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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We must get through this winter together - or many will not get through it at all
Unison assistant general secretary ROGER McKENZIE says a fundamental change of approach is needed to tackle this health crisis
Public service workers have amassed a huge body of experience, and undergone huge risks to their lives during the pandemic — ow that winter is here, it is time for them to be listened to.
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 WUHAN, devastated by the coronavirus outbreak at the beginning of this year, nightclubs are open again. We are having to enter a partial second lockdown next week because of politics as much as epidemiology.
At the beginning of the outbreak Boris Johnson boasted about being able to profit by being more careless than other countries. The government locked down too late, and when it did, it inherited a health service shredded by cuts and privatisation. Rather than rapidly raising state capacity, it adopted the same strategy that has failed on every major public project from universal credit to railways – huge bungs for profiteers with a record of failure but close links to the Conservative Party.
Our test and trace system is now being operated by teenagers on the minimum wage in roles intended for experienced clinicians at the level of paramedics or assistant psychologists.
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Former Labour MP LAURA SMITH makes the case for The Many slate in the elections to Your Party’s new executive
Digital ID means the government could track anyone and then limit their speech, movements, finances — and it could get this all wrong, identifying the wrong people for the wrong reasons, as the numerous digital cockups so far demonstrate, warns DYLAN MURPHY