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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Council cuts: enough is enough
If the regime of cuts to council budgets continues, we can expect more and more people to refuse to implement them, 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
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
THE “dented shield” is broken, unable to protect — and all that’s left for Scotland’s councils is to set the terms of surrender. Since 2013/14 when police and fire were removed from local council scrutiny and control, Audit Scotland point out that council budgets have reduced by 7.6 per cent in real terms.
But for most councils it’s worse than that. From 2013/14 to 2018/19 core revenue funding for Fife was cut by 7.8 per cent; North Lanarkshire 10.0 per cent; Glasgow 10.5 per cent and Edinburgh 11.4 per cent.
This is one of many reasons why Labour councillors such as Mary Lockhart supported by Independent Linda Holt (Fife), Angela Feeney (North Lanarkshire), Matt Kerr (Glasgow) and myself took the difficult decision to go against the whip in support of our communities, our councils and — for those of us who are Labour councillors — to support party policy against austerity by saying “enough is enough.”
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