Ben Wood /|\🥭🌿✝️
@cosmichope.bsky.social
Husband, Quaker, theologian, Hedge Druid, "Aristotelian Liberal" in @greenparty.org.uk. Woodbrooke Programme Coordinator for Applied Theology and Biblical Studies. Lover of dogs, Guild Socialism, Dutch beer, old musty books, and slow autumn afternoons.
Pinned
'Once the basic needs of food and shelter are met, man’s greatest satisfactions are to be found in love, trust and friendship, in beauty, art and music and in learning, none of which are served by the mythology of growth for its own sake' (The Environment: A Liberal Party Report, 1972) 🔶️
Reposted by Ben Wood /|\🥭🌿✝️
So as of now I'm going to the @coopparty.party.coop party conference on Saturday and Sunday this week!
Drop a line if you're going and fancy a chat, It's always great to meet new people interested in devolution, community policy and reviving local areas :)
Drop a line if you're going and fancy a chat, It's always great to meet new people interested in devolution, community policy and reviving local areas :)
November 11, 2025 at 5:36 PM
So as of now I'm going to the @coopparty.party.coop party conference on Saturday and Sunday this week!
Drop a line if you're going and fancy a chat, It's always great to meet new people interested in devolution, community policy and reviving local areas :)
Drop a line if you're going and fancy a chat, It's always great to meet new people interested in devolution, community policy and reviving local areas :)
“Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise; seek what they sought.” (Matsuo Bashō)
November 11, 2025 at 4:43 PM
“Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise; seek what they sought.” (Matsuo Bashō)
Reposted by Ben Wood /|\🥭🌿✝️
"It’s time for this government to decide whose interests it serves and ask those with the broadest shoulders to pay what they owe."
@alchap.bsky.social on how the chancellor should change the tax system in the upcoming budget.
www.bigissue.com/news/politic...
@alchap.bsky.social on how the chancellor should change the tax system in the upcoming budget.
www.bigissue.com/news/politic...
Rachel Reeves looks set to raise taxes. What does it mean for you?
Rachel Reeves is likely to raise taxes in her autumn budget, but she has different levers she could pull to do this.
www.bigissue.com
November 11, 2025 at 3:01 PM
"It’s time for this government to decide whose interests it serves and ask those with the broadest shoulders to pay what they owe."
@alchap.bsky.social on how the chancellor should change the tax system in the upcoming budget.
www.bigissue.com/news/politic...
@alchap.bsky.social on how the chancellor should change the tax system in the upcoming budget.
www.bigissue.com/news/politic...
'Concern is indivisible and so is selfishness. A society which says 'to hell with famine and disease in Bangladesh, it's all their own fault, isn't it?' is extremely unlikely to balance this with compassion and justice for its own pensioners and its own low-paid' (Roy Jenkins, 11 March 1972).
November 11, 2025 at 3:52 PM
'Concern is indivisible and so is selfishness. A society which says 'to hell with famine and disease in Bangladesh, it's all their own fault, isn't it?' is extremely unlikely to balance this with compassion and justice for its own pensioners and its own low-paid' (Roy Jenkins, 11 March 1972).
Reposted by Ben Wood /|\🥭🌿✝️
Zohran's campaign was his determination to make New York a city everyone can afford to live in. Huge congratulations!
His success will resonate throughout the world. A story where no one is left behind.
It's time to write that story across England & Wales too.
His success will resonate throughout the world. A story where no one is left behind.
It's time to write that story across England & Wales too.
November 5, 2025 at 7:03 AM
Zohran's campaign was his determination to make New York a city everyone can afford to live in. Huge congratulations!
His success will resonate throughout the world. A story where no one is left behind.
It's time to write that story across England & Wales too.
His success will resonate throughout the world. A story where no one is left behind.
It's time to write that story across England & Wales too.
