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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How Grayling’s ‘rehabilitation revolution’ went bad
Private companies running the service knew that even if they did a bad job, the ministry would always bail them out, says SOLOMON HUGHES
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
THIS month’s damning report by government watchdog the National Audit Office into the privatisation of probation exposes Chris Grayling’s vandalism on a vital public service.
The Audit Office normally uses very measured language, but in the case of Grayling’s privatisation it says: “The ministry set itself up to fail.”
The report also shows why so many other privatisations go bad. Probation services try steer ex-offenders out of crime and into jobs and housing — they are a kind of crime-fighting social work.
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The HS2 debacle exposes what happens when public infrastructure is handed to private contractors – especially when set against China’s state-led high-speed rail success, says CARLOS MARTINEZ
Years of underfunding are eroding Scotland’s local services and deepening inequality in communities, says VINCE MILLS
PHILIP ENGLISH says military spending will not create the jobs young people need — instead, build an economy based around needs, not profit
To quell the public anger and silence the far right, Labour has rushed out a report so that it can launch a National Inquiry — ANN CZERNIK examines Baroness Casey’s incendiary audit and finds fatal flaws that fail to 'draw a line' under the scandal as hoped