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
IT IS the pantomime season.
That is the only plausible explanation for the news that Britain is going into 2025 with its strategy for averting being embroiled in inter-imperialist conflict pivoting on a partnership of Peter Mandelson and Nigel Farage.
This combo is the pantomime horse from hell, uniting the progenitor of New Labour with the ascending leader of right-wing nationalist populism.
The US president’s adventurism in Iran began as a display of overwhelming force but has swiftly become a lesson in over-reach, says ANDREW MURRAY
As the PM and his chief of staff’s blunders have mounted up, ANDREW MURRAY wonders who among Labour’s diminished ‘soft left’ might make a bid for the leadership
In the run-up to the Communist Party congress in November ROB GRIFFITHS outlines a few ideas regarding its participation in the elections of May 2026


