User:FrankP

Frank Pennycook

I am a freelance writer living in Salisbury, UK. I have particular interests in history, politics and religion.

politics

Politically, I categorise myself as left liberal and a supporter of green liberalism. I am a member of the UK Liberal Democrat Party and since 2009 I have been an elected councillor on Salisbury City Council, representing my home ward of Bemerton.

I am committed to environmental politics and am concerned about sustainability issues. I have been actively involved with Friends of the Earth in one way and another for sixteen years, as member of staff, local group coordinator and for a three-year term as a Trustee on the governing Board of the organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

I support the abolition of the British monarchy, in order to make Britain a republic. I am concerned about threats to civil liberties. In the UK, for example, there are restrictions on demonstrations in Parliament Square and the continued growth of surveillance of many kinds. I am a member of the campaign group Liberty.

For political and technical reasons, I use free software, such as Drupal, Apache and MySQL. My preferred operating system is Debian GNU/Linux.

religion

I am an atheist with a fascination for the study of religion and myth. I taught myself some koine Greek so that I can have a go at reading the New Testament and contemporary writings. I have in the past conducted funeral ceremonies as a celebrant for the British Humanist Association for families who wish a non-religious ceremony, although due to incompatibility with family commitments I am not doing this at present.

relaxing

Besides learning new things, which is one of life's great enjoyments, I take pleasure in, for example, baking bread and pies, walking and flying kites outdoors - I love the British weather except our dreadful hot summers (!), the poetry of Thomas Hardy and the music of Gustav Mahler. I have two young children, and spending time with them is relaxing too, in its own way!

wikipedia

	This user is a proud member of WikiProject Time.

This user is a Citizen of the World (Terra, ⊕).

This user is an atheist.