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
What was behind Starmer’s ‘tough-cop’ clampdown on Saturday’s Palestine protest?
ANDREW MURRAY considers whether the mass arrest of peaceful protesters was an attempt by the PM to appease his right-wing critics following his crackdown on last August’s race rioters — and a dark omen of the tyrannies to come
HEAVY HANDED: (Above) Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell (first from left) and Khalid Abdalla (third from right in the back) at the national march for Palestine on Whitehall in central London last Saturday
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
SATURDAY must have been a good day to be a criminal on the streets of London.
Because a very sizeable chunk of the police was focused on their main mission — upholding the social order, in this case by criminalising protest against a British-supported genocide.
Supported by the British state that is, not by the people. Telling that truth outside the headquarters of the state broadcaster is now a truth that can’t be handled.
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