Dubai, the once-gleaming playground of the rich, has become the latest victim of the global financial chaos. Its powerful investment arm, Dubai World, is close to bankruptcy, and its fate dependent on the largess of other Arab governments.

The emirate of Dubai is part of a federation of seven small monarchies that make up the United Arab Emirates (UAE). These grew rich on oil and gas dollars.

Last year Gordon Brown visited Dubai and, with his usual level of insight, praised the country for helping mitigate the global financial crisis.

In reality, Dubai’s crisis will have an effect on jobs and companies here. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) holds at least £5.9 billion of investments in Britain, while British firms have holdings of £4.6 billion there.

The emirate’s companies own parts of Alton Towers, the London Eye, P&O and hotel chain Travelodge.

If A contemporary Rip Van Winkle, awakening from three years’ sleep, took a walk down Wall Street last week, he might imagine that nothing had changed.

Goldman Sachs, the most hated US investment bank, announced it had made a near-record $3.2 billion profit in the third quarter of 2009.

The day before, JP Morgan Chase reported a $3.6 billion profit. These profits are almost at the level of those in 2007, before the boom turned to bust. Bonuses are back as well. Goldman Sachs has set aside $16.7 billion for “compensation and benefits”—around $700,000 per employee.

Less than a year after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the banks are back. Puffed up with profits, they are flexing their muscles again.

This reality haunted the G20 finance ministers in London last weekend as they met to prepare for the summit that will take place in Pittsburgh in the US later this month.

This will be the third meeting of the heads of government of the world’s biggest economies in less than a year—a sign of the severity of the present crisis.

Recent figures showing Japan, Hong Kong, France and Germany creeping out of the recession have been hailed in some quarters as heralding the end of the global economic crisis.

But the small growth figures are based mostly on a collapse of imports in France and Germany, combined with a smaller collapse of exports meaning that more money went into these economies than went out. So their national income went up.

Sacked Cowley worker speaks out warning others not to waste the mood to resist

“If our unions fight back when bosses announce redundancies, then we’ve got a chance to save jobs. But if we’re told to quietly walk away, then we’re all done for.”

That is the message from Doug Foreshew, who worked at BMW’s plant in Cowley, Oxfordshire, for nearly five years until he was sacked last week.

Disgraced banker Fred Goodwin is going to keep his £16 million pension, despite some bluster from elements of the Labour government.

The former Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) boss’s reward for leading the company to near collapse is just the tip of the iceberg of New Labour’s slavish devotion to the bankers.

Every day brings new announcements of job cuts and closures. This is a volatile situation and individuals can make a difference.

A couple of people taking a stand can help turn the general mood from despair into one of confidence and militancy.