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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Who’s really to blame for the shameful disaster of outsourcing? We know the answer
Home Secretary Sajid Javid and Theresa May
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
SERCO runs everything in Britain, and increasingly abroad, from school inspections to Yarl’s Wood via massive cleaning contracts and refugee housing.
The outsourcing giant also operates the Caledonian Sleeper between London and Scotland, despite its branding being more familiar on the prisoner transport vans I’d see every day when I lived across the road from a magistrates’ court.
Its boss clearly enjoys having this feather in his hat.
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