On immigration, Roy Jenkins observed: 'Where in the world is there a university which could preserve its fame, or a cultural centre which would keep its eminence...if it were to turn inward...? To live apart, for a person, a city or a country, is to lead a life of declining intellectual stimulation'
November 11, 2025 at 3:17 PM
On immigration, Roy Jenkins observed: 'Where in the world is there a university which could preserve its fame, or a cultural centre which would keep its eminence...if it were to turn inward...? To live apart, for a person, a city or a country, is to lead a life of declining intellectual stimulation'
Reposted by Ben Wood /|\🥭🌿✝️
OTD 1920: Roy Jenkins
Probably the most crucial 1960s UK politician and most liberal ever Home Secretary
Hard to imagine now an openly pro-Europe Labour MP in power tearing down authoritarianism (harder still, the Home Office being a force for good)
He became a founder of the #LibDems.
Probably the most crucial 1960s UK politician and most liberal ever Home Secretary
Hard to imagine now an openly pro-Europe Labour MP in power tearing down authoritarianism (harder still, the Home Office being a force for good)
He became a founder of the #LibDems.
November 11, 2025 at 1:17 PM
OTD 1920: Roy Jenkins
Probably the most crucial 1960s UK politician and most liberal ever Home Secretary
Hard to imagine now an openly pro-Europe Labour MP in power tearing down authoritarianism (harder still, the Home Office being a force for good)
He became a founder of the #LibDems.
Probably the most crucial 1960s UK politician and most liberal ever Home Secretary
Hard to imagine now an openly pro-Europe Labour MP in power tearing down authoritarianism (harder still, the Home Office being a force for good)
He became a founder of the #LibDems.
Steve Read (& the Labour Right) has no coherent analysis of Capitalism. Unlike earlier generations of Labour, Reed won't face the fact that excessive rent-seeking is bad for living standards & bad for business. We should have fewer landlords & more owners, less speculation, better housing.
Housing Secretary hits back at Green Party over call to abolish landlords
Steve Reed said he had not previously heard of the party’s stance and asked, “If we abolish landlords, where are we going to get homes from?”
www.property118.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Steve Read (& the Labour Right) has no coherent analysis of Capitalism. Unlike earlier generations of Labour, Reed won't face the fact that excessive rent-seeking is bad for living standards & bad for business. We should have fewer landlords & more owners, less speculation, better housing.
Reposted by Ben Wood /|\🥭🌿✝️
People fleeing war and persecution are ready and able to contribute to our society.
The problem is... they're not allowed.
Rather than shipping them off to army barracks all over the country, it's time to let asylum seekers work.
The problem is... they're not allowed.
Rather than shipping them off to army barracks all over the country, it's time to let asylum seekers work.
November 11, 2025 at 1:02 PM
People fleeing war and persecution are ready and able to contribute to our society.
The problem is... they're not allowed.
Rather than shipping them off to army barracks all over the country, it's time to let asylum seekers work.
The problem is... they're not allowed.
Rather than shipping them off to army barracks all over the country, it's time to let asylum seekers work.
That was certainly true of Christianity 🤣
Advisers told ministers banning Palestine Action could make it more popular
Advisers told ministers banning Palestine Action could make it more popular
Briefing paper warned proscription could also heighten Muslim-Jewish tensions and be seen as favouring Israel
www.theguardian.com
November 11, 2025 at 12:06 PM
That was certainly true of Christianity 🤣
Reposted by Ben Wood /|\🥭🌿✝️
Quaker climate activist @marcusdecker.bsky.social has won his appeal against deportation 🥳
His case had the support of @chrisgpackham.bsky.social, Quakers and a wide range of campaigners.
The Home Office is expected to challenge the ruling.
www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-eve...
His case had the support of @chrisgpackham.bsky.social, Quakers and a wide range of campaigners.
The Home Office is expected to challenge the ruling.
www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-eve...
Quaker climate activist Marcus Decker wins appeal against deportation
Quaker climate activist Marcus Decker has won his appeal against deportation, in a case that drew widespread support from Chris Packham, Quakers, and climate campaigners.
www.quaker.org.uk
November 11, 2025 at 10:17 AM
Quaker climate activist @marcusdecker.bsky.social has won his appeal against deportation 🥳
His case had the support of @chrisgpackham.bsky.social, Quakers and a wide range of campaigners.
