Olive oil remains a vital foundation of food, agriculture and society, storing power in the bonds of solidarity. Though Palestinians are under attack, they continue to press forward write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT

MISHA GLENNY’S new series McMafia was launched on BBC TV on New Year’s Day. It is an appropriate if depressing opener for the new year.
It aims to highlight a new stage in the evolution of global capitalism: Mafia capitalism. We are, though, not talking here of a few family Cosa Nostras controlling the underworld, but well-organised crime syndicates, with links to governments and security services, gnawing their way to the core of capitalism.
The recent revelations from WikiLeaks and the Panama and Paradise Papers exposing massive tax evasion by global companies only show the seemingly less grubby aspect of capitalist venality.

JOHN GREEN is fascinated by a very readable account of Britain’s involvement in South America

JOHN GREEN is stirred by an ambitious art project that explores solidarity and the shared memory of occupation

JOHN GREEN applauds an excellent and accessible demonstration that the capitalist economy is the biggest threat to our existence

JOHN GREEN isn’t helped by the utopian fantasy of a New York Times bestseller that ignores class struggle and blames the so-called ’progressives’