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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Tories out to win over the heart of the ‘common man’
By focusing on ‘cultural issues,’ the Tory cultural warrior hopes to shift the terrain so that the Conservative Party, looks like the party of the ‘man in the street,’ writes SOLOMON HUGHES
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
THE Tory right are trying to launch a “culture war.” But it keeps stuttering.
One reason it’s not breaking through is that the left already fought some gritty, grassroots battles that are stopping the culture warriors from seizing territory.
A “culture war” is a US description of a backlash politics that shifts the argument from economics onto issues of “traditional” culture. It means trying to bind voters to the right through arguments about family values, patriotism, law-and-order and race.
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