Gordon Brown: Why I’m backing The Independent’s Christmas charity appeal

I never thought I would see such poverty in Britain in my lifetime, writes former prime minister Gordon Brown – but the public’s generosity is even greater

Supported by The Independent, the Leeds-based charity Zarach has raised enough money to provide 540 beds for children in time for Christmas (Alamy/UK)

Every Christmas, I read one of the seven lessons at a traditional carol service. On Tuesday, it was the reading of Mary and Joseph’s arrival in Bethlehem, and the story of the holy family failing to find room at the inn.

This year, the reading had an added poignancy. A few miles from Bethlehem, war has destroyed the lives of more than 1,000 Israeli citizens in the most violent of massacres and has now left perhaps as many as 20,000 Palestinian men, women and children dead and tens of thousands of families homeless in the Gaza Strip.

Like Jesus, babies there will be born this week in makeshift accommodation and without medical support.