The Home Office is expected to challenge the ruling.
www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-eve...
His case had the support of @chrisgpackham.bsky.social, Quakers and a wide range of campaigners.
The Home Office is expected to challenge the ruling.
www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-eve...
'[That] is what I feel about force & violence. It is, alas ! the ultimate reality on this earth, but it does not always get to the front. Some people call its absences "decadence"; I call them "civilization" & find in such interludes the chief justification for the human experiment' (E.M. Forster) 🔶️
November 11, 2025 at 10:25 AM
'[That] is what I feel about force & violence. It is, alas ! the ultimate reality on this earth, but it does not always get to the front. Some people call its absences "decadence"; I call them "civilization" & find in such interludes the chief justification for the human experiment' (E.M. Forster) 🔶️
'I knew that it was my business to protest, however futile protest might be. My whole nature was involved. As a lover of truth, the national propaganda of all the belligerent nations sickened me. As a lover of civilisation, the return to barbarism appalled me.' (Bertrand Russell, Autobiography) ☮️
On #ArmisticeDay we remember all those who lost their lives during war and strive to honour their hope for a more peaceful world. They will never be forgotten.
Today we remember.
November 11, 2025 at 10:21 AM
'I knew that it was my business to protest, however futile protest might be. My whole nature was involved. As a lover of truth, the national propaganda of all the belligerent nations sickened me. As a lover of civilisation, the return to barbarism appalled me.' (Bertrand Russell, Autobiography) ☮️
1/2 I keeping on coming back to this point in conversations with @paulhindley2210.bsky.social. The LibDems do not have a clear & constructive position on employer/employee relations. Surely LibDems aren't happy with the status quo? But they're not arguing for anything else.
I don't expect the Lib Dems to support everything that's in the government's Employment Rights Bill, but have we moved or backed any amendments that would give workers more rights than Labour proposes?
November 11, 2025 at 10:10 AM
1/2 I keeping on coming back to this point in conversations with @paulhindley2210.bsky.social. The LibDems do not have a clear & constructive position on employer/employee relations. Surely LibDems aren't happy with the status quo? But they're not arguing for anything else.
Another way of expressing this idea: We separate and individualise only to discover that true individuality draws us back into wholeness. Separation taught us the illusion of division--a lesson we couldn't have learnt in any other way. We become fragments only to discover that we are complete.
November 11, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Another way of expressing this idea: We separate and individualise only to discover that true individuality draws us back into wholeness. Separation taught us the illusion of division--a lesson we couldn't have learnt in any other way. We become fragments only to discover that we are complete.
1/2 There's a glorious paradox in the life of the Buddha. He spends a great deal of energy building up his sense of self. He journeys, he searches, he wills & meditates. Only after he knows what he really wants can he live without wanting. Only after self-discovery does the self cease to matter.
November 11, 2025 at 9:44 AM
1/2 There's a glorious paradox in the life of the Buddha. He spends a great deal of energy building up his sense of self. He journeys, he searches, he wills & meditates. Only after he knows what he really wants can he live without wanting. Only after self-discovery does the self cease to matter.
