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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Inhuman traffic: the parking privateers
SOLOMON HUGHES exposes the firm running private traffic wardens with its eyes on the privatisation big leagues
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
NSL is a leading — if little known — British privatiser. Its latest accounts admit a big truth about privatisation: NLS says there is “no significant” threat of “competition” right now. Competition only “could possibly” be an issue in the “long term.” NSL isn’t worried about competition: instead its thinks its workers getting better wages is a “principal risk.”
NSL’s accounts show it is a big-ish beast. It has a £155m turnover and 3,725 staff. NSL’s slogan is “Delivering and managing outsourced services in regulated public environments” — that’s not exactly snappy, so I’ll explain. NSL was part of the giant car parking company, National Car Parks.
It broke away in 2007: NSL decided to profit from the long running push for councils to privatise their services.
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