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News in Brief

According to The Sunday Times Rich List 2010, the fortunes of super-rich have soared by a third over the past year of recession and increasing unemployment.
The 1,000 richest people in the UK increased their wealth by £77 billion last year, bringing their total wealth to £335.5 billion – equal to more than one-third of the national debt.
It was the largest rise in wealth since the list was first published in 1989, in part due to effects of “quantitative easing”, where the Bank of England pumped £200bn into the financial system. Gratifyingly, the number of billionaires has risen from 43 to 53, with nine people seeing their wealth rise by £1 billion or more during the past 12 months.
Fittingly, the new Lib-Con cabinet, which is going to impose swingeing financial pain on the rest of us, contains 18 millionaires – out of 23 full-time posts.
Well, it did contain 18 millionaires, until the resignation of David Laws, the chief secretary to the treasury, thought to be worth £1.3m, and his replacement by church mouse Danny Alexander. Gordon Brown’s socialist cabinet is thought to have included only 10 millionaires, worth only a measly £35m, compared to the £60m Lib-Con total.

Topics: Economics