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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Grenfell six months on – we will remember them
With the great and the good attending a memorial service for Grenfell at St Paul’s Cathedral today, ANN CZERNIK remembers the victims
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
OF all the stories about the Grenfell Tower fire disaster, it is the social media post of the last moments of a young mother of two that returns to my thoughts repeatedly.
I do not know why Rania Ibrahim and her children died that day, trapped on the 24th floor of a poorly constructed London tower block with a single fire exit. One day, I hope that there will be answers to the many questions that Grenfell raises for our society.
On June 14 2017, the day of the fire, I awoke unusually early. The midsummer sun streamed through my bedroom window and, as I lay gazing up at the clear blue sky, there was no inkling of what was about to come.
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