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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Tory cronyism infects the NHS
“We all know how it works. The lunches, the hospitality, the quiet word in your ear, the ex-ministers for hire,” said David Cameron. Stephen Dorrell is the perfect fit
Stephen Dorrell
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
INTEGRATING social care and healthcare is seen as the way forward by many commentators.
But it also creates a whole new business stream for care firms: local authority social care — care homes and visitors — is largely privatised, where “medical” healthcare is still mostly NHS.
Growing calls for integration may explain why Cratus, a company specialising in lobbying councillors on behalf of developers hired former Tory health secretary Stephen Dorrell (above right) this February.
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Politicians who continue to welcome contracts with US companies without considering the risks and consequences of total dependency in the years to come are undermining the raison d’etre of the NHS, argues Dr JOHN PUNTIS
ANDREW MURRAY recommends a volume of essays that nail the visionless, racist and neoliberal character of policy under Starmer’s Labour Party
SOLOMON HUGHES asks whether Labour ‘engaging with decision-makers’ with scandalous records of fleecing the public is really in our interests
The New York mayoral candidate has electrified the US public with policies of social justice and his refusal to be cowed. We can follow his example here, writes CLAUDIA WEBBE