The stunning arrest of the former British ambassador to Washington Peter Mandelson will produce a blast radius in the UK that may be even bigger than Jeffrey Epstein’s.
Amazing times, what a sordid story , I never had time for any of the people above, but to see all of this is truly staggering…. Fantastic coverage. Love to you Tina 🤍Daphne
What a great post from Tina B! I feel like I have just enjoyed a long lunch at The Algonquin Round Table, vicious, but all true. I can say that as someone living on the other side of the Atlantic who remembers every one of Peter Mandelson’s resignations.
It begs the question what makes someone dishonest? Were they always that way, or did Mandelson’s ethics just dissolve after meeting rich people? I can completely understand why Gordon Brown, the former Chancellor and Prime Minister, is livid. If Mandelson hadn’t been arrested, I suspect Brown would have wrung his neck like a chicken. How could a cabinet minister so casually leak information when the stability of the UK and European financial systems was at stake.
Thanks to Donald Trump people fail to realise how corrupt US politics has become. I tried to think of all the reasons why Trump, if British but with the same record in business, could not sit in the UK House of Commons. Some obvious ones – failure to disclose his business interests, conflicts of interest, abusive language on the Internet (racial & sexual), allegations of sexual offences, dishonesty in obtaining loans by falsifying accounts, frequent lying.
Just to be clear, any of these issues would prevent him being sworn in to serve in the House of Commons, even if he had won an election for a fringe party. Members of Parliament are expected to be “honourable members”, which sounds quaint but means something. If you lie you are out. Look up the Profumo Affair in the 1960s...
But the truly bizarre point is that not only could Trump NOT be a British politician for these 6 reasons, but there is also an even bigger issue that would prevent Donald J Trump taking part in British public life. His frequent bankruptcies. You cannot serve in the House of Commons if you go bankrupt (The novelist Jeffrey Archer had to leave Parliament in the 70s for this reason).
Donald Trump has placed 6 companies in bankruptcy proceedings. These losses, representing hundreds of millions of dollars, made him vulnerable to outside influences (blackmail). It is for this reason that bankrupts cannot be politicians, they can’t be trusted. British Intelligence would regard them as hopelessly compromised, how could they be trusted with confidential state papers? This is now the problem that Peter Mandelson faces – why was he apparently passing government secrets to an American financier with a conviction for sexual offences?
President Trump has argued in the past that his bankruptcies were a “negotiating tool”. Really? I have never seen Warren Buffett use this tactic – business leaders trust him but not the current US president. The Mueller Investigation was necessary precisely because the 2016 US election had put someone in the White House who was not trusted by either the CIA or FBI.
What a mess...the White House is now run by a man who follows Putin’s talking points in foreign policy (hostile to NATO, the EU, Ukraine). The problem starts when you allow dishonest men, with a history of bankruptcy, to take part in national politics. Donald Trump has little respect for the United States, as a dynamic democracy that welcomes people of all races and religions. Instead, he cares only for his own pocket and to help his friend Putin – two men who cling to the past. Putin wants his beloved USSR back; Trump would like the pre Civil Rights era of his 1950s childhood to return.
Fascinating insights here. I had no idea you couldn't be a bankrupt in the H of C, but the rationale makes sense. Current congress is so hopelessly corrupt on so many levels it will be hard to see how it gets cleaned out at the end of all this T
After rereading your fine commentary this hellion forgot a few things in the reply.
With the current administration we have come full circle in 250 years. After declaring independence in 1776 the colonist and colonies were broke. The only way they could keep things going was to borrow money. For the new tobacco plantations in the eastern lowlands of Virginia the British were the creditors. In the western highlands of the Piedmont region of Virginia the creditors were the Scots.
After 1776, the Virginia Assembly passed a law that would allow the Virginians to pay off their pound sterling debts in the newly minted Virginia currency, and then the Virginia government would pay that money to the Crown. Needless to say even though the new law was created, the Virginia government had no intention of sending that money to the Crown. With the Virginia currency depreciating rapidly many Virginians took advantage of the new law to pay off their debts in cents on the Sterling, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, to name a few.
By the late 1780s, with the colonist in debt up to their eyeballs, the creditors became frustrated with their inability to collect on their debts through the colonial courts. By 1788 they had had enough, and collectively went to the King asking him to send the army back to the colonies to collect on the debts, or possess the property that was purchased with money borrowed.
