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 origins of Juneteenth
LUKE DANIELS recalls the origin of the celebrations, as the end of the US civil war in 1865 saw the Emancipation Proclamation finally brought into effect and slaves were granted their freedom
[USAG Humphries/Creative Commons] 
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
AS AMERICANS celebrate Juneteenth, it gives occasion to also reflect on the reasons and history of the celebration.
After the Northern US states defeated the slave-owning South in the US civil war, enslaved Africans in Galveston, Texas, were told by Major General Gordon Granger on June 19 1865, that they were now free.
This was some two-and-a-half years after president Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.
More from this author
As Black History Month brings renewed focus on the fight against racial inequality, LUKE DANIELS argues that understanding slavery’s legacy and demanding financial reparations are key to defeating modern racism
Working with men who carry out domestic violence, LUKE DANIELS sounds the alarm on the spike in cases as couples are forced indoors due to the pandemic
Similar stories
PETER LAZENBY reports on how trade unionists in Manchester are to celebrate the role of the city’s cotton industry workers in the fight for the abolition of slavery in the US civil war
As Black History Month brings renewed focus on the fight against racial inequality, LUKE DANIELS argues that understanding slavery’s legacy and demanding financial reparations are key to defeating modern racism
Despite being a proud Black Country boy, ROGER McKENZIE has mixed feelings about Englishness and its all too common petty nationalism, following a lifetime of being considered inferior because of the colour of his skin