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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Centrists and the NHS
So much for ‘middle of the road’ populist politics – Change UK is wedded to the deeply unpopular neoliberal extremism of privatising the NHS, writes SOLOMON HUGHES
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
THE ongoing link between centrist politics and NHS privatisation always resurfaces: journalist Joe Lo, working for the Left Foot Forward website, reports that the partners of Change UK have been appointed to top jobs at the new centrist party.
One detail caught my eye: Nicola Murphy, wife of ex-Labour MP Chris Leslie, has been made Change UK’s “nominating officer.”
She was previously a “special adviser” to Gordon Brown and she left government to become a lobbyist.
As Lo points out, Murphy worked from 2007-8 as head of government relations in Britain for US healthcare firm Humana.
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