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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Blame Westminster: the great money trick
The cash is there to properly fund Scottish councils, yet over six years since the emergency situation we are in was made plain, the Scottish government plays evasion games, writes GORDON MUNRO
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
SUCCESSIVE Scottish government ministers have kept to their annual Christmas tradition of acting like Scrooge to Scottish councils’ role as Bob Cratchit.
Councils had the temerity to ask for “fair and flexible funding” and instead got a real terms cut of £377 million from the SNP-Green government.
This was done despite the praise for work by ministers for councils’ response to Covid and the fact that councils work Christmas Day — every day of the year, in fact.
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