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
Keir Starmer – a principle-free zone
With right-wing Labour all but guaranteed to win the next general election, we need to turn apathy into anger, argues CHELLEY RYAN
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair and Labour leader Keir Starmer discuss politics during the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change's Future of Britain Conference in central London, July 18, 2023
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
KEIR STARMER is the luckiest political leader in history. Or is he the most conniving and ruthless? I actually think both are true.
Like Tony Blair, Starmer is the beneficiary of an imploding Tory Party, general good timing and an exhausted general public desperate for change, no matter how modest. Unlike Blair, Starmer literally threw a general election using a mixture of political guile, manipulation and ruthlessness to put an end to Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. He then lied with aplomb to win over the Labour membership to ensure his election as leader.
That’s why for me, Starmer is the worst Labour leader in the party’s history. The most despicable and the most dangerous. He is not the spawn of Blair. He is actually worse than Blair and I say that as someone who despises Blair. He’s certainly more dishonest. He manages to make Boris Johnson look like a man of honesty and integrity.
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While Reform poses as a workers’ party, a credible left alternative rooted in working-class communities would expose their sham — and Corbyn’s stature will be crucial to its appeal, argues CHELLEY RYAN
CHELLEY RYAN asks whether a single-issue peace party is needed to confront Britain's addiction to military aggression
The current consensual party politics is ripe for smashing, but how can we go about it? CHELLEY RYAN has some ideas
Despite the defeat of Corbynism, we now know more clearly than we have in decades how popular left-wing policies are if put to the public — and that’s all thanks to Corbyn’s bravery, writes CHELLEY RYAN
