Stewart Lansley
Stewart Lansley is a visiting fellow at the School of Policy Studies, University of Bristol. He has written on inequality, wealth and poverty for academic journals, newspapers and is a regular broadcaster. He is an elected Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.
RICH BRITAIN
Stewart Lansley
This title is published to coincide with the “Rich List”, produced annually in the “Sunday Times”. Britain is in the throes of a remarkable social revolution, one in which the super-rich are accumulating and flaunting fortunes on a scale not seen for close to a century. In the last 15 years, the number of billionaires has nearly tripled, while the number worth over GBP 100 million has risen fivefold. “Rich Britain” asks – what is driving the new wealth explosion? Is it permanent? Does it matter? It explores the lifestyles of today’s City deal-makers, tycoons, celebrities and foreign billionaires, separates the ‘deserving’ from the ‘undeserving’ rich, and is the first book to challenge the conventional wisdom about the merits of the new wealthy super-class. The book reveals: how soaring salaries by company bosses have been driven by greed and power rather than improved performance; how the mega-rich boost their fortunes by manipulating Britain’s lax tax laws; that despite their escalating wealth, the rich are relatively meaner than the poor when it comes to giving to charity; that though many of the wealthiest have earned their place at the top, most of today’s personal enrichment stems not from new wealth creation that benefits society as a whole, but from the questionable means by which a powerful few have seized a larger share of the cake; and, that despite a small rise in the numbers of the self-made super-rich, birth remains the key determinant of who reaches the top.
Londongrad From Russia with Cash -The Inside Story of the Oligarchs
Mark Hollingsworth and Stewart Lansley
The amazing true story of how London became home to the Russian super-rich – told for the first time ever. A dazzling tale of incredible wealth, ferocious disputes, beautiful women, private jets, mega-yachts, the world’s best footballers – and chauffeur-driven Range Rovers with tinted windows.
A group of buccaneering Russian oligarchs made colossal fortunes after the collapse of communism – and many of them came to London to enjoy their new-found wealth. Londongrad tells for the first time the true story of their journeys from Moscow and St Petersburg to mansions in Mayfair, Knightsbridge and Surrey – and takes you into a shimmering world of audacious multi-billion pound deals, outrageous spending and rancorous feuds.
But while London’s flashiest restaurants echoed to Russian laughter and Bond Street shop-owners totted up their profits, darker events also played themselves out. The killing of ex-KGB man Alexander Litvinenko in London to the death – in a helicopter crash he all but predicted – of Stephen Curtis, the lawyer to many of Britain’s richest Russians, chilled London’s Russians and many of those who know them.
This is the story of how Russia’s wealth was harvested and brought to London – some of it spent by Roman Abramovich on his beloved Chelsea Football Club, some of it spent by Boris Berezovsky in his battles with Russia’s all-powerful Vladimir Putin. Londongrad is a must-read for anyone interested in how vast wealth is created, the luxury it can buy, and the power and intrigue it produces.
Blogs and Published Articles
Associations Involvement
He is the Author of a number of books including The Richer, The Poorer (2021), Breadline Britain (2015), The Cost of Inequality (2011) and Top Man (a biography of Philip Green, 2007).
He has also written on the transformative potential of a guaranteed income floor
He has held academic posts at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, City, University of London, the Open University and the Universities of Brunel and Reading. He is a Council Member of the Progressive Economy Forum, a former executive producer in the current affairs department of the BBC and a regular broadcaster.