Aware of this, and the real threat of losing their decade-old independence, the writers of the constitution created article VI with the opening proclamation, “All debts contracted and engagements entered into, before the adoption of the constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this constitution, as under the confederation.” This was to appease the creditors that once the constitution would be ratified there would be a federal court system for which all of their claims would be valid and settled. Article VI is commonly known as the supremacy clause, as it establishes federal law superior to state law.
Here we are 250 years after that declaration of independence, in debt up to our eyeballs, and hiring people to represent us who’s financial shenanigans, while seeming handsomely immoral compared to the founders of this nation, perhaps in truth are not.
After all, it was Republican Thomas Jefferson who took the 14-year-old Sally Henning, one of his slaves, to accompany him to Paris in 1787. A little over two years later, the 16-year-old Sally returned to America pregnant with their first child.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
With the Mueller investigation it seems everyone has already forgotten that when Bob Mueller testified in front of Congress as to whether or not Donald Trump had obstructed justice, he avoided the obvious by clearly stating that it was DOJ policy not to indict a sitting president, and that it was the role of Congress with the information he had collected to decide whether or not they should indict Donald Trump on charges of obstruction of justice. Congressional cowardice won the day. Had the US Congress had the spine they had in 1974, they would have done their job, and perhaps an indictment.
Problem for us in the good ol' USA are all of the folks in Congress/DOJ/FBI who are afflicted with the deadly TAK syndrome (Trump Ass Kissing) syndrome.
U.S. Attorney General Brown Nose Bondi has it so bad she won't indict anyone.
Seeing as how all the Tech-Bros have become TAK-Ho's, good luck getting any of them to use their grand fortunes to help right the USS Constitution, and keep the rule of law afloat for future generations.
So once again, the illegitimate child keeps fumbling our way to national adulthood, with continued displays of childish immaturity that has the rest of the world shaking their heads.
Tina, by your own account you knew the reputation and possibly the actions of Epstein around the time of his convictions, and were never shy about calling it out, at least in private. (I recall your newsletter asking a publicist why you would ever want to go to a “pedo” fest when she invited you to the Epstein mansion, a guest list that included Woody Allen). Respectfully, I would love to know why more people did not speak out more forcefully. And what you felt were the stakes, and possibly the cost, of coming to the aid of the young women and children who were in his orbit at that time. Thanks for any insights.
Well, i think as commenter Paul puts it, the ethics melted in the face of money, a depressing truth. There is an amazing piece in the NYT about doctors at the prestigious Mount Sinai coming to Epstein's house to treat the young girls he didnt want showing up in ER rooms, that just blew my mind T
I’m not asking about employees who signed NDAs or those taking bribes. I’m talking about people on the inside - fellow elites, if you will - who knew and were appalled, and yet still opted to do nothing.
They enjoyed being on the " inside ", they didn't want the hassle, they were looking to get something out of Epstein too, many reasons none of them good. T
I have to say I thought giving Mandelson the Trump ambassadorship was a brilliant move too. Risky of course, but it seemed worth it. Nobody (that I know of or have talked to) however, could have begun to believe that he would divulge state secrets to Epstein. We were all completely gobsmacked.
Six lockers full of information kept hidden from the FBI! When you consider that what was left for them to find was so incriminating, you have to wonder what Epstein considered to be even more shocking. The fact that he didn’t just torch it in a massive bonfire proves he knew its value to get whatever he wanted from the rich and powerful. His “suicide” is looking more and more convenient.
Brilliant analysis. Do you think there is any chance Charles will abdicate and hand things over to William who can come in with a clean slate and modernize the monarchy?
I do not think this will happen , know, unless Andrew unravelling reveals the King knew more than we think. Charles waited so long for the throne, i think he will stay till the bitter end, and bitter it may indeed be. T
I cannot help but wonder how that “obscure medical condition” that does not allow Randy Andy to perspire has been given a real workout pushing the boundaries of cortisol v. BS v. mendacity.
