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
Hillary Clinton is no role model
The former secretary of state has had a deadly impact on women and their families in nations like Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan, says IAN SINCLAIR
Hillary Clinton in 2016
[Gage Skidmore / Creative Commons]
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 THE last decade or so, there has been a resurgence of feminist writing and activism in Britain and beyond that has raised consciousness in both women and men.
Bestselling British young adult fiction author Holly Bourne, Nigerian-American writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Everyday Sexism’s Laura Bates have been three key figures in this important and necessary upsurge.
I think they have all done, and continue to do, brilliant work popularising feminism and feminist arguments for young people and those who don’t identify as feminists, which has helped to improve the lives of women across the world.
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FIONA O’CONNOR steps warily through a novel that skewers many of the exposed flanks of the over-privileged
Despite liberal whining that Trump threatens the ‘international rules-based order,’ the historical record shows Western nations have repeatedly overthrown democracies, backed genocides and violated sovereignty, writes IAN SINCLAIR
The media’s shocking lack of interest in US-British involvement in Syria means it has effectively been a secret war, argues IAN SINCLAIR
After the Gaza genocide and unleashing chaos in Syria, the US and Israel prepare to target Tehran next, leaving the Iranian people caught between foreign intervention and continued theocratic oppression, writes GAWAIN LITTLE