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
SOMETHING extraordinary happened at Holyrood this week, as anyone who picked up today’s Morning Star will be well aware.
I’m not talking about the Scottish Parliament rolling out the red carpet for the founder of a Ukrainian neonazi party, extraordinary as that may be. No, still more galling was that no-one batted an eyelid.
After a moment on my phone in the press gallery, I swiftly discovered Andriy Parubiy (pictured), who has moved on from his days of nazi imagery to become the Speaker of Ukraine’s parliament, has a history of defending the wartime ultra-nationalist leader and nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera.
Washington plays innocent bystander while pouring weapons and intelligence into Ukraine, just as it enables the Gaza genocide — but every US escalation leaves Ukraine weaker than the neutrality deal rejected in 2022, argue MEDEA BENJAMIN and NICOLAS JS DAVIES
While Spode quit politics after inheriting an earldom, Farage combines MP duties with selling columns, gin, and even video messages — proving reality produces more shameless characters than PG Wodehouse imagined, writes STEPHEN ARNELL


