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
Latest editorial
Years of neoliberal austerity have left Britain crying out for an alternative
Outsourcing and market fundamentalism have failed the country and the public, writes LEN McCLUSKEY
Unite general secretary Len McCluskey
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
I ARRIVED here in Manchester angry. Angry at the failure of a neoliberal dogma that has resulted in the spectacular collapse of four high-profile outsourced and privatised projects, for which no-one is being held accountable or punished.
Carillion — two much-needed new hospitals in Liverpool and Birmingham lie mothballed, while the failed construction and outsourcing giant’s apprenticeship programme appears to have been a sham scheme.
Birmingham Prison — the government forced to take over from G4S after the chief inspector of prisons said it had fallen into a “state of crisis.”
Similar stories
The HS2 debacle exposes what happens when public infrastructure is handed to private contractors – especially when set against China’s state-led high-speed rail success, says CARLOS MARTINEZ
US General Stanley McChrystal has been invited to advise on creating a ‘team of teams’ for healthcare transformation. His credentials? He previously ran interrogation bases where Iraqis were stripped naked and beaten, reports SOLOMON HUGHES