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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An offer Scottish people can refuse
The new independence push is a convenient distraction from Scotland’s most treasured national asset, the NHS, cracking down the middle
OUT OF TOUCH: Independence supporters outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh ahead of the vote by MSPs to hold a second scottish independence referendum
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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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
JUST when you think it’s all over, the stetsoned Texan Darius Jedburgh murmurs in the classic BBC serial Edge of Darkness, it’s only begun. The SNP’s “growth commission” has published its report at last — all 354 pages of it.
Much of the anti-independence campaign in 2014 focused on the supposed economic catastrophe that would hit Scotland in the event of a breakaway. So it’s no wonder the nats want to get their rebuttal in first as they prepare for the rematch.
The commission takes its starting point from the GERS figures — the annual estimate of the Scottish economy within the UK. This mechanism has regularly angered pro-independence campaigners, who say it doesn’t show the whole picture.
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The new Scottish Parliament looks set to continue a cycle of managerial tinkering while public services face the axe, writes STEPHEN LOW
On the release of her memoir that reveals everything except politics, Sturgeon’s endless media coverage has focused on her panic attacks, sexuality and personal tragedies while ignoring her government’s many failures, writes PAULINE BRYAN
