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 sound of surprise, even more unexpected’
Chris Searle on jazz
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
Little Women
Throat and
Lung
Four men make up Little Women, as American as Louisa M Alcott’s children’s novel, although what she would have thought about this quartet’s sounds is best left to historic conjecture. Travis Laplante plays tenor saxophone, Darius Jones is on alto, Andrew Smiley the guitarist and Jason Nazary is the drummer.
This is what Kevin Williams, writing in the Chicago Tribune, said of them: “These guys are ripping their guts out, you think. And so they are. It has structure and elegance in the tornado of noise and beauty which cuts through the maelstrom like a ray of light.”
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