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
The self-indulgent idiocy of the capitalist class
SOLOMON HUGHES probes a court case involving one of Britain’s top corporate families that provides a cautionary lesson on the foolishness of the super-rich
Jo Bamford, the son of JCB magnate Lord Tony Bamford
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
WHAT goes on in company boardrooms? The pro-business position is that our company directors, made sharp and hungry through the cut and thrust of competition, are expertly directing money, people and resources.
But a recent court case suggests to me that our top directors act in a way that makes them seem like self-indulgent idiots. This appears to me to be “lifestyles of the rich and famous” played as a kind of tragicomedy.
Just before Christmas a court case involving one of Britain’s top corporate families surfaced in the press.
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