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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For some it's Xmas every day
There seems to be a sort of end-of-term mania sweeping the country this week, says Paddy Mcguffin
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
There seems to be a sort of end-of-term mania sweeping the country this week. From peers to politicians to pastors they've all been at it.
Christmas is of course a time when we look back and reflect on what has gone before, so here goes.
We've had bent lords a-leeching, vain MPs chiselling, late greaseballs preying, serving coppers lying, sacked Serco whining, live spooks a spying, more fawning berks, three dense Lib Dems, a slew of Tory twerps and apartheid deniers on the TV.
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Peter Murrell’s weakness for the allure of prestige goods is symptomatic of modern consumer culture, says MATT KERR
SYMON HILL looks at Tommy Robinson’s bid to use Christmas to spread division and hate — and reminds us that’s the opposite of Jesus’s message
‘Honest’ Tom Wharton’s 1682 drunken rampage through St Mary’s church haunted his political career, but his satirical song Lillibullero helped topple Catholic James II during the Glorious Revolution, writes MAT COWARD