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
It’s postal workers who are forging a new path in Royal Mail
The CWU and its members are mapping out a positive future for the company that stands in contrast with the race to the bottom that has become Britain’s default – it’s a strategy the wider movement can gain from, says DAVE WARD
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
A YEAR ago this weekend the first Covid-19 cases were announced in Britain.
While there’s a temptation to ask: “Who could have seen what would happen next?” the truth is that it’s been a year in which the deep inequalities and problems in our society, that many of us have long called out, have been exposed: the underfunding of the NHS, the neglect of the care system, crowded and inadequate housing and the prevalence of in-work poverty.
The consequences of all of these things are now clear. In the most regionally unequal country in western Europe, Covid-19 has not been a great leveller: in the most deprived regions of the UK people have been 2.5 times more likely to die and no analysis of what went wrong can ignore the broken economic model that led us to this point.
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Royal Mail’s job quality has plummeted, with gruelling hours, two-tier pay, intense surveillance, and poor work-life balance for postal workers — but our union is fighting back, writes CWU branch secretary JOHN CARSON
CWU leader DAVE WARD tells Ben Chacko a strategy to unite workers on class lines is needed – and sectoral collective bargaining must be at its heart
