In rich nations- such as the US and UK- you could be forgiven for thinking that the oppression of working people in their fight for better conditions had become a thing of the past. However, as William Roche argues, union busting has swelled to become a multi-million dollar industry.

When Ken Livingstone lobbied for the 2012 Olympics he argued that the resulting investment was needed desperately by east London. Patrick Ward suggests that few of the benefits will actually be trickling down to those who need them.

Simon Whelan describes how the uninterrupted growth of wealth amongst the already super-rich is taking place amidst a period of extreme economic turbulence, during which the living standards of working people have fallen sharply.

Whilst the poor of the world’s developing nations starve and struggle over soaring food prices, Andy Rowell describes how the rich world is now squabbling over the huge subsidies it gives its producers to produce more biofuels instead of food.

The last three decades have seen a new type of capitalism, characterised by the pursuit of insecurity and a fragmentation of the institution of work. A new socialist politics can only be successful if it recognises the interdependence of individuals argues Jonathan Rutherford .

PLATFORM looks at the trajectory of BP’s policies and patterns of investment, and considers whether the focus on carbon-intensive activity might ultimately come to damage profits, if companies are ever forced to bear the social cost of their own carbon emissions.

Over the past decade, the private sector has been utilised to step up attacks on the welfare state and to profit from providing services. The Welfare Reform Act is one such example of Labour’s neoliberal tendencies argues Robert Stevens.

The food crisis in the poor world and the problems of overconsumption and waste in the richer world cannot be resolved without addressing the global corporate food system. This is the real root cause, says Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed

The public would prefer to see their taxes spent on health and education – rather than on an £850m state subsidy for the arms industry argues Symon Hill.

The Department of Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) has lost an appeal to keep secret its meetings with business lobbying group the Confederation of British Industry. John Oates discusses the implications.

The Royal Bank of Scotland’s uncritical support for oil has resulted in it nourishing repression and human rights abuses in Darfur, West Papua and Burma, write PLATFORM.

Working life in contemporary Britain should come with a health warning,argues Tom Hodgkinson, or we’ll all end up dying for a job

Naomi Klein once again provides us with an engaging and easy to read account of the rise and rise of neoliberalism. However, her limited historical and analytical scope left Becca Fisher disappointed.

Despite the recent introduction of the Corporate Manslaughter Act, it remains virtually impossible for a company director whose negligence causes the death of a worker to be jailed. This needs to change, says the Morning Star

Every effort has been made during the past 20 years to discredit socialism as outdated and irrelevant. No other ideology has been subject to such an onslaught. But socialism remains the only alternative ideology that can challenge capitalism effectively and offer humanity a future. Nick Toms reports.

Becca Fisher looks behind the Scenes of the Arab-British Chamber of Commerce (A.B.C.C)

David Miller reports on the ‘Open Stormont’ campaign in Northern Ireland – and the lobbyists’ response.

The Government’s £50 billion package for the banking industry has shown us who is really in charge. The Morning Star reports.

With the IMF and OECD warning that the US economy is in recession,_Chris Marsden_considers the likely impact of this upon the UK- where the total unsecured debt is more than the rest of the European Union put together..

Prem Sikka contends that the financial crisis is a systemic one and so institutional reforms are essential.