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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Blue-collar Cayzer
SOLOMON HIGHES looks at the ancient stash of 'posh cash' that is funding the Tories' attempts to court the Northern working class
OLD MONEY: The descendants of Sir Nicholas, pictured in 1962, are still pulling strings today
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
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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
IN a demonstration of the Tory commitment to self-made men and women, a big slice of the Conservative Party campaigning in down-to-earth constituencies is funded by a man who pulled himself up by his own bootstraps — about 140 years ago.
The Cayzer Family Trust funds Tory campaigning in many constituencies. The Cayzer money comes from a simple lad who made his fortune in the 19th century. It has been the fortune for a big family of country-estate-owning inheritors who have been living off his industry ever since.
Charles Cazyer, son of a schoolmaster, was born in London’s Limehouse in 1843, went into the shipping business and eventually became hugely wealthy from his own shipping firm. He used the money from his steamship line to buy vast country estates in Scotland. He was elected a Tory MP in 1892, then later made a hereditary Tory lord.
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