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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If you want to find Russian links in Britain, don’t look to Corbyn – look to the Tories
Michael Gove, who was treated to an expensive box at the Emirates Stadium at the expense of a Russian-owned firm
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
RUSSIAN influence in politics? If you believe BBC Newsnight, that means Jeremy Corbyn, shaded red, with a Russian-looking hat and the Kremlin in the background. If you believe the newspapers it means saying Corbyn is an ex-Soviet bloc spy.
Which shows how some media can become bizarrely detached from the real world. Not only was Corbyn not a Soviet spy, the Soviet Union doesn’t exist. It hasn’t existed for 27 years. Russia’s flag isn’t a red banner, it doesn’t have a hammer and sickle. And Vladimir Putin does not lead the Communist Party, he leads the United Russia party.
Lots of people on the left, including Corbyn, are not keen on military conflict with foreign nations, including Russia: but they have no political links to Russia, which has become a thoroughly capitalist country with a fairly authoritarian form of rule and a lot of super-rich oligarchs.
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