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.