A wide range ofUK campaigning organisations, including NFPB, are urging the government to rethink its military spending decisions in the light of the pandemic and the climate emergency. Figures released today by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) show that global military spending in 2020 increased by 2.6% to $1981 billion and the UK’s … Read more
Thirty seven Friends gathered for our first full NFPB meeting of 2021. Just over a year earlier Derby Meeting House was our venue; this time we came together courtesy of zoom, warmly welcomed but without the handshakes and cups of coffee on arrival. We have a number of new members this year and we were … Read more
Thirty Friends gathered online on 20th February, for the first of this year’s periodic NFPB informal meetings. NFPB members and others who share our concerns used the opportunity to introduce themselves – with a good number of new NFPB representatives being amongst them – and to reflect on areas of inspiration and hope. Following a … Read more
These past few days have seen a flurry of activity, to mark the entry into legal effect of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. NFPB members and Quakers around the country joined with others in creating visual messages of support, both on buildings and through digital media. Other activities have ranged from … Read more
With other UK partners of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, we have supported this letter to the Prime Minister, sent on 22 January as the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons has come into legal force. To: Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, UK Prime Minister 10 Downing St London SW1A 2AA … Read more
We recently contributed to a Twitterstorm – a series of tweets on the theme of UK military spending, sent out during a narrow time period and using the same hashtag, #UKDefundWar. Coordinated by the UK network of the Global Campaign on Military Spending (GCOMS), it took place after the government announced a planned £24bn increase … Read more
Treaty to ban nuclear weapons to come into force in January 2021 following 50th ratification — Resolution 1 of the United Nations General Assembly in January 1946 was about setting up a commission ‘to deal with the problems raised by the discovery of atomic energy’, whose terms of reference ask it to establish proposals ‘for … Read more
We have been pleased to sign up to and support this statement, which can also be found – with the full list of signatories – on the CCND website Shortly after the bombings the international community came together at the United Nations to say “never again” and pledged to work for the elimination of nuclear … Read more
NFPB’s meeting (that was to have been in Glasgow this month) took place online, with 25 Friends present during the morning from across the north, and a representative from Quaker Peace & Social Witness. Whilst smaller groupings of NFPB had met via video conference since March, this was the first of our representatives. Shorter than … Read more
Northern Friends Peace Board members will be gathering via video conference on 20th June, the date on which we had planned to be meeting in Glasgow in person. Our previous meeting was at the end of February, a short time before things changed so dramatically in line with public-health measures. NFPB members have had two … Read more