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

THE most recent article I wrote for this newspaper was headlined: Israel-Gaza: We need an immediate ceasefire and proper humanitarian aid.
There is even more need now for the same demands. The Israeli attacks on Gaza have only intensified since and the trickle of humanitarian aid threatens to put the lives of the entire population of over 2 million at risk.
Recently, Craig Mokhiber director of the New York office of the UN high commissioner for human rights resigned in disgust. He characterised the most recent events as a “textbook case of genocide.” That judgment seems right. If so, it is a genocide not only accepted but actively encouraged by Western governments including our own.
Rishi Sunak has announced the despatch of British military personnel to the Eastern Mediterranean explicitly to help Israel and Biden has sent two fleet groups. This is more than moral support. Much more. It is active engagement as a combatant even as war crimes are being committed and genocide is being carried out.

Our Foreign Secretary now condemns Israel in the Commons, yet Britain still supplies weapons and intelligence for its bombing campaigns — as the horror reaches perhaps the final stage, action must finally replace words, writes DIANE ABBOTT MP

The BBC and OBR claim that failing to cut disability benefits could ‘destabilise the economy’ while ignoring the spendthrift approach to tens of billions on military spending that really spirals out of control, argues DIANE ABBOTT MP

Europe is acquiescing in Trump’s manoeuvrings — where Europe takes over the US forever war in Ukraine while Washington gets ready for a future fight with China. And it’s working people who will be left paying the price, says DIANE ABBOTT MP

DIANE ABBOTT MP argues that Labour’s proposals contained in the recent white paper won’t actually bring down immigration numbers or win support from Reform voters — but they will succeed in making politics more nasty and poisonous