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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What’s the point of a new centrist party?
More plotting is afoot – but to what end, wonders CONRAD LANDIN
Jonathan Powell and JK Rowling
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
THE Countdown has begun. Rachel Riley, who replaced Carol Vorderman on the BBC puzzle show in 2009, was said to be in secret talks last week with Harry Potter author JK Rowling and Jonathan Powell, who served as Tony Blair’s chief of staff in No 10, on the prospects of a new centrist party.
It would be a modelled on Angela Merkel’s CDU, the Sun’s Steve Hawkes suggested. But given the unlikely prospect of Chris Leslie and Chuka Umunna understanding a German political tradition, this probably stands not for Christian Democratic Union — but Centrist Dads Unlimited.
The plotters met at the offices of Rowling’s agent Neil Blair, the Mail on Sunday reported, to develop plans “to launch a breakaway Labour Party within weeks.” So described not because of any connection to organised labour — but because the small number of MPs sucked in are all likely to be disaffected rightwingers of the Parliamentary Labour Party.
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