Issue 28-01-2011
Featured story
A Quaker and the Underground
The work of Charles Holden (1875-1960) is celebrated in an exhibition currently on show in the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) architectural gallery at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Holden designed many of the underground stations built in the inter-war period and immediately afterwards and inspired the design of...
Top stories
The Puritan and the Quaker
The success of London Transport’s design policy was rooted in the successful professional relationship between Holden and Frank Pick, the managing director of the Underground companies, subsequently London Transport.
Stop league tables for five-year-olds
A Quaker mother has pioneered a campaign against the introduction of school league tables for five-year-olds. Frances Laing of Chester Meeting has attracted over a thousand signatures for a petition calling on the government to abandon the idea.
Old sailors’ tales
Howard Wright’s article (‘Talking Point’, 14 January) has carried me far away. There used to be a plaque in the docks in Calcutta that recorded an extraordinary feat: the loading of 10,000 tons of coal in twenty-four hours, during world war two, in 1943. The plaque did not explain that this herculean...
A Quaker/Conservative coalition?
The Christmas column in the Bridport News (19 December 2010) proved to be a wonderful present for Quakers in west Dorset and all groups who undertake long term campaigns. It was written by Oliver Letwin, MP for the area, and focused on a subject that has been a long standing concern of...
All articles
Minimum pricing- a pointless policy
Quakers and Methodists have criticised a government plan to set a minimum price for alcoholic drinks. They argue that it will do little if anything to tackle alcohol abuse.
In whose name?
‘There’s not as many people here as last time,’ said a policeman at the protest against Tony Blair, almost as if he were disappointed with the turnout. As Blair appeared before the Iraq Inquiry for a second time, around a hundred protesters gathered outside the Queen Elizabeth II conference...
Trident- by the back door?
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has revealed plans to order parts for the new Trident nuclear weapons system before a formal decision has been made to buy it.
Mind and mystery
Stephen Petter is concerned for the flight from Quakers’ origins in Christianity (14 January) and the shunning, by some, of the terms and concepts that this implies: ‘god’, the Bible, and Jesus Christ.
Grace Cathedral; a personal pilgrimage
In early autumn last year my wife Beryl walked the labyrinth at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, for the third time. Although of immense significance for us, I had not thought of sharing this experience through the Friend until reading Harvey Gillman’s poem (14 January).
Eye - 28 January 2011
Pedal power! Friends at Settle Meeting have shed the trappings of yesteryear and swapped their stirrups for pedals. Where once Quakers in the area saddled up to make the journey to Meeting, a range of environmentally friendly vehicles are now employed, from the folding bike to a car that runs...
Letters - 28 January 2011
Government cuts The proposed cuts in grants to local government are perceived to be unfairly distributed. Middlesbrough has been rated as the lowest and most vulnerable of local government areas able to cope with the cuts in government spending. We stand to lose nine per cent of that grant in...