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
The ‘grooming gang’ scandal: how Musk subverts true justice
By spreading race-based conspiracy theories, the billionaire tycoon turned right-wing provocateur has been seriously undermining the case against those who really did let victims of the grooming gangs down, writes SOLOMON HUGHES
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
ELON MUSK is a US citizen who has lived in several mansions in Los Angeles. But despite his local knowledge, Musk has been busy pumping out entirely made-up stories about the cause of the Los Angeles fires.
Given Musk talks nonsense about his own country and former city, why would anyone take seriously his ranting about Britain? For much of the British media and political system, the fact Musk has loads of money seems to outweigh his obvious lack of sense.
For Los Angeles, Musk and Donald Trump claimed California Governor Gavin Newsom had failed to sign a “water restoration declaration” that would have allowed “millions of gallons of water” from “snowmelt” in the north to flow into the state and so stop the fires.
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Victims were forgotten until a far-right billionaire posted a series of tweets on Britain’s grooming gangs. ANN CZERNIK separates the grains of truth from the chaff of media frenzy in the story that has appalled one and all
The failure on grooming gangs that has suddenly received a new wave of attention isn’t a failure of multiculturalism; it is a failure to tackle an epidemic of violence against women and girls, write JESS BARNARD and BEN LIAO
