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
The peace movement v the Starmer war machine
From Storm Shadow missiles hitting Russia to support for the endless Gaza slaughter, the new Labour government has continued the years of Tory warmongering. The peace movement faces a crucial year ahead, writes LINDSEY GERMAN
LOUD AND CLEAR: People take part in a Palestine solidarity rally in central London
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
THE traditional Christmas message of peace on Earth is unlikely to be heeded by the British government and its allies in the coming year.
If the declarations of Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his Foreign Secretary David Lammy are anything to go by, then we will see continued warmongering, increases in arms spending and a militant form of militarism which regards calls for peace as akin to treachery.
Anyone who expected a reprieve from the belligerence of 14 years of Tory rule will have been disappointed, not least in foreign policy. Starmer’s record on Gaza was appalling in opposition, losing Labour many thousands of votes as he continued to pronounce that Israel had the right to defend itself. In government, he has expressed repeated support for a government which is a pariah across the world.
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If we want to take on war in 2025, we must take on our own governments in the West, and most of all, take on Nato, writes the convener of the British Peace Assembly, LIZ PAYNE
From Yemen’s resistance to the rise of China and Brics, the imperial powers face an unprecedented challenge as their proxy wars fail to halt the march toward a multipolar future, writes ANDREW MURRAY