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
Just when you think their moral waterline had been holed so frequently that they could not submerge any further they go and add another few tonnes of cargo to ensure the process of plumbing the depths continues unabated.
Cue the Tories’ latest election wheeze, which has to be one of the most cynical, deplorable and spectacularly ill-judged in recent times.
Thus we were presented in eye-watering technicolour with a picture of David Cameron choking a baby sheep to death for its milk bottle on the front page of every rag in the country.
Star cartoonist MALC MCGOOKIN finds lessons for today in the punch, and the economy of line, of an extraordinary generation of illustrators
While Spode quit politics after inheriting an earldom, Farage combines MP duties with selling columns, gin, and even video messages — proving reality produces more shameless characters than PG Wodehouse imagined, writes STEPHEN ARNELL
Holding office in local government is a poisoned chalice for a party that bases its electoral appeal around issues where it has no power whatsoever, argues NICK WRIGHT


