Issue 26-03-2021
Featured story
Thought for the week: Alastair McIntosh on Women’s Day
A couple of weeks ago it was International Women’s Day (8 March). It was in that week that the tragedy of Sarah Everard’s murder was unfolding, and on the Wednesday a YouGov poll revealed that eighty per cent of British women have experienced sexual harassment in our shared public...
Top stories
Resounding success: Tom Shakespeare finds Quakerly hopefulness in the luthier’s art and music
In the 2020 Swarthmore Lecture, I wrote, optimistically, that we can rediscover hope in the silent waiting of Quaker worship. I recently discovered a visual metaphor for that hope and that stillness which I want to share. At present, an example hangs above the desk at which I work, and where...
Leeds hub set to open
Friends from Craven and Keighley Area Meeting came together this month to hear about the changing shape of Quakerism and the new Leeds hub, which is expected to open soon.
Talking head: Tess Bailey-Sayer leads the way
Is it possible to lead with integrity and soul? Can we keep a business on track without sacrificing our values? These questions preoccupied me when I founded a small non-profit company providing psychotherapy to local families. I had experience of managing and supporting others, but absolutely no business experience or...
Re:members: Rosemary Moore looks for lessons from early Friends on membership
The recent suggestion at Meeting for Sufferings that attenders should be eligible to sit on central committees has brought into focus the question of how Britain Yearly Meeting handles membership.
Church and Peace: Barbara Forbes attends the annual gathering
Our now-annual gathering of ‘Church and Peace’ took place on 13 March, organised again with our colleagues from the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Although scheduled as the ‘Britain and Ireland Regional Meeting’, we were able to welcome speakers from Belgium and the USA, and participants came from Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, Albania, Russia...
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Friends oppose anti-protest bill
Quakers joined more than 150 groups to object to a government bill they say is being rushed through parliament and will hand police ‘draconian powers’ over people’s right to protest.
Quaker outcry on nuclear expansion
Friends are mobilising against the UK government’s announcement that it will be extending its nuclear capacity. Britain Yearly Meeting joined with other faith bodies and campaigners to denounce the government’s intention to significantly increase Britain’s stockpile of nuclear weapons. Church leaders across seven denominations made a statement...
Glasgow Friends offer space for reflection during COP26
Quakers in Scotland have offered Glasgow Meeting House as a place of ‘quiet reflection’ during the twenty-sixth UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26).
Quaker business group launches videos
The Quakers and Business Group has released a series of monthly videos. The ‘Ethics and Social Value in Business: Spring Seminar Series’ features speakers from the group’s conference in November 2020. The first, released on 17 March, is ‘Business towards the common good’, with Ander Etxeberria from Mondragon Corporation, a federation...
A problem shared: Howard Grace on our deeper instincts
There is a story that when St Paul’s cathedral was being built somebody was walking around asking workmen what they were doing. A carpenter said he was sawing wood. A bricklayer said he was laying bricks. When asked what he was doing a sweeper replied: ‘I’m helping Christopher...
Dear Life, by Rachel Clarke
This book may change your thinking – it has done mine. It deals with life and death and the journeys of those who are terminally ill. And yet it is about so much more than that. It is joyful, sad, funny, compassionate and above all full of love, celebrating the gift...
Letters - 26 March 2021
Finding hope The barbaric and inhumane treatment experienced by imprisoned early Quakers shaped an unfaltering belief in social justice and powerful witness to the ‘light within’. Over time, Quakers have continued to give testimony, advocating for prison reform, sharing a voice with incarcerated and disenfranchised individuals. In keeping with...