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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Colombia did not pull ‘a Brexit’
The comparisons between Britain’s EU and Colombia’s Farc peace deal referendums are not only inaccurate, but deeply cynical and harmful, says JULIAN JONES
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
“COLOMBIA’s Brexit moment” railed the Guardian. “Colombia does a Brexit,” proclaimed the FT.
Last month’s referendum in Colombia on the country’s fragile peace process with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) produced a thoroughly unexpected result, drawing the inevitable comparisons in the mainstream media with the EU referendum — the main assumption being that both outcomes were wrong.
Many newspapers in fact questioned the very decision to hold referendums in both countries. Foremost among them was the Independent, which ran perhaps the most hyperbolic piece of all, entitled: “Colombia, like the UK, just sabotaged itself through a referendum.”
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