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
Latest editorial
NHS England’s abolition sets the stage for deep cuts to come
Behind Starmer’s headline-grabbing abolition of NHS England lies a ruthless drive to centralise control so that cuts of £6.6 billion can be made — even if it means reducing cancer services and clinical staff, writes JOHN LISTER
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 MASSIVE new reorganisation aimed at tightening financial controls on the NHS hit news headlines on March 13 with Sir Keir Starmer’s surprise announcement that NHS England (NHSE) is to be abolished.
Few campaigners will shed many tears at the dismantling of NHSE. Its role from the beginning was as the “national commissioning board” overseeing the competitive market for healthcare established by Andrew Lansley’s disastrous mega-“reform” that took effect from 2013.
But nor is there any obvious enthusiasm to go back to the previous model of New Labour’s market-style reforms, primary care trusts, strategic health authorities, privatisation and “world-class commissioning” — although that does seem to be the model that Streeting and Starmer are hoping to recreate.
Similar stories
Reversing outsourcing is the pre-election promise the government must honour, says Unison general secretary CHRISTINA McANEA
Diverting public funding to grow private-sector ‘spare capacity,’ actively undermines the funding and staff available to the NHS and results in a worse service, write JOHN PUNTIS and TONY O’SULLIVAN
