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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From the BBC to Channel 4: public broadcasting on the brink
The Tories are trying to argue that privatising Channel 4 will support it, not simply speed up the profit-driven 'Netflixication' of our screens and the end of our distinctive programming. We must resist this, writes GRANVILLE WILLIAMS
Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries on the main stage during the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester. Picture date Tuesday October 5, 2021.
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
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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
CULTURE SECRETARY Nadine Dorries has done it again. After the gaffe last November before the media and culture select committee where she confidently stated Channel 4 received public funding, she has now stated on Ian Dale’s LBC radio show that Channel 5 “was privatised three to five years ago.”
The channel was established in 1997 (four groups bid for it) and the pornographer Richard Desmond acquired it in 2011, followed by the US media group Viacom in 2014. It was never publicly owned and therefore could never be privatised.
When her error was pointed out she dismissed it as “nit-picking.”
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