Eye is most touched by a suggestion from a loyal reader on dealing with that evergreen problem for The Friend – how to increase income when the magazine is 'recycled' among Friends.

'I feel that the Friend has improved and is informative on a range of social questions (which is useful when approaching one's MP for example) but you are unlikely to change the recycling habits of members of the Society of Friends' writes Barbara Aynsley Smith.

Barbara is a realist and has considered this problem on our behalf. Here is her – rather creative we feel – solution: 'I approached the recipient of my copy and sent £12 from her, direct to you, as a sensible contribution towards increasing costs. Would it be helpful if this were more widely practised, so increasing the income from the full readership without an increase in expenditure?'

The editor is rather nervous that readers-who-share might adapt this idea into recycling the subscription between themselves but we castigated her for being an old cynic! Eye is always open to new and creative solutions to old problems. So let's hear some more on this.