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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The Taxpayers’ Alliance may get a lot of TV airtime, but who are they really?
The Taxpayers’ Alliance likes to talk about government funding. But it keeps its own funding completely secret, says SOLOMON HUGHES
Stunt: The Taxpayers' Alliance's 'UK debt clock' as the shady group campaigned to cut public spending
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 Taxpayers’ Alliance is on the TV a lot. Just this week its spokesperson Chloe Westley was on BBC Question Time, Marr on Sunday and BBC Daily Politics. They are one of the key right-wing voices in the media.
So what is the Taxpayers’ Alliance, and why does it get such access to the TV studios? I asked them the most basic questions — who is allying with who?
Who are its members, and how do they join? How does it decide its policies? I spoke to its spokesman on its 24-hour media phone line and emailed follow-up questions and got no response at all. The normally talkative Taxpayers’ Alliance went very quiet when I asked who they really are.
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