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 Canadian melodist of east London
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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
Kenny Wheeler
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WHEN you go through the pedestrian tunnels of Leytonstone Underground station in east London, you pass through a series of striking mosaics of scenes from films by Alfred Hitchcock, who spent his childhood over his father’s grocery shop in Leytonstone High Road. There’s even one of the boy Hitchcock on a pony outside his dad’s shop, with flags and bunting waving.
But if you leave the station and walk northwards towards Wallwood Road, you’ll find another memorial — a blue plaque commemorating another Leytonstone resident who made the Atlantic crossing in the opposite direction to Hitchcock and whose artistry, for more than 60 years, was at least the equal of the cinema legend.
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