Issue 11-11-2011
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Thought for the Week: John Bright’s legacy
Imagine the scenario: a new government comes to power promising an ethical foreign policy, but then invades and occupies a foreign country – bringing death to its impoverished communities and the destruction of its heritage. This may sound strangely familiar, but I am not referring to the Labour government and Iraq,...
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Friend, humanitarian and pragmatist
‘Ah, Cobden and Bright’ ‘Oh dear, he wasn’t much of a socialist was he… and not very caring about the children working in his own mills?’ There is, of course, truth in both of these comments about John Bright. For a greater part of his political life Bright worked...
‘He took his ministry into public life’
You attended all three party conferences with the non-conformist delegation. Was this valuable? Yes. In the past Quakers and Methodists went to party conferences individually. This year we went together with representatives of other churches – the United Reformed Church, the Baptists and the Salvation Army – as a delegation. As...
A love for what is just
John Bright was educated at several Quaker schools before he entered his father’s cotton mill in Rochdale at the age of fifteen. Between 1839-1889 the firm bore the name of ‘John Bright and Brothers’, although from 1840 his brother Thomas managed the mill. Bright was thus enabled to pursue a...
Experiment with Light: Beyond our shores
Experiment with Light (EwL) was introduced to Meetings around Europe by Rex Ambler and other Friends who travelled in the ministry, such as Diana Lampen, who used it when visiting Friends in Denmark and holding retreats with them.
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Friends and St Paul’s
A weekly Meeting for Worship is now taking place at the ‘Occupy London’ camp near St Paul’s Cathedral. Meanwhile, several Quaker Meetings are formally considering their response to the ‘Occupy’ movement. ‘There must be measured consideration,’ said Jill Segger, a member of Bury St Edmunds Meeting, who will...
London Quakers face the future
The concerns of London Quakers took centre stage at Friends House last Saturday when two hundred Friends gathered together to consider a range of issues facing Quakers in the London area. A pressing problem facing London Friends is having too many Meeting houses with too few Quakers to support...
Civil partnership ban to be lifted
The ban on same-sex civil partnerships taking place in religious buildings will be lifted in England and Wales on 5 December. The change in the law will not at this stage extend to allowing same-sex couples to use the word ‘marriage’. Quaker Meetings are therefore expected to host a civil...
Soup runs will survive
Westminster Council has withdrawn plans to criminalise rough sleeping and soup runs in an area of central London. Their decision follows months of campaigning by charities and faith groups. There was a storm of protest when councillors proposed the by-law in March (see ‘Threat to soup runs’, the Friend, 11 March)....
Letters - 11 November 2011
The steps of St Paul’s It is not often that I have felt that I am in the majority but as I sat on the steps of St Paul’s over the weekend (29-30 October), I remembered that I am – and most likely so are you. I heard about...