From London’s holly-sellers to Engels’s flaming Christmas centrepiece, the plum pudding was more than festive fare in Victorian Britain, says KEITH FLETT
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The SNP and Scottish Greens are co-operating — to break their promises and betray those who voted for them
Only Scottish Labour can lead the charge for socialist policies that create green jobs, develop a green industrial base and deliver a just transition to a post-carbon future, argues MERCEDES VILLALBA MSP
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon (centre) welcoming Scottish Green co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater at Bute House
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
From a lockdown digital project to a vital tool for class solidarity, ROBERT POOLE and HENRY FOWLER reflect on half-a-decade of struggle
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
WHEN I was elected to the Scottish Parliament earlier this year, I was under no illusion that it would not be an uphill struggle to push beyond the empty platitudes common in Holyrood and bring about real change.
After all, this is a parliament which has been increasingly defined by complacency in the face of rising levels of inequality, the increasing concentration of economic power in the hands of a few and an escalating climate emergency.
So I understand why many voters viewed the decision of the Scottish Greens to enter a co-operation agreement with the SNP as a chance to shake the Parliament out of its complacency and start to deliver the transformative changes which we desperately need.
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Climate justice and workers’ rights movements are uniting to make the rich pay for our transition to a green economy, writes assistant general secretary of PCS JOHN MOLONEY, ahead of a major demonstration on September 20
The Scottish Labour conference this weekend will be the last call to save the party from electoral ignominy in 2026, argues CRAIG ANDERSON
There is little benefit coming to Scotland or the wider UK from projects like Rosebank or Jackdaw – or indeed renewables – as profits are siphoned out of the country by foreign companies, writes PAULINE BRYAN