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
What do Blair and the Italian far right have in common? A commitment to destroying the environment
Despite the global epiphany that climate genocide is only 12 years away, a controversial gas pipeline is set to go ahead, writes BEN COWLES
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
MOST of the British corporate press covered a meeting between Italy’s deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini and Tony Blair in September after the far-right leader posted a picture of himself with the former PM on Twitter.
“Tony Blair has ‘friendly, positive meeting’ with Italy’s Matteo Salvini,” was the headline to the Guardian’s report on the story, which focused on the rank hypocrisy of Blair — who now runs a charity aiming to combat “populism” and restore faith in the political “centre” — meeting with the far-right “populist.”
And while the irony of that is somewhat interesting, the story glossed over the much more intriguing point mentioned in the subheading: “Far-right minister believed to have discussed Azerbaijani gas pipeline project with ex-PM.”
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IAN SINCLAIR recommends an important and timely book for climate politics right now and in the future
Reaching co-operation is supposed to be the beginning, not the end, of global climate governance, argues LISA VANHALA
