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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The SNP funding fudge for councils continues
To pay for a council tax freeze to woo the voters, the SNP has repeatedly cut local authorities' cash elsewhere — then campaigned against the problems it had created itself, writes GORDON MUNRO
The Scottish Parliament 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
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
STRIKINGLY absent from the Holyrood election debate was any discussion about the perilous financial state of councils in Scotland.
The diminution of debate in Scotland to the primacy of Yes v No on independence has seen this situation faced by all councils ignored in favour of polarised, petty invective.
This saw SNP MSPs pose for photo opportunities outside Maryhill public library protesting against SNP-run Glasgow City Council’s arms-length company Glasgow Life, which plans to close five libraries, 11 community halls and centres, three museums, along with 40 sports fields and gyms.
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Years of underfunding are eroding Scotland’s local services and deepening inequality in communities, says VINCE MILLS
Cuts are sweeping campuses as cash-strapped universities slash staff and politicians fail to act on a growing funding emergency. VINCE MILLS reports
It is time to stop tolerating the governing elites incompetence which makes our lives a daily misery, argues MATT KERR
