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
SINCE the genocide inflicted on the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 (an indescribably evil message to Japan, the world and very specifically to the Soviet Union that US military power should not be messed with), the risk that nuclear weapons may be reemployed has not gone away.
Might they be used to make a wasteland of North Korea, a country with a population of 25 million, yet possessing the third largest army in the world (1.3m, not much smaller than that of the US), and a country which has been refused recognition by Washington since 1948 and the subject of sanctions since 1950?
US President Donald Trump’s belligerent message on August 8 to the Pyongyang government of Kim Jong Un that “any more threats” to the US will be met by “fire and fury like the world has never seen” must make us hugely conscious of the risk of nuclear catastrophe.
As we mark the anniversaries of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, JOHN WIGHT reflects on the enormity of the US decision to drop the atom bombs
For 80 years, survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings have pleaded “never again,” for anyone. But are we listening, asks Linda Pentz Gunter
The summer of 1950 saw Labour abandon further nationalisation while escalating Korean War spending from £2.3m to £4.7m, as the government meekly accepted capitalism’s licence and became Washington’s yes-man, writes JOHN ELLISON


