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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Scotland should welcome its second-hand trains - for they were built in the best days of public-sector innovation
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
TODAY ScotRail will introduce its “Happy Trains” between Edinburgh and Glasgow — given this nauseating name because of the modified frontage of the Class 365 stock, which resembles a smiley face.
These are trains built in the mid-1990s transferred from the ailing Govia Thameslink Railway, which has led some to accuse ScotRail of “spin” for boasting of the improvements they will bring.
The reality, however, is that as with most trains commissioned before privatisation, they are far superior to the carriages commissioned now.
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