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
Building working class power
We need to take class discrimination seriously, writes FRANCES O’GRADY, general secretary of the TUC, as 2019's Congress closes
TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady
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
GRADUATES with parents in professional jobs are more than twice as likely as working-class graduates to start on a high salary, no matter what degree level they attain. That was the stark finding of research commissioned by the TUC and published during Congress 2019.
Our findings echo research from the government’s own Social Mobility Commission that found that even when people from working-class backgrounds enter professional occupations, they earn on average 17 per cent less than more privileged colleagues.
That’s just not right. And it’s a colossal waste of talent. It’s just one example of how the system is rigged against working-class people.
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