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
One of the great democratic struggles for press freedom
PHIL KATZ relates how our forerunner, the Daily Worker, was banned and the massive struggle to restore press freedom to unban the people’s paper
The last issue of the Daily Worker before it was banned (left), editor William Rust (right)
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
BANS on left media seems to be all the rage in eastern Europe. But there was a time when the main left newspaper in Britain faced a similar challenge.
The Daily Worker, forerunner of today’s Morning Star, played cat and mouse with censors, libel suits, grizzly judges — one was described in the paper as a “bewigged puppet” — and eventually, an outright ban, from its first day of publication, January 1 1930.
Indeed the appointment as “business manager” or editor of the paper, was once guaranteed a surefire spell in prison, usually Pentonville and considered part of the job description.
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PHIL KATZ looks at how the Daily Worker, the Morning Star's forerunner, covered the breathless last days of World War II 80 years ago
JOHN ELLISON recalls the momentous role of the French resistance during WWII