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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Vaccines are another sign of public-sector success and the failure of the market model
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
BORIS JOHNSON is set to get a big political bounce from the vaccination programme. But the success of vaccination, just like the failures of most of the Tory Covid-19 responses, shows that Johnson’s “free market” policies have let the virus run free, while stronger public health and welfare institutions are the cure.
The high Covid-19 death rate is even worrying the Conservative press. But they don’t want to think too deeply about why, preferring to see the answer in Boris Johnson’s personality, or a list of unconnected managerial failures and accidents.
But the real answer is that this is a public health emergency, so needs the strongest response from the public health and welfare institutions.
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