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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The struggle for the soul of Scottish Labour
As the Scottish Labour Party prepares to elect its depute leader, Conrad Landin looks at the prevailing opinions and political implications of the choice
DECISION TIME (Left to right) Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn with newly elected Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard and candidate for depute Lesley Laird MP
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
SPRING fever is gripping the SNP. By the time Scotland’s governing party announces its new depute leader in June, the three candidates will have squared off in at least 10 hustings events.
Meanwhile, Scottish Labour has set a timetable to elect its own number two that stretches even further ahead. Voting will not close until the end of August, under the timetable agreed by Labour’s Scottish executive committee (SEC).
But despite this, Richard Leonard looks increasingly likely to have a deputy in post before Nicola Sturgeon. Because in the four days since Scottish Labour’s election timetable was published, support has been building around just one candidate — interim deputy leader Lesley Laird, who is Labour’s shadow Scotland secretary at Westminster.
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The new Scottish Parliament looks set to continue a cycle of managerial tinkering while public services face the axe, writes STEPHEN LOW
Martin Taylor, the hedge-fund multimillionaire who has poured millions into pushing Labour rightwards, helped finance Lucy Powell’s supposedly dissenting campaign — suggesting her victory was not the ‘soft-left’ rebellion some have claimed, says SOLOMON HUGHES
