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

IN RELATION to the crisis enacted out on the territory of Ukraine there are several ideas that form the basis of the position adopted by what we might call the “internationalist left.”
“Internationalist” in this context defines the left that elevates the interests of the working class as a whole over any spurious “national interest” shared with our rulers.
The foundation is opposition to the continued existence and global or regional dominance of military blocs. Where once the innocent deemed this a possibility — grounded in the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact which had united the socialist countries of Europe and thus ceased to exist when socialism was dismantled — it has now vanished along with illusions about an end to the history of class struggle.

Holding office in local government is a poisoned chalice for a party that bases its electoral appeal around issues where it has no power whatsoever, argues NICK WRIGHT

From Gaza complicity to welfare cuts chaos, Starmer’s baggage accumulates, and voters will indeed find ‘somewhere else’ to go — to the Greens, nationalists, Lib Dems, Reform UK or a new, working-class left party, writes NICK WRIGHT

There is no doubt that Trump’s regime is a right-wing one, but the clash between the state apparatus and the national and local government is a good example of what any future left-wing formation will face here in Britain, writes NICK WRIGHT

European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde sees Trump’s many disruptions as an opportunity to challenge the dollar’s ‘exorbitant privilege’ — but greater Euro assertiveness will also mean greater warmongering and militarism, warns NICK WRIGHT