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
Leeds’ missing hospital
A new children’s hospital and adult treatment centre were promised for Leeds five years ago. So where are they? asks Dr JOHN PUNTIS
The site has remained brick strewn and derelict
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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
DURING the past 13 years of Conservative stewardship, there has been a disastrous increase in NHS waiting lists together with staff vacancies and public dissatisfaction.
Austerity has been associated with almost a third of a million excess deaths while research by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine indicates overcrowding in hospitals compounded by the crisis in social care may be causing a staggering 500 deaths a week.
Insufficient numbers of GPs having to battle with increased workload means that patients are finding it more difficult to get appointments and staff subjected to huge stress are simply leaving.
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Behind Starmer’s headline-grabbing abolition of NHS England lies a ruthless drive to centralise control so that cuts of £6.6 billion can be made — even if it means reducing cancer services and clinical staff, writes JOHN LISTER
