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 would a 'clean break' with the EU mean for the economy?
ALEX GORDON looks at the nature of WTO rules and how trading on them would affect us
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
MARK CARNEY opined this week that the idea Britain could trade on WTO terms with zero tariffs after a no-deal Brexit was “absolute nonsense.” The man George Osborne recruited as Governor of the Bank of England is no Brexiteer.
However, last month the UK government had already announced temporary tariff-free arrangements on 87 per cent of total imports (by value) to Britain in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Tariffs would still apply to 13 per cent of imported goods including beef, lamb, pork, poultry and some dairy products, which have historically been protected by high EU tariffs.
Some tariffs on finished vehicles in the automotive sector would continue, however, “car makers relying on EU supply chains would not face additional tariffs on car parts imported from the EU to prevent disruption to supply chains.”
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ANGELO ALVES is a member of the political committee of the Portuguese Communist Party. He spoke to Alex Gordon on the 50th anniversary of Portugal’s Carnation Revolution of April 25 1974 about the legacy and the struggle of young workers and trade unionists today against Portugal’s latest right-wing government
