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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Workers need protection from expanding artificial intelligence
MICK WHITLEY MP is today introducing a Bill in Parliament that aims to secure a people-focused and democratic approach towards increased use of AI across the British economy
SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME: Ai-Da about to make history as the first robot to address the House of Lords: its speech explored the role of machine learning, machine creativity and Artificial Intelligence within the UK, October 11 2022
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
ARTIFICIAL intelligence could have as wide-reaching and profound an impact on jobs as the first Industrial Revolution.
That was the warning issued by the government’s former chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, when he appeared before Parliament’s science and technology committee earlier this month.
Research commissioned by the then Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy suggests that 7 per cent of all British jobs could be automated out of existence within just five years as a result of AI.
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ANSELM ELDERGILL asks whether artificial intelligence may decide legal cases in the future, in place of human judges, and how AI could reshape the legal landscape