We are in the thankful, hopeful, early stages of taking down some very powerful, despicable men (and a few grotesque women) across the pond, and with some much-needed spine, here in the US. However, with each revelation more depraved than the last, my heart breaks for Virginia Roberts Giuffre. Her life was initially stolen and in her valiant attempts to uncover this cesspool of powerful pedophiles, her spirit was eventually broken, and she tragically took her life. If monuments are to be erected in place of the mighty she brought down, they should be in tribute to her courage.
The complexity of it all is so unsettling. There are good people mixed up in all this who seem to have lost their moral compass when they meet Epstein. Its so tragic Virginia died as we really need her voice to help us understand it all now T
But we cannot go back for her; we build resolve to finish her work by taking one cretin down at a time.
I also cannot help but wonder about the $1 Billion dollar a day burn rate for the Iran “whatever it’s called today.” If we spent one half of one day of that money on a devoted team of investigators earnestly pouring through the Epstein files, just where would we be? We would be converting an ICE Detention Facility or two for the known and unknown pedophiles and predators.
Alas, our white, American male privilege runs as deep as it whines “woe is me.” Can you even fathom Luttnick and his wife being investigated for “child and nanny” endangerment for cavorting, lunching, and yachting with the convicted Epstein back in 2012? Sadly, the wheels of justice do not grind as fine on this side of the Atlantic as the paralytic former prince known as Andrew so breathtakingly laid bare.
Tina, wordsmith par excellence! Terrific account of these startling events!!
Amazing times, what a sordid story , I never had time for any of the people above, but to see all of this is truly staggering…. Fantastic coverage. Love to you Tina 🤍Daphne
Bless you, Daphne and lovely to hear from you. Let me know when you are in NYC - it would be great to catch up T
What a great post from Tina B! I feel like I have just enjoyed a long lunch at The Algonquin Round Table, vicious, but all true. I can say that as someone living on the other side of the Atlantic who remembers every one of Peter Mandelson’s resignations.
It begs the question what makes someone dishonest? Were they always that way, or did Mandelson’s ethics just dissolve after meeting rich people? I can completely understand why Gordon Brown, the former Chancellor and Prime Minister, is livid. If Mandelson hadn’t been arrested, I suspect Brown would have wrung his neck like a chicken. How could a cabinet minister so casually leak information when the stability of the UK and European financial systems was at stake.
Thanks to Donald Trump people fail to realise how corrupt US politics has become. I tried to think of all the reasons why Trump, if British but with the same record in business, could not sit in the UK House of Commons. Some obvious ones – failure to disclose his business interests, conflicts of interest, abusive language on the Internet (racial & sexual), allegations of sexual offences, dishonesty in obtaining loans by falsifying accounts, frequent lying.
Just to be clear, any of these issues would prevent him being sworn in to serve in the House of Commons, even if he had won an election for a fringe party. Members of Parliament are expected to be “honourable members”, which sounds quaint but means something. If you lie you are out. Look up the Profumo Affair in the 1960s...
But the truly bizarre point is that not only could Trump NOT be a British politician for these 6 reasons, but there is also an even bigger issue that would prevent Donald J Trump taking part in British public life. His frequent bankruptcies. You cannot serve in the House of Commons if you go bankrupt (The novelist Jeffrey Archer had to leave Parliament in the 70s for this reason).
Donald Trump has placed 6 companies in bankruptcy proceedings. These losses, representing hundreds of millions of dollars, made him vulnerable to outside influences (blackmail). It is for this reason that bankrupts cannot be politicians, they can’t be trusted. British Intelligence would regard them as hopelessly compromised, how could they be trusted with confidential state papers? This is now the problem that Peter Mandelson faces – why was he apparently passing government secrets to an American financier with a conviction for sexual offences?
President Trump has argued in the past that his bankruptcies were a “negotiating tool”. Really? I have never seen Warren Buffett use this tactic – business leaders trust him but not the current US president. The Mueller Investigation was necessary precisely because the 2016 US election had put someone in the White House who was not trusted by either the CIA or FBI.
What a mess...the White House is now run by a man who follows Putin’s talking points in foreign policy (hostile to NATO, the EU, Ukraine). The problem starts when you allow dishonest men, with a history of bankruptcy, to take part in national politics. Donald Trump has little respect for the United States, as a dynamic democracy that welcomes people of all races and religions. Instead, he cares only for his own pocket and to help his friend Putin – two men who cling to the past. Putin wants his beloved USSR back; Trump would like the pre Civil Rights era of his 1950s childhood to return.
