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
National Insurance hike will not help
The proposed increase falls short of what's needed to cover the social care for the elderly and vulnerable, and will hit the poorest workers hardest. The real solutions rely on taxing the rich, explains JAMES MEADWAY
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
REPORTS this week suggest the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer have agreed on a plan to raise the cost of national insurance contributions (NICs) by one penny in the pound to pay for the rising costs of social care for the elderly and vulnerable.
Pushing up NICs is regressive, hitting poorer workers hardest; it breaks a Tory manifesto pledge; and it will not resolve the crisis in care services.
Labour’s shadow front bench should make the party’s opposition clear and insist instead on a solution to the care crisis that is fair for all: a wealth tax to pay the costs, removing speculators and private finance from provision and serious improvements in the pay and conditions of those in the notoriously poorly-paid sector itself.
There should be no question that the Labour Party and the entire left should oppose this tax hike. After a lost decade for earnings under Conservative-led governments, with pre-pandemic average pay no higher than before the 2008 financial crisis, there is no justification for squeezing working people still further.
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Our housing crisis isn’t an accident – it’s class war, trapping millions in poverty while landlords and billionaires profit. To solve it, we need comprehensive transformation, not mere tokenistic reform, writes BECK ROBERTSON
