Issue 24-04-2020
Featured story
‘When all this is over, can we keep it this way?’
When I first heard the phrase ‘There is no Planet B’ I remembered a visit I’d made to Claude Monet’s garden at Giverny. I was awed at its exquisite irises, its Japanese bridge, and its air of being both airily casual and carefully planned.
Top stories
‘In the grand scheme of things, even in dire straits having the mentality of an idler may help.’
It’s been 175 years since Robert Browning wrote his poem of nostalgia for England in April: ‘…whoever wakes in England / Sees, some morning, unaware, / That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf / Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf, / While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough / In England –...
‘To observe the mind is to become free of the madness of self.’
The air on the high Tibetan Plateau is very thin. There are hardly any trees, and those there are are small, stunted and windblown. Hundreds of square miles of empty grassland lay flat and open underneath a vast blue sky. That is why the villagers could see the horse coming...
‘When Christians Were Jews: The first generation’, by Paula Fredriksen
Quakers traditionally do not follow the Christian calendar of fasts and festivals. Nevertheless I find myself each year reflecting on how modern scholars seek to explain the events before and after the first Easter.
‘Who can say how we personally might manage in such a predicament?’
During lockdown, those of us who do go out only do so if we must. So there is great support and sympathy for the many adults who need to go to work to care, feed and look after others.
‘Volunteers like me find themselves with no safety net.’
The current coronavirus lockdown has brought into focus some of the peculiar difficulties faced by volunteers in tied accommodation. As a ‘Friend in Residence’ I think this is an issue that Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) might usefully examine.
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Two-thirds of Friends House staff furloughed
Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) has furloughed two-thirds of its staff in response to the COVID-19 crisis. With Friends House in London and Swathmoor Hall in Cumbria closed under lockdown, BYM said that it is unable to generate any trading income. Eighty per cent of those being furloughed are staff from...
QCEA urges vigilance on civil liberties
Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA) has pledged to ‘be actively vigilant’ to see how civil liberties and ‘the most vulnerable’ are affected by COVID-19 restrictions.
Sidcot Friends support Sewell House
Friends from Sidcot Meeting have been supporting elderly residents at Sewell House where both the wardens are self-isolating.
Maundy money for Jordans Quaker
A Friend from Chilterns Area Meeting is one of ninety-four men and ninety-four women who have been awarded Maundy money from the queen in thanks for his Christian service in the community.
QARN urges action on ‘extortionate’ fees
Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network (QARN) has urged Friends to speak out about ‘extortionate’ fee increases for those seeking refuge in the UK. According to QARN, these fees for renewal for Discretionary Leave to Remain – currently at more than £2,000 per person once the immigration health surcharge is added – are ‘hitting...
Friends sign Christian Peace statement
Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW) and the Northern Friends Peace Board (NFPB) have signed a statement put out by the Network of Christian Peace Organisations.
Holy Saturday (Psalm 62)
The Altar table stripped, no coverings, bare The Tabernacle silver lined is naked, open The life red of the Sanctuary light extinguished. Pews preach empty, in the silence of the tomb, Heaven sitting shiva, statues covered, The Word, unspoken, Is absent from the World, blood still, corpse cold.
Eye - 24 April 2020
Fainwell and Pure A Quaker character from an eighteenth-century play put in an appearance in the Oxford English Dictionary’s (OED’s) ‘Word of the Day’ newsletter on 8 April. The now-rare term ‘Simon Pure’ was in the spotlight, and described as: ‘A person resembling or reminiscent of the fictional character...
Letters - 24 April 2020
Look deep into nature ‘Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better’ (Albert Einstein). The article on the Stop Ecocide campaign (10 April) has made me reflect on how urgently Britain Yearly Meeting needs to reconsider its priorities. Does our present call for ‘Climate Justice’ really match up...