From London’s holly-sellers to Engels’s flaming Christmas centrepiece, the plum pudding was more than festive fare in Victorian Britain, says KEITH FLETT
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What chance of revival after the elections?
Labour's surge of membership and support under Corbyn bucked the trend of the decline of Europe's other left parties. Is it now back on course to fade into the night — or will a new wave of activism save it? Asks NICK WRIGHT
Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer and Deputy Leader Angela Rayner
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 a lockdown digital project to a vital tool for class solidarity, ROBERT POOLE and HENRY FOWLER reflect on half-a-decade of struggle
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
LABOUR under Sir Keir Starmer has stalled. Where there was once a policy ferment that proved its capacity to mobilise millions, there is now a studied silence. Numbers are down — around 100,000 people have dropped their connection with the party.
Elections are exercises in human endeavour and party members know from practical experience over the last few weeks that — with local exceptions — there is nothing like the enthusiasm which transformed the 2017 general election campaign or even the sense of duty and dogged determination that drove the 2019 contest.
A mixed election result has confirmed the failure of Labour’s national leadership.
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