It is now over seven years since the beginning of the crisis, and there is still no end in sight. Talk of recovery is a sick joke at best, and deluded at worst. The reality is that a new – deeper – phase in the world crisis of capitalism is opening up.

The International Monetary Fund has been forced, not only to repeatedly downgrade its growth forecasts, but to now predict a fall in World GDP in dollar terms, the first since 2009. This is a reflection of the crisis-ridden world we are in.

Tata, the giant Indian-owned conglomerate, has announced the closure of its steel plants in Britain, with a resultant 1,200 jobs to be cut. This latest episode in the crisis of the British steel industry is yet another stark reminder of the decrepit nature of British capitalism and of the contradictions within the wider world economy.