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

LABOUR'S leadership election was always going to be a marathon rather than a sprint — but the pace maintained by the surviving runners has quickened.
So far all of the contenders are proving to be not quite as they initially appeared. For all Emily Thornberry's straight-talking persona and quick-witted confidence her failure to gain traction, secure any trade-union support or attract enough constituency nominations made her spirited performance look a bit forced. And now she is out.
A shame really because, like Keir Starmer, she should naturally attract support from the right-wing of Labour, a significant if not dominant tendency, that by some accounts is reinforced by returning Blairites and others more in line with the traditional Labour right.

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