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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Flickers of light and north London elites
Anti-semitism and racism are to be found in spades in today’s Toryland, says DAVID ROSENBERG
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
FOR those members of the media/commentariat who have spent the last four years largely looking in the wrong place for the presence of anti-semitism in British politics, the week leading up to Friday’s anniversary of the battle of Cable Street might just have provided a flicker of light for them, encouraging them to look elsewhere.
On Tuesday, Priti Patel, the hard-right home secretary, an immigrant herself, spoke out forcefully against immigration and “freedom of movement” and lambasted those she thinks encourage it.
“This daughter of immigrants needs no lectures from the north London metropolitan liberal elite,” she said.
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