DINNER PARTY INTEL...

The topics you have to be able to discuss this week

1. Tax advice from tax avoidance enablers

The big four accounting firms secured contracts worth millions from the

European Commission over the past five years to advise on tax policy. In 2016 alone,

Deloitte, KPMG, EY and PWC received €8m between them from the commission’s Taxation & Customs Union, according to the Financial Times.

At the same time the accounting firms have been implicated in advising companies about tax avoidance, raising more questions about their conflict of interest.

All four firms advised some of the individuals and companies named in the Paradise Papers and Panama Papers leaks.

2. Balance of power

Nigeria’s main opposition has formed an alliance with dozens of smaller parties in the hopes of fielding just one candidate to challenge President Muhammadu Buhari in next year’s election. The coalition includes a faction of the governing party and is an attempt, it says, to “rescue the nation from further decline”.

A similar coalition of opposition parties backed Buhari in 2015 and was largely responsible for the defeat of then president Goodluck

Jonathan, according to the BBC.

3. And justice for some

US President Donald Trump this week nominated Brett Kavanaugh to replace retiring Supreme Court justice Anthony Kennedy. The nomination is expected to set in motion an acrimonious confirmation process between Republicans and Democrats which The Guardian says is likely to be dominated by Kavanaugh’s stance on abortion.

While conservatives launch a campaign to support his confirmation, Democrats are expected to try to block it by persuading prochoice Republican senators to side with them.