'I have no dogmatic certainties which tell me where I came from, where I'm going or why, but like a stream which doesn't know the source from which it sprang, or the sea to which it flows, I trust the current in my being & believe if I am true to it, I shall not lose my way.' (Violet Bonham Carter)🌻
November 11, 2025 at 9:14 AM
'I have no dogmatic certainties which tell me where I came from, where I'm going or why, but like a stream which doesn't know the source from which it sprang, or the sea to which it flows, I trust the current in my being & believe if I am true to it, I shall not lose my way.' (Violet Bonham Carter)🌻
'Freedom’ is the natural term by which...man…describes to himself the state in which he shall have realised his ideal of himself...[He] shall have become all that he has it in him to be, and so fulfil the law of his being or "live according to his nature"' (Thomas Hill Green) 🔶️🌻
November 11, 2025 at 9:08 AM
'Freedom’ is the natural term by which...man…describes to himself the state in which he shall have realised his ideal of himself...[He] shall have become all that he has it in him to be, and so fulfil the law of his being or "live according to his nature"' (Thomas Hill Green) 🔶️🌻
'...Labour’s economic vision is based on the presumption that there are no limits. Both conservative and social democratic parties see the world as a magic pudding that can never be exhausted. They build their economic programmes on a fairytale' @georgemonbiot.bsky.social
November 11, 2025 at 8:54 AM
'...Labour’s economic vision is based on the presumption that there are no limits. Both conservative and social democratic parties see the world as a magic pudding that can never be exhausted. They build their economic programmes on a fairytale' @georgemonbiot.bsky.social
Worth another read: "Public luxury for all or private luxury for some: this is the choice we face" | George Monbiot | The Guardian
Public luxury for all or private luxury for some: this is the choice we face | George Monbiot
Labour at least wants to protect and improve our communal life. But even it ducks the biggest issues
share.google
November 11, 2025 at 8:47 AM
Worth another read: "Public luxury for all or private luxury for some: this is the choice we face" | George Monbiot | The Guardian
Reposted by Ben Wood /|\🥭🌿✝️
Remembrance: 75 years of the ECHR
The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) celebrates its 75th birthday this month – like all elders, it has a lifetime of wisdom to share
By Dr Pam Jarvis
@drpam.bsky.social
The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) celebrates its 75th birthday this month – like all elders, it has a lifetime of wisdom to share
By Dr Pam Jarvis
@drpam.bsky.social
Remembrance: 75 years of the ECHR
The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) celebrates its 75th birthday this month – like all elders, it has a lifetime of wisdom to share
yorkshirebylines.co.uk
November 11, 2025 at 7:10 AM
Remembrance: 75 years of the ECHR
The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) celebrates its 75th birthday this month – like all elders, it has a lifetime of wisdom to share
By Dr Pam Jarvis
@drpam.bsky.social
The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) celebrates its 75th birthday this month – like all elders, it has a lifetime of wisdom to share
By Dr Pam Jarvis
@drpam.bsky.social
For T.H Green, the free person is 'that self-realising subject which is his self'. Free action belongs to the Perfect Idea of the Self. (the actuality of all potentialities). This being 'exists in God as eternally self-realised'. The truly free act puts us in harmony with God & ourselves.
November 10, 2025 at 10:32 PM
For T.H Green, the free person is 'that self-realising subject which is his self'. Free action belongs to the Perfect Idea of the Self. (the actuality of all potentialities). This being 'exists in God as eternally self-realised'. The truly free act puts us in harmony with God & ourselves.
'[New Liberals] served to break down the idea that freedom is something that individuals have as a ready-made possession, & to instill the idea that it is something to be achieved, while the possibility of the achievement was shown to be [socially] conditioned' (John Dewey) 🔶️
November 10, 2025 at 9:51 PM
'[New Liberals] served to break down the idea that freedom is something that individuals have as a ready-made possession, & to instill the idea that it is something to be achieved, while the possibility of the achievement was shown to be [socially] conditioned' (John Dewey) 🔶️
'Only by participating in the...common good can individual human beings realize their true individualities & become truly free. The state is but one organ among many of the Spirit...that holds all things together & that makes human beings members of one another' (John Dewey on Thomas Hill Green) 🔶️
November 10, 2025 at 9:39 PM
'Only by participating in the...common good can individual human beings realize their true individualities & become truly free. The state is but one organ among many of the Spirit...that holds all things together & that makes human beings members of one another' (John Dewey on Thomas Hill Green) 🔶️
It's hard to do satire in this country. 😕
Either abolish us all or take it back!🤴🪓 #comedy #princeandrew #ukpolitics #history #taxtherich
YouTube video by Christian Brighty
youtube.com
November 10, 2025 at 7:58 PM
It's hard to do satire in this country. 😕