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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Nurses are ready to fight — lets make sure they win
As nurses, still on the Covid-19 front line, march for fair pay, HELEN O'CONNOR recalls their struggle so far and urges them to rally around recent victories against the Tory government
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
HAVING already endured many years of below-inflation pay, NHS nurses have now been told that they will not get a rise. Anger is mounting over their exclusion from last week’s public-sector pay award, as the majority of experienced NHS nurses have not seen any significant improvement in their take-home pay from the last three-year deal.
The flames of anger are being fanned further by pronouncements that nurses have already received a pay rise, back in April. Equally, arguments that nurses “are lucky to have jobs” in the face of mass redundancies are going down like a lead balloon.
Nurses, who have risked their lives during the pandemic, were hopeful that the government would play fair and reward them. But they now feel utterly betrayed and their mood is volatile. It takes a lot to goad the average nurse to anger at the way they are treated, but the Tories have succeeded in this feat.
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Since 2023, Strike Map has evolved from digital mapping at a national level to organising ‘mega pickets’ — we believe that mass solidarity with localised disputes prepares the ground for future national action, writes HENRY FOWLER
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