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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Why Cardiff Demands Better
Cardiff remains a profoundly unequal city – if politicians and bosses won't do something, workers have to, argues Wales TUC general secretary SHAVANAH TAJ
Cardiff's skyline
[Mike Erskine / Creative Commons]
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
IF YOU live in Wales but outside Cardiff then you probably think that the capital city gets more than its fair share of everything. It holds most of the political power, what passes for civil society in Wales is rooted here, it gets a disproportionate amount of investment, and it’s richer than most of the country.
But step away from the parochial framing and it becomes obvious that Cardiff has been let down by 12 years of Tory rule at Westminster just as much as everywhere else in Wales.
Whether you’re looking at job quality, incomes, childcare, housing or transport - austerity and the endless squeeze on public budgets have progressively chipped away at the city’s ability to provide the most basic building blocks of a good life.
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