It seems grimly appropriate to be writing about the baleful legacy of the pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein on Halloween because, like an unusually well-heeled Mike Myers, Epstein’s corrosive influence has not only survived his death in 2019, but continues to grow in new and unexpected ways.

Earlier this year, Lord Mandelson, the British ambassador to the United States, was forced to resign because of his previous friendship with the sex trafficker, and now Prince Andrew, a noted intimate of the moneyman, has had his royal titles and honors stripped from him by his brother the king. How’s that going to go down at the family Christmas this year?