Fascinating insights here. I had no idea you couldn't be a bankrupt in the H of C, but the rationale makes sense. Current congress is so hopelessly corrupt on so many levels it will be hard to see how it gets cleaned out at the end of all this T
After rereading your fine commentary this hellion forgot a few things in the reply.
With the current administration we have come full circle in 250 years. After declaring independence in 1776 the colonist and colonies were broke. The only way they could keep things going was to borrow money. For the new tobacco plantations in the eastern lowlands of Virginia the British were the creditors. In the western highlands of the Piedmont region of Virginia the creditors were the Scots.
After 1776, the Virginia Assembly passed a law that would allow the Virginians to pay off their pound sterling debts in the newly minted Virginia currency, and then the Virginia government would pay that money to the Crown. Needless to say even though the new law was created, the Virginia government had no intention of sending that money to the Crown. With the Virginia currency depreciating rapidly many Virginians took advantage of the new law to pay off their debts in cents on the Sterling, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, to name a few.
By the late 1780s, with the colonist in debt up to their eyeballs, the creditors became frustrated with their inability to collect on their debts through the colonial courts. By 1788 they had had enough, and collectively went to the King asking him to send the army back to the colonies to collect on the debts, or possess the property that was purchased with money borrowed.
Aware of this, and the real threat of losing their decade-old independence, the writers of the constitution created article VI with the opening proclamation, “All debts contracted and engagements entered into, before the adoption of the constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this constitution, as under the confederation.” This was to appease the creditors that once the constitution would be ratified there would be a federal court system for which all of their claims would be valid and settled. Article VI is commonly known as the supremacy clause, as it establishes federal law superior to state law.
Here we are 250 years after that declaration of independence, in debt up to our eyeballs, and hiring people to represent us who’s financial shenanigans, while seeming handsomely immoral compared to the founders of this nation, perhaps in truth are not.
After all, it was Republican Thomas Jefferson who took the 14-year-old Sally Henning, one of his slaves, to accompany him to Paris in 1787. A little over two years later, the 16-year-old Sally returned to America pregnant with their first child.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Paul,
Flawless explanation.
With the Mueller investigation it seems everyone has already forgotten that when Bob Mueller testified in front of Congress as to whether or not Donald Trump had obstructed justice, he avoided the obvious by clearly stating that it was DOJ policy not to indict a sitting president, and that it was the role of Congress with the information he had collected to decide whether or not they should indict Donald Trump on charges of obstruction of justice. Congressional cowardice won the day. Had the US Congress had the spine they had in 1974, they would have done their job, and perhaps an indictment.
Dame T,
Once again you hit the bull's-eye effortlessly.
Problem for us in the good ol' USA are all of the folks in Congress/DOJ/FBI who are afflicted with the deadly TAK syndrome (Trump Ass Kissing) syndrome.
U.S. Attorney General Brown Nose Bondi has it so bad she won't indict anyone.
Seeing as how all the Tech-Bros have become TAK-Ho's, good luck getting any of them to use their grand fortunes to help right the USS Constitution, and keep the rule of law afloat for future generations.
So once again, the illegitimate child keeps fumbling our way to national adulthood, with continued displays of childish immaturity that has the rest of the world shaking their heads.
See commenter Paul ( above) for really interesting insights on all this! Glad you felt it hit the nail on the head T
Dear T,
Thank you. This hellion did read Paul's account, hence owing up to, we in the homeland, being the illegitimate child.
Tina, by your own account you knew the reputation and possibly the actions of Epstein around the time of his convictions, and were never shy about calling it out, at least in private. (I recall your newsletter asking a publicist why you would ever want to go to a “pedo” fest when she invited you to the Epstein mansion, a guest list that included Woody Allen). Respectfully, I would love to know why more people did not speak out more forcefully. And what you felt were the stakes, and possibly the cost, of coming to the aid of the young women and children who were in his orbit at that time. Thanks for any insights.
Well, i think as commenter Paul puts it, the ethics melted in the face of money, a depressing truth. There is an amazing piece in the NYT about doctors at the prestigious Mount Sinai coming to Epstein's house to treat the young girls he didnt want showing up in ER rooms, that just blew my mind T
Most people will succumb to anything if they're lucratively bribed and I'm sure Epstein employed this up the ranks as needed.
