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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Spads and the city
To absolutely nobody's surprise, Theresa May's claim to govern by and for the common man has yet again been laid bare — by the unholy number of her former 'special advisers' flocking to the corporate lobbying fold, reveals SOLOMON HUGHES
After receiving their real P45s, those in Theresa May’s administration have found new ways to feather their corporate nests
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
Special report by PEOPLE’S WORLD
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
WHEN Theresa May fell to Boris Johnson last July, her flock of special advisers (Spads) was released into the wild. A Cabinet Office “transparency report” released in March reveals that, while May tried to make backing the people who were “just about managing” her theme, her Spads uniformly flew into the service of consultancies serving big corporations.
Spads are the ministerial assistants who are paid as civil servants, but are “political” appointees hand-picked by ministers, so they are important figures in how the state is run.
Most Spads only have to seek approval from their department under the “Business Appointment Rules” for post-government jobs. They are exempted from having to apply to the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, the already weak watchdog guarding the “revolving door” between government and business.
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