Issue 11-02-2011
Featured story
An exploited generation?
A battle line is growing among employers whether to exploit or help a new generation of jobless young people get a foot on a career ladder.
Top stories
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams
The Quaker testimonies are rooted in a particular understanding of faith: that to live a true life it must be done in a spirit of love, truth and peace, answering that of God in everyone. They should test us and challenge us. They do.
Let’s open up internships
Every year, thousands of young people desperately seek out the chance to work for free as unpaid interns in exciting and competitive industries like fashion, advertising, politics and the arts. The lucky ones will often find themselves working long hours doing jobs that many of their employers would admit are...
View from the front line
For the last four months, Jo, 22, has been working for a PR company in central London. She’s at her desk by 8.30am and on the phone all day to journalists, pitching stories and inviting them to champagne press launches at the swanky West End bars and restaurants her firm...
Who’s afraid of the compliance officer?
Eleven years after its introduction, the National Minimum Wage (NMW) was trumpeted as a success by the minister for business, innovation and skills.
Give them a hand
A dream shared by many an able student is to work in film or TV and they are prepared to do whatever it takes to achieve their goal. The problem is, as one recent graduate put it ‘getting a degree with a 2:1 just doesn’t seem to be enough to...
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Boycott, divestment and sanctions
Meeting for Sufferings (MfS), held at Friends House on Saturday 2 April, returned to the issue of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) as a response to the occupation of the Palestinian territories.
Boycotting the census
Support is growing for a boycott of this year’s census over the involvement of a US-based multinational arms company. The contract for co-ordinating the census has been awarded to Lockheed Martin, one of the world’s largest arms firms.
Peace activist in prison again
A Quaker has been sent to prison for fourteen days following nonviolent protests against nuclear weapons. Sylvia Boyes of Keighley Meeting sent apologies to Meeting for Sufferings last weekend as she had been taken to New Hall Prison near Wakefield on 3 February.
Restrictions on loan sharks fail
An attempt to restrict the power of legal ‘loan sharks’ has been rejected by the House of Commons after the government opposed the measure. There is currently no upper limit on the interest that doorstep-lending companies may legally charge in the UK.
End of an era at Charney
The end of an era at Charney Manor, the Quaker conference and retreat centre in Oxfordshire, was marked with a celebration on Saturday 5th February.
Letters - 11 February 2011
Under-eighteen recruitment I have a grandson who seems happy he chose a career in the army many years ago. In retirement, I have many local friends who have retired from the army. They point out that there is no conscription, that the army does not want conscription and has no...