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
Merkel’s ‘snow queen’ and Bremen hopes
VICTOR GROSSMAN reports from Germany where the left are in little shape to challenge the increasing militarisation pushed by the moribund coalition of conservatives and social democrats
German chancellor Angela Merkel
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
THE two vessels which headed every federal German government since 1949 are being sucked into a political maelstrom.
Elections to the European Union‘s Parliament in May gave the “Christian Union” a measly, chilly 28.9 per cent.
Though still Germany’s biggest, its keel is wobbling. With mumbling about Angela Merkel’s views and health (sharp eyes and tongues have twice noted her hands trembling), the hunt is on for a new captain, with no promising candidates in sight.
Its coalition partner, the Social Democrats (SPD), whose turbulent, rarely valiant history traces back to 1869, suffered far deeper immersion in that EU election whirlpool, with only 15.8 per cent. Recent polls give them 13 per cent.
More from this author
In part two of May’s Berlin Bulletin, VICTOR GROSSMAN, having assessed the policies of the new government, looks at how the opposition is faring
In part one of his Berlin bulletin, VICTOR GROSSMAN assesses the economic and political difficulties facing the new Merz government — and a regrettable ruling-class consensus on the solutions
VICTOR GROSSMAN believes peace in Ukraine needs to come before anything else and abhors the EU's insane drive to keep the war going on
VICTOR GROSSMAN reports, with a little chuckle, on how US readiness to work with Russia, not just on peace for Ukraine, has thrown a spanner into the German electoral machine
