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

THERE IS a palpable sense of crisis attending every action and very utterance of the government.
The startling resignation of Munira Mirza, Johnson’s longest-serving consigliere, a veteran of his days as mayor of London and head of the Downing Street policy unit is just the most significant. Other escapees include the head of communications and chief of staff as well as less elevated functionaries.
Much of the week has been taken up by desperate measures to shore up Johnson’s operation with the appointment of new functionaries and of Jacob Rees Mogg as the bizarrely titled “Brexit opportunities minister.”

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