Vulnerability to money has never been more intense it seems, even from or especially from the people who don't need it T
I’m not asking about employees who signed NDAs or those taking bribes. I’m talking about people on the inside - fellow elites, if you will - who knew and were appalled, and yet still opted to do nothing.
They enjoyed being on the " inside ", they didn't want the hassle, they were looking to get something out of Epstein too, many reasons none of them good. T
I have to say I thought giving Mandelson the Trump ambassadorship was a brilliant move too. Risky of course, but it seemed worth it. Nobody (that I know of or have talked to) however, could have begun to believe that he would divulge state secrets to Epstein. We were all completely gobsmacked.
Agree. He definitely crossed a line that even the people who had a low of opinion of him did not expect and his friends truly gutted by it. T
Well said. I can always trust you, Tina, to cut through all the claptrap and hone what’s important in these current events. Thank you.
I try to keep the knife sharp, and thank you T
Brilliantly written x
Gracias, Katie
I am afraid that when all of this finally comes out, Mandelson and Andrew will be small potatoes to what has really gone on and who is involved
I hope so, but so far most of the big fish are untouched. T
Bill, Bill, . . .
Well he doesn't look good, I agree but too rich to be canceled.
Six lockers full of information kept hidden from the FBI! When you consider that what was left for them to find was so incriminating, you have to wonder what Epstein considered to be even more shocking. The fact that he didn’t just torch it in a massive bonfire proves he knew its value to get whatever he wanted from the rich and powerful. His “suicide” is looking more and more convenient.
Interesting observation. yes. keeping it must have been because he saw a use for it down the road, other wise why not just burn the lot.
He probably had a sort of trophy mentality, too. He wanted souvenirs of his "adventures," like a serial killer.
Brilliant analysis. Do you think there is any chance Charles will abdicate and hand things over to William who can come in with a clean slate and modernize the monarchy?
I do not think this will happen , know, unless Andrew unravelling reveals the King knew more than we think. Charles waited so long for the throne, i think he will stay till the bitter end, and bitter it may indeed be. T
Great writing- as usual, Tina.
Thank you.
I’m just gobsmacked- still.
Thanks. I know , its hard to digest so much bad judgment and low-life behavior. T
I cannot help but wonder how that “obscure medical condition” that does not allow Randy Andy to perspire has been given a real workout pushing the boundaries of cortisol v. BS v. mendacity.
We are in the thankful, hopeful, early stages of taking down some very powerful, despicable men (and a few grotesque women) across the pond, and with some much-needed spine, here in the US. However, with each revelation more depraved than the last, my heart breaks for Virginia Roberts Giuffre. Her life was initially stolen and in her valiant attempts to uncover this cesspool of powerful pedophiles, her spirit was eventually broken, and she tragically took her life. If monuments are to be erected in place of the mighty she brought down, they should be in tribute to her courage.
The complexity of it all is so unsettling. There are good people mixed up in all this who seem to have lost their moral compass when they meet Epstein. Its so tragic Virginia died as we really need her voice to help us understand it all now T
But we cannot go back for her; we build resolve to finish her work by taking one cretin down at a time.
I also cannot help but wonder about the $1 Billion dollar a day burn rate for the Iran “whatever it’s called today.” If we spent one half of one day of that money on a devoted team of investigators earnestly pouring through the Epstein files, just where would we be? We would be converting an ICE Detention Facility or two for the known and unknown pedophiles and predators.
Alas, our white, American male privilege runs as deep as it whines “woe is me.” Can you even fathom Luttnick and his wife being investigated for “child and nanny” endangerment for cavorting, lunching, and yachting with the convicted Epstein back in 2012? Sadly, the wheels of justice do not grind as fine on this side of the Atlantic as the paralytic former prince known as Andrew so breathtakingly laid bare.
Has anyone read a finer summation of the Epstein epoch than Ms.Brown encapsulates in her final sentence? I haven't.
Thank you, Michael. And lovely to hear from you T
Loved this, Tina. In the end, the "narrative" is no match for reality.
Thanks. A story with so many subtexts ! T
Thanks. There is so much more fall out to come - not sure which will yield the most dish - Andrew or Mandy T