Ben Wood /|\🥭🌿✝️
@cosmichope.bsky.social
400 followers 210 following 2.6K posts
Husband, Quaker, theologian, Hedge Druid, "Aristotelian Liberal". Woodbrooke Programme Coordinator for Applied Theology and Biblical Studies. Lover of dogs, Guild Socialism, Dutch beer, old musty books, and slow autumn afternoons.
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cosmichope.bsky.social
'The river of demands, hopes, fears, in society flows eternally. We must think...in terms of movement. We must look at the forces exerted. We must have in any political system ready means of amendment, so that if the flood of human life changes, new channels can be found for it' (Jo Grimond, 1963).
Jo Grimond
Reposted by Ben Wood /|\🥭🌿✝️
greenparty.org.uk
The planet has reached its first catastrophic climate tipping point.

160 scientists from 23 countries warn that unless global heating is cut to 1.2°C as fast as possible, warm-water coral reefs will vanish “at any meaningful scale.”

The science is clear: We need to act now.
Reposted by Ben Wood /|\🥭🌿✝️
ctr4process.bsky.social
Every death alows the possibility of resurrection life. To see the future only in terms of death and to act accordingly is to distort the fullness of promise in the future.

-Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki, God, Christ, Church: A Practical Guide to Process Theology, p. 33
Reposted by Ben Wood /|\🥭🌿✝️
dendrochronicle.bsky.social
Ardura Community Forest, Mull 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 The Mull & Iona Community Trust engaged us to find out the age of oaks which had been felled in the 1960s when the Sitka spruce plantation was created by the Forestry Commission. They were mostly around 200 years old.
#dendrochronology #ThickTrunkTuesday #Mull
Reposted by Ben Wood /|\🥭🌿✝️
glastomichelle.bsky.social
It was very grey this morning at sunrise here in Glastonbury but the view was still lovely from the Tor. The Autumn colours starting to come through nicely on the trees.
cosmichope.bsky.social
I just read in a US article: "...birds may even increase home values, as one study showed that birds and green space can boost property values up to $32,000". Our contemporary culture seems incapable of expressing values in terms other than material accumulation.
cosmichope.bsky.social
There's more in the article than the framing, but the sentiment strikes me as deeply weird. It seems to me that economic utility has rotted our brains. We're selling climate stability, longer-term survival, & thriving ecosystems as a means to future Capital accumulation, not as goods in themselves.
Climate investment is only growth opportunity of 21st century, says leading economist
Lord Stern says fossil-fuelled growth is futile as the damage it causes ends in economic self-destruction
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cosmichope.bsky.social
There's more in the article than the framing, but the sentiment strikes me as deeply weird. It seems to me that economic utility has rotted our brains. We're selling climate stability, longer-term survival, & thriving ecosystems as a means to future Capital accumulation, not as goods in themselves.
Climate investment is only growth opportunity of 21st century, says leading economist
Lord Stern says fossil-fuelled growth is futile as the damage it causes ends in economic self-destruction
share.google
cosmichope.bsky.social
For lots of folk #Samhain/All #Hallows is time for ancestors & ghost stories. For me it's also a time I remember the dying Arthur, who, after battling his treacherous son Mordred, is taken to the Isle of Apples for healing. What the world has given, Time has reclaimed. But what is taken will return.
a woman sits on a rock overlooking a body of water
ALT: a woman sits on a rock overlooking a body of water
media.tenor.com
cosmichope.bsky.social
Last night was a really wonderful session. Friends offered a treasure trove of insights & personal stories. Thanks to Rowena for her extended reflections & Janet Scott for co-facilitating. 🙏✨️
cosmichope.bsky.social
Tonight Rowena Loverance explores with Friends the often complex & conflicted attitude of our #Quaker #faith towards #creeds. What are such statements good for? Do Friends need one? Do we perhaps already have one? There's still time to sign up.
Quakers and Creeds: Being a Non-Credal Church - Woodbrooke
In this session, we’ll explore key questions such as: • Why are Quakers non-credal? • What is a creed? • Are creeds useful? • What are the strengths and
www.woodbrooke.org.uk
cosmichope.bsky.social
'Everything can be seen directly except the eye through which we see' (E.F. Schumacher, ("A Guide for the Perplexed")
E.F. Schumacher
Reposted by Ben Wood /|\🥭🌿✝️
quakeitup.bsky.social
I, quite literally, could not wait!
@ericanela.bsky.social

#quakers #quakerism #history
Me holding new book by Erica Canela called Zealous
Reposted by Ben Wood /|\🥭🌿✝️
paulhindley2210.bsky.social
Nothing makes you appreciate immigration quite like being admitted into hospital.

Over my five days, I met NHS medical staff from the UK, Romania, India, Jamaica, the Philippines, the Middle East and no doubt many other parts of the world.

Our NHS couldn’t survive without immigrants!

