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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So long then, Ruth Davidson
The leader of the Scottish Conservatives welcomed Boris Johnson's coronation with her resignation – perhaps they were just too similar, muses CONRAD LANDIN
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
“I WILL force myself to do things I’m scared of just to show myself I’m being stupid for being scared,” Ruth Davidson said at the Edinburgh International Book Festival earlier this month. Was this why she initially persisted as Scottish Tory chief under Boris Johnson’s leadership, or why she ultimately gave up?
Davidson’s rise to political prominence was rapid. She joined the Scottish Conservatives in 2009 on the day she handed in her notice at the BBC to pursue further study at the University of Glasgow. Within two years she had become the party’s leader.
Announcing her resignation eight years later, Davidson insisted it was motivated by personal circumstances, and not by Johnson’s ascendancy. It’s no surprise that having recently started a family, Davidson’s tolerance for the gruelling and discriminatory rigours of politics may have waned.
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