So q-eye has a blog. Quaker Peace and Social Witness have a blog, ready for the World Trade Organization talks in Hong Kong. Northern Friends Peace Board have a blog on refugee issues. They're all new and we'll see in time whether they're here to stay.

Next Quakers will all be podcasting...

Encouraging news of ‘interfaith’ relations from Laurie Andrews of Heybridge.
‘I was the first Quaker to apply for a place on the ecumenical training course for spiritual directors run by the Chelmsford and Brentwood dioceses in Essex’ Laurie says.
‘The Anglican priest who interviewed me asked ‘are Quakers Christians?’ I said only one authority could decide that. I was also asked if I believed the Bible was the word of God. I said it contained words of God, but not the only words and not the last word.
‘Rather surprisingly I was offered a place on the course.’
Who said you couldn’t be religious and diplomatic?

You may be intrigued by the following email correspondence between us and a resident of the island of Lanai, Hawaii:

'Hi – I'm not sure if we have the correct periodical, but I have recently come across a reference to The Friend, a protestant missionary journal founded in Honolulu in 1843. I wonder if this is you? And if so, is there a way to research old articles? I am particularly interested in a murder case reported on the island of Lanai here in Hawaii in 1892. Thank you for your help, Sally Kaye.'

'Doesn't sound like us, we're Quakers, although we did start in 1843. Sounds like someone has mixed up two publications. Murders in Hawaii not our thing. Good luck! Judy Kirby, editor of The Friend.'

'Actually the article I have about the crimes quoted the Friend on the art of 'kahunas', or witch doctors, with much opprobrium. It was in reference to a series of murders that occurred on my island in 1892, where nothing ever happens. The bulk of the reporting was in the Pacific Advertiser. You folks are wonderful to respond so quickly. I have uncovered a site in Honolulu where The Friend is archived, and will check to see if there is any Quaker connection. Thank you so much! '

Can any of you help Sally?

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.

Please be patient with the subscriptions department as I have just returned to the office following surgery and recovery time. Despite having sterling cover in my absence the backlog of work is huge but I am slowly dealing with all the queries.

Readers will be interested to learn that the statue of one of our staunchest Quakers, Joseph Sturge VI, is to be restored. One of his descendants, Joseph E Sturge, of Malvern Meeting writes:

'A once splendid but now bedraggled statue stands below the Five Ways junction in Birmingham – the left hand severed, the plinth in a serious state of disrepair, the whole marred by many decades of grime. It is the statue of the remarkable 19th century Quaker anti-slavery campaigner and philanthropist Joseph Sturge VI. What should be a proud public affirmation of 19th century Quakerism is at present anything but.

'I determined that something must be done and went to see Jane Arthur, the Birmingham City Council's executive responsible for statues. I was pleased to find her of the same mind, but short of funds. So, to augment her budget and to ensure that Friends and the Sturge family can share in the 'ownership' of this project, I launched an appeal at the Sturge Family Pilgrimage in Bristol in July. It has so far had an encouraging response. Now, as an act of faith, Jane Arthur has put the project out for tender.'

The hope is that the statue will be restored in time for the 2007 bicentenary of the outlawing of the slave trade.

Are there any quiz wizards out there? The magazine is preparing a special Christmas/New Year issue with lots of good reading and in order to keep your minds stimulated through the long holiday period we want to run a quiz (questions on Quaker history and current affairs of course!)

Eye would be delighted to have your offerings.