From London’s holly-sellers to Engels’s flaming Christmas centrepiece, the plum pudding was more than festive fare in Victorian Britain, says KEITH FLETT
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Buried at Grenfell: a disaster foretold
Three months to the day after the worst fire in England for over half a century, ANN CZERNIK questions how such dangerous materials ever made it onto the sides of Grenfell Tower
Once the bustling heart of Christian pilgrimage, Bethlehem now faces shuttered hotels, empty streets and a shrinking Christian community, while Israel’s assault on Gaza and the tightening grip of occupation destroy hopes of peace at the birthplace of Christ, writes Father GEOFF BOTTOMS
From a lockdown digital project to a vital tool for class solidarity, ROBERT POOLE and HENRY FOWLER reflect on half-a-decade of struggle
After years hidden away, Oldham’s memorial to six local volunteers who died fighting fascism in the Spanish civil war has been restored to public view, marking both a victory for campaigners and a renewed tribute to the town’s proud International Brigade heritage, says ROB HARGREAVES
The June 2025 attacks on Iran have heightened the risk of a wider war, exposed the fiction of a rules-based international order and left ordinary Iranians trapped between external aggression and internal repression, says the Committee for Defence of Iranian People’s Rights
While pretending to seek peace, Europe is heading toward a collision course with Russia – using security guarantees, troop deployments, expropriation and censorship as tools, writes SEVIM DAGDELEN
A WWI hero, renowned ornithologist, medical doctor, trade union organiser and founder member of the Communist Party of Great Britain all rolled in one. MAT COWARD tells the story of a life so improbable it was once dismissed as fiction
THE BLACKENED, twisted shell of Grenfell Tower looms darkly over north Kensington as a monumental tombstone marking the site of Britain’s largest open grave.
Following the fire, a range of organisations supporting and campaigning for the rights of private renters across London and Britain — Generation Rent, Acorn, Digs, the Radical Housing Network, Renters Power Project, Advice4Renters and Renters’ Rights — issued a statement: “The Grenfell fire has exposed gross failings on the part of governments and institutions and the urgent need for proper regulations to keep us safe,” they declared.
Last week, Communities and Local Government Secretary Sajid Javid told MPs: “Across England there are 173 social-housing buildings that are over 18m tall and clad with some form of aluminium composite material. In July, the Building Research Establishment began a series of large-scale fire safety tests on aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding systems — both the visible cladding and the internal insulation.
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As we approach the half-anniversary of the Grenfell tragedy, the community gathers to remember loved ones while grappling with mixed emotions surrounding the ongoing deconstruction of the tower and the hopeful plans for a memorial, writes EMMA DENT COAD
