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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Tories challenged over poisonous debate on welfare
Michelle Ballantyne
[Scottish Parliament]
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
SCOTTISH Tory welfare spokeswoman Michelle Ballantyne was widely condemned this week after she said it was “fair” that benefit recipients could not have “as many children as they like.”
The pressure mounting on Scottish Tory chiefs to remove her from their front bench is a sign of how far we’ve come. It wasn’t too long ago that figures from across the political spectrum were regularly indulging in this kind of rhetoric. It was a true race to the bottom.
Standing for the Labour deputy leadership in 2015, Caroline Flint gave an exclusive interview to the Sun in which she said it was time to give people who “choose to live on benefits” (the Sun’s paraphrase) a “kick up the backside” (Flint’s own words).
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