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
Resounding success of groundbreaking approach to mental health care
Ruth Hunt speaks to DR JENNIFER KILCOYNE about Mersey Care No Force First's policy that has reduced assaults against staff by 21 per cent, instances of causing harm to staff by 31 per cent, has won it awards and gained international recognition
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
CURRENTLY, there seems to be no let-up of bad news stories about mental health. However, despite the challenging environment nationally, the improvements made in Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust with regard to how they manage conflict has led to a cultural shift on the wards, along with international recognition and awards.
These developments are focused on the reduction of forceful restraint in a strategy called No Force First, which has the potential to be transferred and adopted in other settings such as prisons and police cells.
Within Mersey Care, Dr Jennifer Kilcoyne explained that there was the growing realisation within the clinical teams that the amount of physical intervention being used in the trust, although not increasing, wasn’t particularly coming down either.
Similar stories
When privatisation is already so deeply embedded in the NHS, we can’t just blindly argue for ‘more funding’ to solve its problems, explain ESTHER GILES, NICO CSERGO, BRIAN GIBBONS and RATHI GUHADASAN
Born from my communist social worker mother’s efforts to bridge healthcare gaps, Labour’s push for home-based care now risks becoming another avenue for the US corporate takeover of the NHS, writes RICHARD CLARKE
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
