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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Trade unions braced for ‘Winter of Discontent’ headlines
As we approach polling day, expect Boris Johnson and his press supporters to turn up the heat over the impact of Corbyn’s pledge to repeal restraints on trade union organisation, says NICHOLAS JONES
Alexander ‘Boris’ de Pfeffel Johnson and Michael Gove
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
ANY pre-election threat of industrial action presents an immediate target for Conservative politicians and their media allies.
Add to the mix a pledge by the Labour Party to row back on ever-tightening legal restrictions on trade union activity, and within an instant Conservative-supporting newspapers are warning of an imminent repeat of the 1979 Winter of Discontent — the year that 29.4 million days were lost due to strikes.
An image of Jeremy Corbyn’s face superimposed on a 1979 photograph of heaps of rotting garbage piled up in Leicester Square appeared in the Sun just after his election as Labour leader in the summer of 2015.
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