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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Taxing the wealthy not working people: we have the solutions
Labour has broken ground on closing loopholes used by the super rich, but we need to think bigger and go deeper — changing the whole tax system to address inequality with the introduction of a 'wealth tax,' argues JON TRICKETT MP
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 LABOUR PARTY this week has demanded an Emergency Budget in response to the cost-of-living crisis and confirmed the party’s re-commitment to the abolition of non-dom tax status.
Both announcements come as rocketing inflation outstrips pay and social security rises and in the aftermath of news that, as a non-dom, the Chancellor’s wife has not previously paid UK tax on earnings outside the UK.
The Emergency Budget demand, whilst a positive headline, would have hit home better and motivated voters ahead of the local elections, with some concrete commitments to lift incomes through increased social security payments, a higher national minimum wage and a large public-sector pay increase.
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Under current policy, welfare cuts are just a small downpayment on future austerity, argues MICHAEL BURKE
CARLOS MARTINEZ condemns Europe’s failure to develop genuine autonomy from US hegemony, as leaders like Starmer and Macron cling to a declining imperial order rather than building good relations with the emerging powers