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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Christmas is a time to remember there is such thing as society
CONRAD LANDIN hopes for the safe return of 90-year-old William Scott who went missing 12 days ago
A view through the Croft-an-Righ in Holyrood, Edinburgh
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
NIGHTTIME temperatures will near freezing levels in Edinburgh on Sunday.
Last-minute Christmas shoppers will hurry home from Princes Street for parental present-wrapping sessions.
The concourse at Waverley will be rammed with families awaiting the arrival home of loved ones.
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SCOTT ALSWORTH searches for something – anything – worth recommending from the year’s releases
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
SWEE ANG, the founder of Medical Aid for Palestinians, is a big believer in the power of small actions, and she is the living proof it works, writes Linda Pentz Gunter
GEOFF BOTTOMS, who has worked in a palliative care hospice for 11 years, argues the postcode lottery for proper end-of-life care must be ended to give the terminally ill choice and agency