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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The hidden evidence against benefit cuts
Both Conservative and Labour administrations have now refused to release research showing PIP payments are vital for disabled people’s survival, exposing the ideological nature of planned welfare ‘reforms,’ writes Dr DYLAN MURPHY
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall outside Downing Street, London, January 28, 2025
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
THE present Labour government is planning to make massive cuts to several welfare benefits. Current estimates suggest these cuts range from £3 billion to £10bn.
This government, which claims that all of its actions are guided by improving life for “working people,” wants to get rid of PIP which is a benefit that helps many disabled workers. It is not clear if Labour wants to bring back the barbaric Tory idea of replacing cash payments with vouchers. We should not forget that PIP is a non-means-tested benefit to help disabled people with the extra costs of being disabled.
John Pring, editor of the Disability News Service using a freedom of information request has obtained a copy of a three-year-old Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) report, Triggers to Claiming Personal Independence Payment (PIP). This totally undermines the arguments in favour of making cuts to PIP. Hence why both Tory and now Labour ministers are refusing to let this report be made available to the public.
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A new report by Amnesty International pulls no punches in highlighting the Labour government’s human rights violations of those on benefits, says Dr DYLAN MURPHY
DR DYLAN MURPHY asks why Labour is continuing the Tory war on the disabled, when viable alternatives have been spelt out in detail
Social security is lagging further and further behind inflation and our government quite simply does not care, argues Dr DYLAN MURPHY