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
What kind of leader do we need? Messiah? Prophet? Technocrat?
Now running as an independent, former Labour MP EMMA DENT COAD looks at how consistent honesty and integrity may be the missing elements needed to drag political leadership out of the gutter
Campaigner and former Labour MP Emma Dent Coad
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 we begin what will undoubtedly be a very difficult year for us all, suffering multiple failures in local, national and international politics, we should be asking ourselves what kind of leadership could possibly steer us out of the economic, climate and social crises we are facing.
Jon Cruddas is not someone with whom I would often agree these days — though I liked his “A Good Society” pitch some years back — but his Guardian article of December 30, “Keir Starmer lacks a clear sense of purpose,” has articulated, in bold but moderate terms, what many feel within as well as outside the Labour Party.
In a build-up to his book, A Century of Labour, which is out this month, Cruddas criticises Starmer’s “detachment from his party’s traditions.” He says, “little ties Starmer to the ethical and spiritual corners of Labour’s early founders,” and then goes on to criticise the leader’s approach to economics, inequality, justice, welfare, liberty, freedom — pretty much everything really.
More from this author
While the US president dreams of a grotesque, neocolonial ‘Riviera of the Middle East,’ Architects for Gaza are working to restore services and rebuild communities on the exact sites of homes destroyed by Israel, writes EMMA DENT COAD
EMMA DENT COAD explains how the 1,000-strong Architects for Gaza alliance is presenting bold ideas for recovery, rebuilding communities, and fostering hope in the aftermath of widespread devastation
From more austerity to perpetual war, the party will not fight our battles or defend our most vulnerable, argues EMMA DENT COAD
While honouring the dead on the sixth anniversary of the tragedy, EMMA DENT COAD points out that developers continue to cut corners in safety provision
