Salute the super-rich | Ian Birrell

There is something repellent about the likes of James Stunt, who married billionaire Bernie Ecclestone's daughter and drives around London with his security team in a fleet of flash cars worth a million pounds. So it is little wonder that the startling news that our capital is home to more super-rich than any other place on the planet has sparked outrage.

Britain now has more than 100 billionaires, according to a Sunday Times survey more per head than any other country. Most live in London, and more than half were born abroad. For many Britons, such revelations confirm fears the nation has become a magnet for dodgy characters, crystallising concerns over globalisation, inequality, immigration and tax avoidance.