detention of migrants and asylum seekers
Meeting for Sufferings (MfS) ‘expressed its outrage at this disgraceful practice’. Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW) is asked to produce a statement of behalf of MfS based on the statement produced by the Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network (QARN) and reflecting the feelings of MfS asking for the immediate...
Meeting for Sufferings: BYM trustees report
Jonathan Fox, clerk of Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) trustees, reported on their work. He mentioned four topics: the refurbishment of the Large Meeting House; the priority to strengthen advocacy; the relationship between trustees and Meeting for Sufferings (MfS); and the close work of trustees with Management Meeting.
Meeting for Sufferings: News in brief
Meeting for Sufferings Arrangements Group The terms of reference for the Meeting for Sufferings Arrangements Group were presented as they needed to be updated. The assistant recording clerk is now called the ‘deputy recording clerk’ and a change in the way members were appointed was explained. The changes were approved.
Policeman, Stoke Newington
Standing close up to a policeman, I can get a free look at his uniform, its unrevealing midnight matt cloth and silvery buttons, its clever gussets, and places for his walkie talkie, yes, his walkie-talkie tucked under his tunic. Serious tailoring.
Eye - 06 April 2012
The Penny Art Auction A Quaker artist in Brighton has embarked on an unusual challenge. The Penny Art Auction is a month-long initiative by Lucianna Whittaker, who was inspired by the simplicity testimony to clear her house of possessions – ‘otherwise your things own you’. In the process she had to...
Letters - 06 April 2012
Monarchy I have had a lifelong antipathy to flummery and grandeur. For as long as I can remember I have considered myself a republican. The testimony to equality only reinforced this when I became a regular attender and then a member of the Society of Friends.