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
Global Counsel, local avarice
Peter Mandelson might be giving unofficial advice to Keir Starmer — but in his day job running lobbying firm Global Counsel, he is hiring former Conservative ministers, reveals SOLOMON HUGHES
Peter Mandelson
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
PETER MANDELSON emerged as an “unofficial” adviser to Starmer’s team during the botched Hartlepool by-election. Morgan McSweeney, who is close to Mandelson, was Starmer’s chief of staff and is now Labour’s “elections director.”
Mandelson was one of the key — and controversial — architects of New Labour, shifting the party in a right-wing, pro-big business direction. Mandelson was Labour’s campaign director in the 2010 election: Labour lost that election, so, out of a job, Mandelson set up Global Counsel, which he co-owns with former Blair communications director Ben Wegg-Prosser.
Global Counsel promises to help big businesses with “Navigating politics, business and policymaking” and charges corporate clients for advice on how to “manage risk and see opportunities in politics, regulation and public policy.”
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They’re the problem it’s them: SOLOMON HUGHES on the freeloading flunkies of the Labour Party hoovering up VIP tickets to musical and sporting events