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
Taste of the wild
MAT COWARD recommends growing Alpine strawberries, which have a stronger flavour than their larger cousins, but which are happily unappealing to slugs and birds
(Left to right) Alpine strawberries; and a strawberry depicted by Hieronymus Bosch (1450–1516) in a section of The Garden of Earthly Delights
[(Left to right) Arvind/CC - Museo Nacional del Prado/CC]
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
MY ALPINE strawberries are cropping well this month. Admittedly, if I was trying to gather a pound of them to make some jam I would have a long job, but these mini-fruits are prized for their intense flavour, not for their weight.
They’re a different species (Fragaria vesca) from the more familiar strawberries-and-cream strawb, and have been bred over the years from the wild or woodland strawberry.
Alpines have a number of advantages over their big red cousins, quite apart from the much stronger taste.
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