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
From Gaza to Ukraine, military escalation is unthinkable
The task of the anti-war movement is to prevent Labour taking us deeper into the abyss of war – and it’s a task that’s more urgent than ever, says LINDSEY GERMAN of Stop the War
Prime Minister Keir Starmer holds a press conference at the end of the Nato 75th anniversary summit at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, in Washington DC, US, July 11, 2024
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
WE CAN be assured of one thing at this year’s Labour conference: there will be continuity Tory policies from the government on matters of war, peace and arms spending. It meets against a background of a threatened invasion of Lebanon by Israel, compounding its genocidal war in Gaza.
Keir Starmer has made it clear that the support for Israel which lost him so many votes at the election is going to continue. He is also in the forefront of urging the US and European countries to allow Ukraine to use long-range missiles within Russia.
Both are escalations of already horrific wars. But the word “peace” barely passes the Prime Minister’s lips. Instead he wants to project himself as a “strong” leader — hence his trip to Washington to urge President Joe Biden to back greater missile use by Ukraine inside Russia. While he made the “tough choice” of cutting pensioners’ winter fuel allowance, thus consigning many of older people to misery and illness, when it comes to arms and “defence” spending, the sky’s the limit.
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Trump has changed his tune from the deal-making peace-bringer and is now gearing up to attack Iran. We must take to the streets to keep Britain out of this new madness and all of Israel and the US’s wars, writes LINDSEY GERMAN
JOE GILL looks at research on the reasons people voted as they did last week and concludes Labour is finished unless it ditches Starmer and changes course
New year’s statement from the Communist Party of Ireland