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 the belly of the behemoth
Following the recent local and mayoral elections, VINCE MILLS wonders whether hopes of an independent left breakthrough are realistic and considers the prospects within the lumbering beast that is the Labour Party
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
IT WOULD almost seem that in a final push to rid the Labour Party of any vestige of political decency, never mind socialist aspiration, Keir Starmer is doing his very best to chase the left from Labour Party membership.
How else do we interpret the welcome that Natalie Elphicke, Dover MP and Tory rat, received from the Labour leadership as she swam for dear life, or whatever else she may have been offered, from Rishi Sunak’s sinking ship.
As John McDonnell said on LBC: “It certainly is a stunt that … has implications for the Labour Party … because of the views that Natalie Elphicke has expressed in the past … some of which I don’t think the party should be associated with.”
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JAMIE DRISCOLL’s group, Majority, with an inclusive approach and supportive training, aims to sidestep many of the problems afflicting Britain’s progressive movement
VINCE MILLS cautions over the perils and pitfalls of ‘a new left party’
VINCE MILLS gathers some sobering facts that would inevitably be major obstacles to any such initiative