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
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Tories suck up to far right
As the Conservatives lose electoral ground some of them hope the extremists will shore them up, warns WEYMAN BENNETT
VOX POPULI: Extinction Rebellion and Stand Up to Racism activists take part in a Stop Braverman, Stop the Hate protest outside the Home Office 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
MANY would have believed that the sacking of Suella Braverman might herald the end of the Sunak government’s systematic attempts to scapegoat refugees and stir up the far right, but it’s clear that this is not the case.
Braverman was a long way out there. She’s been pushing at the margins of politics, associating herself with the far-right great replacement theory and ramping up rhetoric that she knew could lead to far-right mobilisation and violence.
The government’s failure to push its Rwanda plan through the Supreme Court led, not to reflection, but instead Sunak promising emergency legislation and a new treaty with Rwanda.
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