🏥🇬🇧🇷🇴🇮🇳🇯🇲🇵🇭🇯🇴💙
paulhindley2210.bsky.social
I’m finally back home after spending five days in hospital. I am feeling a lot better now. Thank you to all the NHS doctors, nurses, healthcare assistants and other staff who looked after me. Each and every one of them are angels. I am extremely grateful to them. ☺️🏥💙
Reposted by Ben Wood /|\🥭🌿✝️
guyshrubsole.bsky.social
Red raspberry slime mould 😍
cosmichope.bsky.social
'The proposed measure [passed by the Liberal assembly] would limit company profits and distribute the remainder between the workers and stockholders, it would allow employes to hold stock and give them elected representation on boards of directors' (New York Times, 1948) 🔶️
Text: BRITISH LIBERALS FOR CO-OWNERSHIP; Party Adopts Plan to Offset Nationalization of Industry -- Comeback Bid Indicated.
Reposted by Ben Wood /|\🥭🌿✝️
elliechowns.bsky.social
Kemi claims “work is the best way out of poverty" on the same day analysis finds an avg earner would need to save almost all of their income for 52 years to become as wealthy as the top 10%.

Individuals working harder won't tackle income inequality; we need a wealth tax now.
Lifetime of earnings not enough for UK workers to join wealthiest 10%, report says
Research finds it would take average worker saving all their earnings for 52 years to match wealth of richest 10th of society
www.theguardian.com
cosmichope.bsky.social
It's often the case that the more ultra-nationalism focuses on their abstract conception of the 'nation', the more the real country decays.
cosmichope.bsky.social
I'm actually very optimistic about the new public control franchise model being rolled out in West Yorkshire. It should markedly up the game of the bus operators in terms of quality (improving frequency & reliability, while keeping fares modest). 🚍♻️
bradfordgreens.bsky.social
🗨 "Buses must be more reliable, frequent and affordable - for people who rely on them for work, appointments and shopping."

🚍 Ilkley Greens campaigner @richardwilsoneu.bsky.social on the need for better bus services in and around #Ilkley.

Read more 👇
The image is a Bradford District Green Party campaign graphic. It shows Cllr Ros Brown and campaigner Richard Wilson standing outside Ilkley Bus Station next to a green Leeds City X84 bus. The woman is wearing a patterned grey-blue dress and the man is in a brown jumper. At the top, the text reads "BRADFORD DISTRICT GREEN PARTY." At the bottom left, there is a green circle with the Bradford Green Party logo and the words "Team Ilkley." Along the bottom, the Green Party sunflower logo and "Green Party" text are displayed.
Reposted by Ben Wood /|\🥭🌿✝️
stuartkmasters.bsky.social
Compassion constitutes a radical form of criticism, for it announces that the hurt is to be taken seriously, that the hurt is not to be accepted as normal and natural but is an abnormal and unacceptable condition for humanness.

Walter Brueggemann
The image includes the quotation below along with a picture of Walter Brueggemenn (an older white man with white hair and beard, wearing clerical dress and holding a Bible):

Compassion constitutes a radical form of criticism, for it announces that the hurt is to be taken seriously, that the hurt is not to be accepted as normal and natural but is an abnormal and unacceptable condition for humanness.

Walter Brueggemann
cosmichope.bsky.social
My preference (like @paulhindley2210.bsky.social) would be to turn the water companies into #customer #owned mutuals (with local community representatives, environmentalists, & employees sat on the board). Nationalisation is a necessary step, but it doesn't need to be the final destination. 💧🚰
equalitytrust.bsky.social
Privatised water companies awarded themselves £80 billion in dividends while loading themselves up with £70 billion in debt. And now it's your problem, because they've won an appeal to finance all this by hiking YOUR bill even further. Nationalise now.
Bold text announces water companies winning an appeal to increase customer bills, highlighted by repeated 'HIKE!' signs in green shades.
Reposted by Ben Wood /|\🥭🌿✝️
matthewdownhour.bsky.social
In 1911, LT Hobhouse asserted that the greatest threat to Liberalism was not “mere inertia of tradition” but a “distinct reactionary policy…the ideal of the efficient, disciplined nation, center and dominating force of a powerful, self contained, militant empire.” As then, so today.
Reposted by Ben Wood /|\🥭🌿✝️
alexwilcock.bsky.social
OTD 1958: A Bear Called Paddington
The gently amusing story of a small, endearing immigrant.
First Michael Bond’s books
Introduced to little me on TV with the voice of Gandalf
Then major motion pictures
Now one of Britain’s most-heard liberal voices and national psychopomp.
A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond, 1958 edition: a small bear, in a hat, with a brush and spilt paint Paddington (2014): A small bear in a hat and a duffel coat with a smaller dog not in a hat nor a duffel coat ride the escalator at Paddington Station
cosmichope.bsky.social
Tonight Rowena Loverance explores with Friends the often complex & conflicted attitude of our #Quaker #faith towards #creeds. What are such statements good for? Do Friends need one? Do we perhaps already have one? There's still time to sign up.
Quakers and Creeds: Being a Non-Credal Church - Woodbrooke
In this session, we’ll explore key questions such as: • Why are Quakers non-credal? • What is a creed? • Are creeds useful? • What are the strengths and
www.woodbrooke.org.uk