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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Retail workers are community servants that demand our respect
With verbal and physical abuse soaring, Usdaw general secretary PADDY LILLIS tells the Star why he has been pushing for new legislation making it a specific offence to assault a retail worker
Usdaw general secretary Paddy Lillis
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
“WE’RE now heading towards 130,000 deaths. Something’s gone badly wrong. A public inquiry is crucial for the victims, for those who have lost loved ones, for those who have long Covid.”
As general secretary of Usdaw, the country’s biggest retail union with more than 400,000 members, Paddy Lillis has had a lot to worry about over the past year.
Like the rest of us, he has watched in horror as key workers have struggled on the front line against a virus which has expertly exploited a decade of austerity to hit vulnerable people hardest.
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