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

FOR Daniel Kebede, the new Labour government offers hope of renewal for an education sector in crisis.
“The crisis in education is deep and severe. Buildings falling apart. A recruitment and retention crisis which means that we now have a million children taught in class sizes of 31 or more,” the National Education Union (NEU) leader tells me when I catch him on the fringes of last weekend’s Durham Miners’ Gala.
“What I hope is that this incoming government invests in education and invests in our children.” Kebede is pleased at Labour’s immediate invitations of union leaders to discuss the issues facing their sectors with relevant ministers, and publicly contrasted the constructive approach of new Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson to his last meeting with a government minister — when he had to push back against the attempt to undermine educators’ right to strike.

Ben Chacko talks to RMT leader EDDIE DEMPSEY about how the key to fixing broken Britain lies in collective sectoral bargaining, restoring unions’ ability to take solidarity strike action and bringing about the much-vaunted ‘wave of insourcing’

Incoming Usdaw general secretary JOANNE THOMAS talks to Ben Chacko about workers’ rights, Labour and how to arrest the decline of the high street

Durham Miners’ Association general secretary ALAN MARDGHUM speaks to Ben Chacko ahead of Gala Day 2025