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
Latest editorial
Why an Active Boycott of EU elections is necessary
Who in their right minds could imagine that sending Farage to Brussels to pocket yet more MEPs’ expenses could represent a genuine route to win Britain’s departure from the EU, asks ALEX GORDON
PRETENSIONS SHAKEN: Leave supporters should not be taken in by Nigel Farage
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
AS polls open in Britain for European parliamentary elections, which should not be taking place given the vote to leave the European Union on June 23 2016, a debate is taking place online and in the pages of the Morning Star on what attitude the left and the labour movement should adopt to these elections.
For much of the media the main story is the irresistible rise of Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party, officially registered in February this year, although its parent company “The Brexit Party Ltd” (TBP) was incorporated on November 23 2018.
The lure for a populist, cross-class alliance of “pro-democracy, free-thinkers” of European elections, habitually treated as an opportunity for a protest vote, is the preferred narrative of both supporters and critics of Farage’s latest vehicle.
Similar stories
By-election poll puts Starmer's future on a knife-edge
Starmer sabotaged Labour with his second referendum campaign, mobilising a liberal backlash that sincerely felt progressive ideals were at stake — but the EU was then and is now an entity Britain should have nothing to do with, explains NICK WRIGHT
Deep disillusionment with the Westminster cross-party consensus means rupture with the status quo is on the cards – bringing not only opportunities but also dangers, says NICK WRIGHT
From Gaza complicity to welfare cuts chaos, Starmer’s baggage accumulates, and voters will indeed find ‘somewhere else’ to go — to the Greens, nationalists, Lib Dems, Reform UK or a new, working-class left party, writes NICK WRIGHT