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
How universal credit cheats mature students
MOLLIE BROWN explains how the cruel Tory benefits system ‘unleashed a myriad of problems, hardship and poverty’
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
I WROTE a little while ago about the complications and obstacles that universal credit (UC) was inflicting on the self-employed, we all know too well the lasting effects that it is having on hundreds of thousands in society.
It has unleashed a myriad of problems, hardship and poverty. But with Parliament and the mainstream media unceasingly focusing on Brexit, universal credit would appear to have been forgotten about. This is not the case for the claimants, who are being forced to live in poverty. I thought it important to bring the focus back to real struggle that is a daily occurrence for so many.
Mature students, like so many, are another minority group that are suffering the harsh impacts of universal credit, many of which are single parents that are predominantly women — in a society that claims to uphold equality, within an education system that is apparently focused on meritocracy.
Similar stories
DYLAN MURPHY reports that far from helping people back into work, the sanctions regime is inflicting unnecessary trauma on working-class families
A new report from the Citizens Advice destroys the government narrative about disabled people ‘choosing’ not to work, showing the £3,000 annual cuts will create a two-tiered system based on claim dates rather than needs, writes DYLAN MURPHY
Any positives from the government’s green paper proposals are vastly overshadowed by the scale of the cuts to vulnerable low-income households, argues JENNY RATHBONE MS
Far from addressing the causes of ill-health and disability, Starmer, Reeves and Kendall are committed to unleashing more misery for disabled people, argues Dr DYLAN MURPHY