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
Gove: ‘transforming’ the Civil Service into cash
When you launch your programme to shake up central government at an event funded by a former Tory insider’s firm that tries win public-sector contracts for the corporations, it is clear that privatisation is the real goal, writes SOLOMON HUGHES
Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove
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
MICHAEL GOVE has announced plans for “reform” that look designed to give favoured corporations and Tory insiders more control of the supposedly independent Civil Service.
He wants to turn government into “Gove-rnment,” a system that hands over public services to his mates, so they can make a profit at our expense.
Gove pushed the plans at a conference arranged by a former Tory MP’s personal think tank. The event was funded by a former Tory adviser’s company, one that tries to win public-sector contracts for corporations — which rather gives the game away about what is being planned here.
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Politicians who continue to welcome contracts with US companies without considering the risks and consequences of total dependency in the years to come are undermining the raison d’etre of the NHS, argues Dr JOHN PUNTIS
SOLOMON HUGHES details how the firm has quickly moved on to buttering-up Labour MPs after the fall of the Tories so it can continue to ‘win both ways’ collecting public and private cash by undermining the NHS
Health Secretary Wes Streeting taking £53k from Tory-linked recruiter and outsourcer Peter Hearn’s OPD Group is a great example of how Labour’s rich donors shape policies targeting the poor – not their wealth, writes SOLOMON HUGHES
SOLOMON HUGHES probes the finances of a phoney ‘charity’ pushing the free schools and academies agenda