The Friend (Quaker magazine)

There is also a Mormon magazine entitled The Friend

The Friend is a weekly Quaker magazine published in London, England. It is the only Quaker weekly in the world, and has been published continuously since 1842. It began as a monthly, but after a few years it became a weekly.

The Friend is completely independent from Britain Yearly Meeting, although for the past few years it has occupied space in Friends House. It is owned by The Friend Publications Ltd., a trust which also publishes Friends Quarterly. The Trustees of The Friend are appointed from members of Britain Yearly Meeting.

The Trustees appoint the Editor who, along with the other members of staff, is entirely responsible for the day to day management of the magazine, and its content.

As an independent publication, The Friend is free to report critically on trends within Quakerism in Britain and around the world, and on the governance of Britain Yearly Meeting. It also reports on the activities of Friends and Friends' groups and it is a forum for theological debate. There is a great deal of opinion in the magazine, and the letters page provides a forum for readers to express their views.

One of the ways The Friend exercises its responsibility to give readers an independent viewpoint is by covering Meeting for Sufferings, the standing governing body of Britain Yearly Meeting, which meets eight to nine times a year. Meeting for Sufferings often deals with controversial issues, on which The Friend reports and comments.

In recent years, The Friend has begun offering all its content online.

The Friend is printed by Headley Brothers, of Ashford, Kent, and appears every Friday. Its ISSN is 0016-1268

Recent editors of The Friend
Judy Kirby        2004-present

Harry Albright    1997-2004

Deborah Padfield  1993-1997

Sally Juniper     1991-1993

David Firth       1977-1991

Trivia

 * In its entire history, The Friend has failed to appear only twice. This was due to paper rationing during the second world war.
 * The Friend is one of the oldest continuously published publications in the world still in operation. Others (e.g. Punch) which began publication before The Friend have had lengthy interruptions in publication and/or have closed down.