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
Child sexual exploitation: Lessons from Keighley
Campaigners have been battling for an investigation into police failings in Keighley on child abuse for almost 25 years – but what is it about this West Yorkshire town that’s led to it becoming such a hub for grooming gangs? ANN CZERNIK investigates
CALLS FOR ACCOUNTABILITY: The Home Office is under pressure to include Keighley as a case study in Baroness Casey’s sexual abuse report commissioned by Yvette Cooper
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 long-term effects of chemical weapons such as Agent Orange mean that the impact of war lasts well beyond a ceasefire
IN JANUARY 2025, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper commissioned an audit led by Baroness Louise Casey to examine existing data and evidence to draw a comprehensive picture of the nature, scale and profile of group-based child sexual abuse offending identified by police and agencies and equip law enforcement with the information and understanding they need to combat these crimes.
Robbie Moore, MP for Keighley since 2019, told the BBC that “the scale of child sexual abuse and exploitation across the Bradford district is feared to “dwarf that of Rotherham.”
Moore is adamant that an investigation into Bradford’s handling of child sexual exploitation in his constituency is long overdue.
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To quell the public anger and silence the far right, Labour has rushed out a report so that it can launch a National Inquiry — ANN CZERNIK examines Baroness Casey’s incendiary audit and finds fatal flaws that fail to 'draw a line' under the scandal as hoped
ANN CZERNIK concludes her three-part series on the hidden scale of child sexual exploitation in Britain
Victims were forgotten until a far-right billionaire posted a series of tweets on Britain’s grooming gangs. ANN CZERNIK separates the grains of truth from the chaff of media frenzy in the story that has appalled one and all
By spreading race-based conspiracy theories, the billionaire tycoon turned right-wing provocateur has been seriously undermining the case against those who really did let victims of the grooming gangs down, writes SOLOMON HUGHES