There have been penalties for those who looked the other way when Epstein was convicted of child sex offences and decided to maintain relationships with the financier — but not for the British ambassador to Washington, reveals SOLOMON HUGHES
Democracy and independence, nation and labour
As the Brexit negotiations enter there last critical phase, DOUG NICHOLLS argues that socialists should return to some first principles to prepare to rebuild Britain as an independent country after March 29
Labour’s new Treasury unit will ‘challenge unnecessary regulation’ by forcing nominally independent bodies like Ofwat to bend to business demands — exactly what Iain Anderson’s corporate clients wanted, writes SOLOMON HUGHES
DR DYLAN MURPHY looks at a Big Brother Watch report which exposes the government as an enabler of DWP secret spying on benefit claimants
The EU faces a critical choice: will it remain in the shadow of an increasingly unreliable US ally, or will it forge its own path in a multilateral world where co-operation with China is essential, asks MARC VANDEPITTE as leaders meet for the EU-China Summit
A lot of discussion about how the left should currently organise – including debate on whether the Green Party is a useful vehicle for advance – runs the risk of refusing to engage with or learn from the reasons the left was defeated previously, argues KEVIN OVENDEN
For Egypt trade trumps the Israeli genocide of the Palestinians, but how long can the country’s ‘misleaders’ – and others in the region – continue their indifference against the popular will of their own people, asks ROGER McKENZIE
If good trade union negotiators had been asked to take the biggest mandate ever given in British history and negotiate leaving the EU, it would be done by now. We wouldn’t have been bullied by the Brussels bureaucrats.
It’s not rocket science — come out of the single market and customs union, come out of the common fisheries policy, the common agricultural policy,and jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, pay up any legitimate outstanding dues and liabilities. Voila.
Bearing in mind that the EU needs our market more than we need its, we would negotiate no-strings trading terms that would advantage the rebuilding of our economy.
More from this author
DOUG NICHOLLS, chair of the think tank Rebuild Britain, encourages creative engagement with the new government on economic matters particularly
DOUG NICHOLLS, former general secretary of the General Federation of Trade Unions and lifelong campaigner against the European Union, reflects on the recent death of one of the main architects of the EU
The GFTU has been running education courses on what is really happening in China and the US, Doug Nicholls reflects on some of the learnings and the importance of the recent US-China talks in Bali
In the second of a two-part feature for TUC week, DOUG NICHOLLS, general secretary of the General Federation of Trade Unions discusses the underestimated strength of community organisations and the value of a new working relationship with trade unions
