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
Last orders at the Leopard: the end of the pub?
The remarkable history of a Stoke pub, which played a role in the industrial revolution and the early days of the labour movement, has ended with an unremarkable fate: what will become of our traditional social spaces, asks NICK MATTHEWS
Just as the events of 1842 outside the Leopard are a story of those times, today’s story of the Leopard is a story of our times. The owners of 10 years who had tried and struggled to make it pay as a pub handed back the keys. Then the Grade II listed building was bought by property developers and its descent began.
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
IF YOU were to write the story of the role of the pub in our history, it would run into many volumes. The pub has played a crucial role in our politics, economics and our culture. I must admit, for me this is personal, some of my most important cultural experiences have been in pubs.
As a jazz and folk fan there’s nothing more sublime than a good gig over a pint, or as satisfying after a political meeting as putting the world to rights in the pub. One of the things I’ve missed in Covid times has been those convivial connections; I miss the meetings less.
Yet not a week has gone by when there has not been news of a pub closing for good. Every time I hear that, it feels like a real blow as a community loses an important space. Last month, such a closure made our regional TV news — not in a good way.
More from this author
NICK MATTHEWS welcomes the return of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s music to the repertoire of this years’ Three Choirs Festival
From sexual innuendo about Blackpool Rock to Bob Dylan’s ‘God-almighty world,’ the corporation’s classist moral custodianship of pop music has created a roll call of censored artists anyone would feel honoured to join, writes NICK MATTHEWS
NICK MATTHEWS previews a landmark book launch taking place in Leicester next weekend
As new wind, solar and nuclear capacity have displaced coal generation, China has been able to drastically lower its CO2 emissions even as demand for power has increased — the world must take note and get ready to follow, writes NICK MATTHEWS
