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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From Peterloo to Orgreave
The forthcoming 200th anniversary of the Peterloo massacre will allow us to draw parallels with the miners’ strike and understand the way the state can use force to suppress dissent and protest, says GRANVILLE WILLIAMS
An injured picket is carried way from the line at the Orgreave coking plant, in 1984
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 second anniversary of Amber Rudd’s appalling decision to reject a public inquiry into policing at Orgreave on June 18 1984 is a few days away.
We now know that in the 16 months between Theresa May, as home secretary, inviting a submission in June 2015 from the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign (OTJC) for a public inquiry, and Rudd rejecting it on October 31 2016, the Home Office did not consider the police files or trial transcripts — the actual facts of what happened.
Instead, under May, then Rudd, they looked only at the original Thatcher government files from 1984 and 1985.
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