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
Latest editorial
Seize the moment and force the Tories out
Liz Truss’s remarkable implosion has devastated the Conservatives’ poll lead despite their parliamentary majority – now is the time to build links between unions, campaigns and the left representatives in public office, writes KEN LIVINGSTONE
Prime Minister Liz Truss leaves Downing Street, London following her resignation. Picture date: Friday October 21, 2022.
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
OVER five decades of political activity in Britain, I have seen plenty of governments that I didn’t think much of. But while there have been many unpopular administrations, it’s hard to remember any quite as shambolic and widely discredited as this one.
With a prime minister (and two of her most senior appointments) lasting less than two months and the spectacle of Tory MPs openly laying into the government in interviews, this is a Conservative Party that is not only unpopular but not taken seriously.
As it turned out, Liz Truss wasn’t even in the post long enough for the biography detailing her rise to power (designed as a cash-in for Christmas) to be published, let alone for the next general election.
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