Issue 05-03-2021

Featured story

Thought for the week: Abigail Maxwell keeps it to herself

FREE 4 Mar 2021 | by Abigail Maxwell

When I do not see God in me it is because I judge it. That cannot be God, I think. God must be better than that. The reason I do not live continually from Spirit is that I think living from Spirit must be some higher way of being, rather...

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Top stories

Letter to a white anti-racist ally: Nim Njuguna on an incomplete project

4 Mar 2021 | by Nim Njuguna

‘A credible anti-racist approach must confront a wide spectrum of social economic oppression.’ | Photo: by Yasin Yusuf on Unsplash

Dear Friend, it was good to attend the Black Lives Matter presentation together and I thank you for the robust conversation over wine and food afterwards. More and more people are engaging with issues around the Black Lives Matter movement, a far cry from the days when discussion about racism...

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Monumental failure: Fred Ashmore discovers why it took so long to end plantation slavery

4 Mar 2021 | by Fred Ashmore

‘Every senior politician of the era seems to have been involved.’ | Photo: by Justinc on Wikimedia Commons

Some years ago I started walking the streets of London. I began following London’s Hidden Walks, a book I picked up absentmindedly at a bookshop in Bloomsbury.

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Wilding: the return of nature to a British farm, by Isabella Tree

4 Mar 2021 | by Simon Webb

'We spoke about the possibility of applying wilding principles to some steep, poor-quality land near Durham City.' | Photo: Detail of bookcover for Wilding: the return of nature to a British farm, by Isabella Tree

The Durham Quaker book group turned out to be remarkably well-qualified to discuss Isabella Tree’s 2019 book Wilding, our choice for February 2021. The Quakers and others who attended via Zoom included two professional ecologists, at least four serious walkers, and a couple with an extensive city garden that they are...

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Peace billboard in Manchester city centre

FREE 4 Mar 2021 | by Rebecca Hardy

‘The posters which read “Nuclear Weapons are Illegal Now” went up on Monday 1 February.' | Photo: courtesy of Allison Challen

Billboard posters highlighting the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) have been posted in Manchester city centre, thanks to the Huddersfield ‘Quaker Roots’ group and a Manchester and Warrington Area Meeting group for ‘the Promotion of Peace’.

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Home delivery: Robert Ashton is all over the shop

4 Mar 2021 | by Robert Ashton

'Samuel Robins would, we are sure, have been delighted to know that his legacy is still improving the life chances of Norwich young people today.' | Photo: courtesy of Robert Ashton

When Samuel Robins died in 1711, leaving his shop to his Quaker Meeting, he could not have imagined that 310 years later his gift would still be changing troubled young lives. His will stipulated that income from the shop should fund a Quaker apprentice. He wanted to give young people the best...

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Army criticised for misusing ‘language of female empowerment’

FREE 4 Mar 2021 | by Rebecca Hardy

A teenage Friend has criticised the UK army for misusing the language of female empowerment to target pro-military messages at girls and young women.

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No Supreme Court for ‘Stansted Fifteen’

4 Mar 2021 | by Rebecca Hardy

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has confirmed that it will not be taking the successful appeal won by the ‘Stansted Fifteen’ earlier this year to the Supreme Court. Quaker Lyndsay Burtonshaw, a member of the group, shared the news on social media on 25 February. ‘No more trials!’ they tweeted.

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Fundraiser for Quaker garden

4 Mar 2021 | by Rebecca Hardy

Richmond Meeting has launched a fundraiser to raise money to restock its Meeting house garden. Antonia Swinson, from the Meeting, told the Friend that the Pledges4Plants initiative involves local Friends pledging ways to ‘bring cheer and camaraderie in these dark lockdown days’.

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London Quakers form new group

4 Mar 2021 | by Rebecca Hardy

London Quakers (LQ) have launched a new Zoom group for Friends in the capital to worship and talk together. Fred Ashmore told the Friend that the group was created to build up the sense of a London-wide community of Friends. ‘At each meeting, we will have a good speaker to...

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Quakers embrace podcasts

4 Mar 2021 | by Rebecca Hardy

Locked-down Friends have been using the pandemic as an opportunity to embrace podcasts, reflecting an overall boom in the medium over the last twelve months.

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How Long, How Long Must We Wait?, by Anne M Jones

4 Mar 2021 | by Hugh Dennis

Six years ago there was a lot of publicity about ‘The Jungle’ refugee camp near Calais. It was home to over a thousand people, all wanting to come to Britain. Anne Jones worked there for several years and has written-up her absorbing book of reflections in diary format.

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Letters - 5 March 2021

4 Mar 2021 | by The Friend

Outreach Most of us are concerned about the future of our Society. Do our Quaker schools make a difference? Do they provide outreach amongst the pupils they have in their care by demonstrating our Quaker values in their daily living and how is this translated into their local communities?  ...

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