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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The left sees that austerity has fuelled the far right – but so do calls to undermine the EU referendum result
Remain voter CHELLEY RYAN explores how angry and disillusioned Leave voters must be left feeling by Labour’s mixed messages on Brexit
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
THERE are lots of things I love about the radical left: its compassion, its thirst for justice, its passion and its ability to dust itself off and start again.
But last week I saw a side that makes me feel sad and uncomfortable, and that’s its tendency to judge and hector others without fully trying to understand them.
George Galloway, a stalwart and some would say infamous character of the left and a Lexiteer through and through, has announced he will be lending his vote to the Brexit Party. I’m sure Galloway knew his decision would be met with strong condemnation, and it was. His argument is clear.
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Durham Miners’ Association general secretary ALAN MARDGHUM speaks to Ben Chacko ahead of Gala Day 2025
VINCE MILLS cautions over the perils and pitfalls of ‘a new left party’
While Reform poses as a workers’ party, a credible left alternative rooted in working-class communities would expose their sham — and Corbyn’s stature will be crucial to its appeal, argues CHELLEY RYAN
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