Issue 19-02-2010
Featured Story
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Friends turn out in peaceful Aldermaston blockade
Hundreds of campaigners brought the gates of the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) in Aldermaston to a virtual standstill on Monday in the biggest protest to be seen at the site for some years. The blockade comes at a time of major political controversy over the renewal of the Trident nuclear…
Top Stories
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Lost generation?
Today I have the doubtful honour of becoming an official government concern. This went unmarked by the government, or indeed by any outward sign at all, save for a note scribbled a month or so ago in my diary, reminding me (as if I needed a reminder): ‘six months unemployed…
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Quakers come through
Recently I lost my son Peter, who lived in the US. My family in Pennsylvania is not Quaker, despite the state having been founded by William Penn. However, aware that there was a Quaker Meeting in York, Pennsylvania, I emailed them: ‘Can you help me hold a Memorial Meeting for…
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Reaching out to challenging areas
The results of the market research conducted by DVL Smith Ltd at the request of Quaker Quest appear to have led us into a period of re-evaluation. Those Friends who attended the Big Outreach Conference in Swanwick, Derbyshire, on the weekend 22-24 January will have been startled by the evidence… -
Celebrating the liberal tradition
In the world of charitable trusts and foundations the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust is known nationally and internationally as a funder of radical causes that challenge injustice and inequality and aim to create a better, fairer world. Within the Society of Friends in Britain and Europe it is seen primarily… -
Government defeat in the Lords weakens Equality Bill
A defeat for the government in the house of Lords has put the future of the Equality Bill in jeopardy. In the last year of a government, Bills can be delayed in the house of Lords, risking their path to the statute book. In this case, the government is now…
All Articles
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Religious groups publish election resources for voters
Quakers have played a central role in the production of online resources to empower voters ahead of this year’s general election. The resources, produced in conjunction with ten other churches, are intended ‘to help Christians engage with a range of important issues facing our country, however they may decide to… -
Campaign lawyers challenge Serious Fraud Office over BAE
The controversial plea bargain settlement with the arms company BAE Systems is the target of a fresh challenge from two campaign groups, the Corner House and Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT). The groups have instructed their solicitors to ask the director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to revoke the… -
‘Robin Hood’ tax plan floated
As controversy rages over the alleged role of bankers’ greed in causing an economic downturn, a large range of campaigning and faith-based groups are calling for a ‘Robin Hood Tax’ to take from the richest and give to the rest. They say that their scheme would raise £250 billion each… -
Proposals for payment for reporting on ‘benefit cheats’ brings angry response
Government proposals to pay people who report on ‘benefit cheats’ have received an angry response from anti-poverty campaigners. Minister Ed Miliband said he was considering including the idea in Labour’s general election manifesto. But Church Action on Poverty (CAP) predicted that the policy could ‘tear communities apart’. -
Privilege, what privilege?
I read Sylvia Hilken’s article (Same-sex marriage,12 February) suggesting Friends give up any marriage privilege that we are allowed with both interest and some initial sympathy for her position. I do feel the need to comment on her view of non-Quaker marriages, however, as I have often found myself bemused… -
A good death
What is a good death exactly? A palliative care specialist once told me that a good death was hard to come by. A swift and painless departure may be what we would all hope for; that’s not, however, a ‘good’ outcome for those left behind who have to deal with… -
Same-sex marriage
We share Sylvia Hilken’s confusion in her article (Same-sex marriage, 12 February) on why Friends are so tenaciously hanging on to their right to conduct legal marriage. When the Privilege was originally granted, civil weddings were not an option. Marriage by a priest was the only way to secure your… -
Letters - 19 February 2010
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Small but perfectly formed
Celebrating the Quaker Way by Ben Pink Dandelion. Quaker Books. ISBN 978 1 90712302 3 £2.50. Quakers like their theology pocket sized. I’m sure that’s why Advices & queries is so special. There’s something very Quakerly about a mobile text. In this tiny book Ben starts immediately to praise the… -
Window on the Square
Window on the Square by Alice Beer. Soundswrite Press. ISBN 978 0 9550786 3 7. £3. Alice Beer is a one-off. She is not like any other poet I can think of: she has a totally individual voice, a voice of simple, unassuming, unselfconscious Quaker authority. She writes about the… -
Eyewitness - 19 February 2010
Not a good thing to do… Look, I’m just too busy, OK? Four days a week with responsibilities on heritage and tourism across the north west, member of the Cheshire probation board, active friend of Handforth Station, clerk of local premises committee, just joined central nominations in London, one of…
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