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In our recent series on class we argued that the vast majority of people are working class. So who are the minority in the ruling class? Most of us rarely have any contact with this group of people. The papers run articles about the lifestyles of the super-rich.

In South east London last weekend Moonbow Jake's cafe bar was packed with people discussing and debating Muhammad Ali and the spirit of the 60s. Jason Halal, an American student at Goldsmiths' College, has written an article for the student magazine on the forum:

"Rolls-Royce is the latest victim of Enronitis, the fear that many firms, particularly those with large debts, could be concealing nasty secrets." That was the verdict of the Sunday Times this week as panic spread across the financial world in the wake of the scandal surrounding the collapse of Enron. Bankers and speculators are nervously watching firms with similarly huge debts to Enron.

Roger Scruton, one of the right wing's favourite philosophers asked for £5,500 a month from a tobacco company. He said he would use his contacts to get pro-smoking articles in the world's press.

And they dare to blame the workers

"We are The War Criminals Now." That was the headline in both the Independent and Mirror last week above a powerful article by veteran correspondent Robert Fisk. It was one of a string of pieces that described the horror of the capture of a prison near Mazar-e-Sharif by the Northern Alliance, the US and Britain's ally in Afghanistan.

Top of the list of novels has to be The Constant Gardener by John Le Carré (£6.99). It is a gripping novel, which exposes the murderous activities of profit-hungry giant pharmaceutical companies. Le Carré's novels have got more political in recent years. Particularly relevant today is The Tailor of Panama (£6.99), which shows the viciousness of US imperialism.

I missed the great anti-war demonstration in London the Sunday before last. But I don't feel too bad about this because, along with 500 other people, I was participating in a conference on globalisation and resistance in New York.

New light was shed on the connections between big business and the US government in an article in the Guardian last week. It exposed the activities of the Carlyle group-or what it dubbed "the ex-presidents' club".

THE GUARDIAN newspaper has quite rightly come in for a lot of flak for its failure to report the great anti-war demonstration in London a fortnight ago. The paper has also been carrying articles that seek to play down the opposition to the war. "Students Shun 'Stop The War' Movement" was the headline of a piece that claimed students are too worried about money or having a good time to take a stand against the war.

BIG BUSINESS is making every effort to woo New Labour ministers. The profit-hungry were particularly targeting health ministers during the shortened Labour Party conference last week. Health secretary Alan Milburn addressed a fringe meeting on "Will the NHS deliver?" on Monday of last week, where wine and snacks came courtesy of drug giant Merck, Sharpe & Dohme. Milburn was also on the platform for the "Towards stakeholder healthcare" meeting sponsored by Norwich Union.

PARTICIPATING in the demonstrations in Genoa was for many a life-changing event. We saw Italian trade unionists join the diversity of the anti-capitalist movement in the biggest demo Europe had seen for many years. We knew another world was possible, and we came home and tried to tell as many people as possible.