Fownhope’s Heart of Oak Society traces its roots to the age of friendly societies, when communities provided their own safety net. Its anniversary celebrations reveal a tradition still very much alive, says MARK SEDDON
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A timeline of the plague year
With the liberal press unwilling to even try to hold them to account, history needs the true story of the Tories’ Covid failures. IAN SINCLAIR introduces his new comprehensive report on the scandal that cost thousands of lives
ANGUS REID explains the significance of Cuba’s egalitarian in letter and spirit Family Code and the pertinent lessons it holds for democracies anywhere in the world
Special report by PEOPLE’S WORLD
NICK WRIGHT considers how the isolation of Israel and a new film on the controversial Italian communist leader are creating new reference points for Italy’s left
CARLOS MARTINEZ says Cuba’s achievements in the face of a criminal blockade are startling, but the island’s future if the United States succeeds in crushing it looks bleak
AMNON BROWNFIELD STEIN reports that far-right MPs who mobbed the event organised by Hadash may have helped raise awareness of the brutality of the Israeli right
TO MARK the one year anniversary of the first national lockdown last month, the Guardian published profiles of Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance and Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty.
“The wealthy civil servant’s year of speaking truth to power” was the title of the fawning article on Vallance. Discussing the early days of the pandemic, the Guardian’s Rupert Neate asserted “Vallance may have been one of the few people in Whitehall who understood what was coming.” Echoing the title, he noted “Vallance’s friends and colleagues say that he is not afraid to speak scientific truth to power.”
The profile on Whitty was similarly obsequious, titled: “The calm voice who steered a nation in crisis.” The co-authors Ian Sample and Heather Stewart wrote: “The crisis has demanded dedication and stamina, but Whitty has also needed the trust of those around him.”
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