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
BDS is under attack because it works – and South Africa’s case against Israel reminds us why
The Anti-Boycott Bill is designed to hobble democracy and decency, but it’s also a sign the government is rattled says CLAUDIA WEBBE MP
Protesters wave flags and banners outside the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, January 12, 2024
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
LAST week, the government’s Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill, better and more accurately known as the Anti-Boycott Bill, passed its third reading in the Commons despite a rebellion by a number of Tory MPs horrified at the attack on free speech and peaceful protest that it represents.
The Bill aims to ban councils and other public bodies boycotting, disinvesting or sanctioning any country unless the national government also does, depriving local authorities of a vital way in which they can represent the interests of their residents and have an international influence for good.
So profound is the attack on free and democratic speech that it even bans councils from saying they would back a boycott if they were able to.
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The New York mayoral candidate has electrified the US public with policies of social justice and his refusal to be cowed. We can follow his example here, writes CLAUDIA WEBBE
Israel’s monopolisation of ‘aid’ to slaughter Palestinians means there is no other option: direct international intervention now, says CLAUDIA WEBBE
With missiles penetrating the air defences to strike Haifa and Tel Aviv, Netanyahu’s transparent appeal to Trump demonstrates the Israeli underestimation of Iranian retaliation, and they are desperate to drag their allies in, writes CLAUDIA WEBBE
Starmer should not need to wait for the High Court’s decision on F-35 parts in order to do the right thing, warns CLAUDIA WEBBE
