Issue 13-01-2012
Featured story
Thought for the Week: In Meeting
A moment of quiet. A collection of my thoughts. A ragbag stuffed with the past: overfull sometimes, memories spilling out of it and spitting venom at me. Then the silence of the moment begins to absorb them all like old-fashioned blotting paper. There is the sense of others settling and...
Top stories
Companionship and good food
‘Isolation,’ says Donna, when asked about the worst aspects of being homeless, ‘Isolation is a very hard thing to deal with.’ Over a cup of tea in the Quaker Christmas Shelter, she tells me that ‘homeless people don’t trust anyone’. On the streets, people have to second-guess each otherâ€...
Ministers mislead public over Welfare Reform
Ministers have been accused of misleading the public over welfare reform. Research has revealed that the vast majority of respondents to a government consultation were critical of the coalition’s planned changes to benefits for disabled people.
400 being prosecuted for census boycott
At least 400 people are being prosecuted for failing to complete last year’s census. Miriam Yagud, of Nailsworth Meeting, reports that this figure was given to her by the Office for National Statistics after a lengthy telephone conversation.
James Nayler Foundation closes
The James Nayler Foundation has announced that it is to close. The foundation was started in 1998 following an article in the Friend and a BBC television Panorama documentary on the prison work of consultant psychiatrist Bob Johnson. It aimed to embed Quaker values in work with people with severe personality...
Reaching Out: Questing Hampshire and Islands
It was the time when a leading Quaker academic, Ben Pink Dandelion, suggested that the Religious Society of Friends might not last beyond 2035. It was the year when our Area Meeting treasurer pointed out that we had budgeted £1,200 each year for outreach and it had not been spent. And Marilyn...
All articles
Gordon Hirabayashi dies
A Quaker who spent decades fighting for human rights has died in the USA. Gordon Hirabayashi was described as a ‘civil rights icon’ by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). He was 93.
Pews and views
The Quaker architectural historian and writer David Butler is to speak at a forthcoming conference devoted to the non-conformist contribution to the story of pews, benches and chairs.
Love in an imperfect world
What can I say? When asked to give a talk to our Local Meeting, my initial response to the question was, ‘not much’. The most I can say is that there have been occasions when I have experienced a sense of unity with loved ones and nature, which have passed...
A matter of funding
Circles of Support and Accountability have two main, interconnected aims: to protect the public and to reduce re-offending. A Circle comprises trained volunteers, usually four, and the offender, known as the core member. Volunteers are supervised by a paid coordinator and work with other bodies such as the probation service,...
The door
At twenty-five minutes to the hour, I excuse myself early from the special interest group and make my way to the Large Meeting Room. Leaving early is unfortunate, especially when I’ve just asked the speaker a difficult question, but I’m to be doorkeeper and time-keeping is important.
Eye - 13 January 2012
An Area Meeting yet to come… The clerk was at the table now And Friends were quiet and still. She counted all the people there The usual faces on each chair (though two of them were ill).
Letters - 13 January 2012
Winter fuel allowance Have all the people who feel a need to publicly give away their winter fuel allowance considered that they may convince the government that it can be legitimately stopped? If you don’t need it, be grateful and pass it on quietly but please seek to preserve...