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
MICHAEL GOVE has announced plans for “reform” that look designed to give favoured corporations and Tory insiders more control of the supposedly independent Civil Service.
He wants to turn government into “Gove-rnment,” a system that hands over public services to his mates, so they can make a profit at our expense.
Gove pushed the plans at a conference arranged by a former Tory MP’s personal think tank. The event was funded by a former Tory adviser’s company, one that tries to win public-sector contracts for corporations — which rather gives the game away about what is being planned here.
While politicians fixate on defence budgets, the real answers lie in peace-building and economic justice, says ALAN SIMPSON
Martin Taylor, the hedge-fund multimillionaire who has poured millions into pushing Labour rightwards, helped finance Lucy Powell’s supposedly dissenting campaign — suggesting her victory was not the ‘soft-left’ rebellion some have claimed, says SOLOMON HUGHES
Politicians who continue to welcome contracts with US companies without considering the risks and consequences of total dependency in the years to come are undermining the raison d’etre of the NHS, argues Dr JOHN PUNTIS
US General Stanley McChrystal has been invited to advise on creating a ‘team of teams’ for healthcare transformation. His credentials? He previously ran interrogation bases where Iraqis were stripped naked and beaten, reports SOLOMON HUGHES


