In this editorial from the latest issue of Socialist Appeal, Rob Sewell explains the significance of Carillion’s collapse. The market and privatisation have failed. In the words of John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, “the system isn’t working”.

Erin Maniatopoulou of the Norwich Marxists comments on the latest inequality figures from Oxfam, which left the Davos elite at the World Economic Forum without any defence for the rotten system they represent.

The collapse of Carillion has come as a shock to the company’s workers and the public who rely on its services. But it seems that Westminster politicians and City bankers were fully aware of the dodgy dealings going on at the construction and outsourcing giant. The failed firm is a damning indictment of the parasitic capitalist system.