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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Working in the NHS under a Tory government – the reality
Our health service is precious to us all and must be defended from the privatisation agenda, writes Dr ADRIAN HEALD
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
EVERYONE who lives in Britain relies on the National Health Service, created as it was in 1948, in the aftermath of the worst conflict that that the world has seen.
Many people at the time did not believe that it would be possible to create a national healthcare system that was free at the point of delivery, was available to everyone in society (the equity principle) and guaranteed the same quality of care wherever anyone lived in Britain (the parity principle).
The NHS is one of the greatest achievements of any human society at any point in history. So great that it has been copied by a lot of other nations.
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In the second part of her critique of Wes Streeting’s TenYear Plan for Health, HELEN MERCER looks at the central planks of this privatisation blueprint
Climate justice and workers’ rights movements are uniting to make the rich pay for our transition to a green economy, writes assistant general secretary of PCS JOHN MOLONEY, ahead of a major demonstration on September 20
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