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The Jill Segger Column

Jill Segger's regular column

  • 23 May 2013
    Fraternity, propaganda and transformation: thinking about 'welfare'

    The government is using many of the clasic tools of propaganda to influence our thinking about 'welfare' and those who receive it, says Jill Segger. She argues that we need to turn again to the real meaning of Jesus' transformative relationships with the despised.

  • 13 May 2013
    Lies, damned lies and statistics: politicians and the sacredness of facts

    As Michael Gove joins Iain Duncan Smith and David Cameron in misusing and misrepresenting facts for his own purposes, Jill Segger argues that politicans have taken another step towards destruction of the trust which is essential if our common democratic life is to thrive.

  • 18 Dec 2012
    Knocking on the window on a Christmas Day

    The contemporary Christmas - a fusion of more than one mythic truth - may so easily draw us into the trap of indulgence without festival, says Jill Segger. She suggests that we celebrate best when we do so with the needy.

  • 13 Jul 2012
    'What canst thou say?': challenging the crisis of trust

    We are experiencing a crisis of trust in our public institutions, says Jill Segger. She suggests that The Society of Friends could play a significant role in preventing a slide into destructive cynicism.

  • 4 Apr 2012
    Fuel and pasties: a nadir of governance and our part in it

    Image manipulation, trivia and opportunist deceit have brought our politics low, says Jill Segger. She suggests we all need to examine our attitudes and loyalties if the decline is to be arrested.

  • 7 Feb 2012
    Welfare Reform Bill reveals a dysfunctional political culture

    The astonishing failure of humanity and empathy apparent in the content of the Welfare Reform Bill and in the conduct of much of the parliamentary debate around it, reflects poorly on our politicians, says Jill Segger. She suggests that our adversarial and excessively partisan politics creates a culture in which MPs thrive by denying their better selves.

  • 13 Dec 2011
    Low growth: opportunity or threat?

    Low growth offers us the opportunity to re-assess our values, says Jill Segger. She suggests that this may be the time to question consumer orthodoxies and to consider a more just and rational use of resources.

  • 12 Nov 2011
    The red poppy: a compromised symbol?

    The red poppy has been compromised by political expediency and popular sentiment, suggests Jill Segger. Can we step past the current construct and rediscover the enduring meaning of remembrance and its potential to remodel our future?

  • 12 Sep 2011
    9/11 and the use of memory

    The memory of 9/11 can be used to liberate ourselves for the creation of a better future, says Jill Segger

  • 18 Jul 2011
    News International and the 'Seekers after truth'

    Amid the moral turmoil and instability surrounding News International, there is a message for our own times in the steadfast pursuit of truth shown by the Seekers who gathered to listen to George Fox on Firbank Fell in 1652, says Jill Segger

  • 30 May 2011
    New politics for old?

    Point-scoring and opportunist politics alienates the electorate, says Jill Segger. If the "new politics" of May 2010 is to have any meaning, politicians and party activists must find a way of combining the legitimate battle of ideas with a more consensual and creative approach to the common good.

  • 22 Apr 2011
    Wondering again over the Passion

    A setting by an 18th century German composer of a translation into his own tongue of a Greek account of the trial and execution of an Iron Age Mediterranean religious radical, performed in a 15th century English church. This cultural, artistic and creative hybrid has enabled Jill Segger to think afresh about the death of Jesus and its meaning.

  • 11 Mar 2011
    Inspiring women, changing lives

    Neither International Women's Day nor Ash Wednesday usually have any great significance for me, says Jill Segger. The Quaker belief that all days and times carry the sacred within them is usually sufficient. But this year, I am moved to consider it possible that I may have been mistaken.

  • 20 Feb 2011
    A 'Good Society' cannot let the Nimbys have their own way

    How much power can Nimbys be permitted to exercise over the long term well-being of their communities? Jill Segger says that 'localism' and the 'Big Society are actually obstacles to the building of the 'Good Society'

  • 11 Jan 2011
    Co-operation: the path to truth

    If we are fixated upon privilege or special treatment, we will miss the Gospel message that transformational relationships are at the heart of the faith of Jesus, says Jill Segger