Issue 18-01-2019
Featured story
Thought for the Week: Discernment
Quakerism is hardly the platform for personal ambition, power and control. The absence of a leader is embedded in the Quaker ethos. However, there are leadings, arrived at by the process of discernment, through mutual listening – which we know as the ‘feeling of the Meeting’.
Top stories
Quaker and Marxist?
I am a Quaker and a Marxist. Some Friends will find this puzzling, but it is no problem for me, as I moved seamlessly into this situation in the course of my life. I was born in 1927 and, coming from a Jewish family, I heard heated arguments concerning the rise...
A Quaker case for Brexit
At the referendum of 2016, many Quakers felt the choice was obvious and assumed that all Friends would vote to remain in the European Union. The group ‘Quakers for Europe’ was formed. It came as a shock to many to discover this was not the case, and that an unknown number...
In troubled times…
My heart sank recently when I read a short newspaper report that the parliament of Kosovo had agreed to form an army. However, at the same time, I was aware that I would have overlooked this report a few years ago, before I visited Kosovo and made friends with people...
Compassionate assistance to die?
The long drawing out of my mother’s life was against her wishes. I was there to witness it. As a consequence of this experience, I – like many people – have come to the conclusion that we should have the legal right to an assisted death.
Support for our values
I would like us all to put aside our preconceived ideas of private education for a moment, open our minds and allow ourselves to reconsider some of our attitudes.
All articles
Eco-activists welcome Greater Manchester’s ‘no’ to fracking
Quaker campaigners in Lancashire have welcomed the decision by Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, to oppose fracking in the region’s ten local councils. The Labour mayor put Manchester City Council on what many think could be a collision course with the government when he said that drilling companies...
Stansted Fifteen appeal against ‘abuse of power’ verdict
The Stansted Fifteen protestors charged with stopping a deportation charter flight under a terror offence have launched an appeal against the verdict.
Quakers condemn army recruitment campaign
Quakers have voiced fierce criticism of the latest army recruitment campaign targeting young people. The campaign features world war one-style posters with images of modern young people, followed by the statement: ‘Your army needs you.’ The campaign appeals to ‘selfie addicts’ and ‘me me me millenials’, with examples including: ‘Snowflakes:...
Bristol Friends expand Meeting’s homeless shelter
Central Bristol Friends are expanding their Meeting house in order to accommodate more homeless people at its overnight shelter.
New book on corporate citizenship
A member of Herstmonceux Meeting in East Sussex has written a book called Corporate Citizenship: The role of companies as citizens of the modern world.
Ni Sisi
A man tears around the rickety stage in agony screaming: ‘Knifed! I’ve been knifed!’ Three brightly dressed, buxom ladies go to inspect his injuries. By now, he is prone on the floor and they turn him over and pronounce their verdict: ‘A bee sting!’
Quibbles
You believe in the love of God. I believe in love as best I can. We both believe in love. Let’s not get heated.
Letters - 18 January 2019
Giving hope Sarah Watson (4 January 2019) asked what Quakers have to say about hope. My answer would be that Quaker faith is all about giving hope: by being patterns and examples; joyfully living out our testimonies; showing that peace, integrity, equality and simplicity make this world a better place and ourselves...