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
Racism is the cause of the far-right riots, not deprivation
DIANE ABBOTT takes issue with the way politicians and the media are portraying the recent wave of violence which lets racists off the hook
ACTION AND REACTION: (L to R) Anti-racist activists confront anti-immigration mobs outside the Refugee and Migrant centre in Birmingham on Wednesday August 7 2024; A fire-damaged Citizen’s Advice Bureau (CAB) office in Sunderland during the race riots of August 3 2024
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
IT IS important to correctly characterise the recent racist riots.
As is usually the case after a major upheaval in politics, all sorts of explanations are offered. Many of them will be from people or forces with a political agenda, not an objective assessment.
We should not be surprised now when politicians and others who want to downplay the issue of racism as the driving force behind
the riots who themselves have been unwilling to challenge racism over several years or have even fostered it.
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