Stewart Lansley

Joanna Mack

Poverty in Britain is at post-war highs and - even with economic growth -is set to increase yet further. Food bank queues are growing, levels of severe deprivation have been rising, and increasing numbers of children are left with their most basic needs unmet. Based on exclusive access to the largest ever survey of poverty in the UK, and its predecessor surveys in the 1980s and 1990s, Stewart Lansley and Joanna Mack track changes in deprivation and paint a devastating picture of the reality of poverty today and its causes. Shattering the myth that poverty is the fault of the poor and a generous benefit system, they show that the blame lies with the massive social and economic upheaval that has shifted power from the workforce to corporations and swelled the ranks of the working poor, a group increasingly at the mercy of low-pay, zero-hour contracts and downward social mobility. The high levels of poverty in the UK are not ordained but can be traced directly to the political choices taken by successive governments. Lansley and Mack outline an alternative economic and social strategy that is both perfectly feasible and urgently necessary if we are to reverse the course of the last three decades.

The Rise of Mass Poverty

Breadline Britain

This landmark book charts the rollercoaster history of both rich and poor, and the mechanisms that link them. Stewart Lansley examines the ideological rifts that have driven society back to the divisions of the past and asks why rich and poor citizens are still judged by very different standards.

How Britain Enriched the Few and Failed the Poor. A 200-Year History

The Richer, The Poorer

Mark Hollingsworth

A dazzling tale of incredible wealth, ferocious disputes, beautiful women, private jets, mega-yachts, the world's best soccer players, and chauffeur-driven Range Rovers with tinted windows The amazing true story of how London became home to the Russian super-rich, this explosive book tells the tale of a group of buccaneering Russian oligarchs who made colossal fortunes after the collapse of communism—and then came to London to enjoy their newfound wealth. From the origin of their journeys in Moscow and St. Petersburg to mansions in Mayfair, Knightsbridge, and Surrey, the book plunges into a shimmering world of audacious multibillion-pound deals, outrageous spending, and rancorous feuds. While London’s flashiest restaurants echoed with Russian laughter and Bond Street shop-owners totted up their profits, however, darker events were also playing themselves out. The killing of ex-KGB man Alexander Litvinenko in London and 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 who know them. This story of how Russia’s wealth was harvested and brought to London 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.

From Russia with Cash - The Inside Story of the Oligarchs

Londongrad

Philip Green, owner of, amongst much else, British Home Stores, reached billionaire status faster than anyone else in British history. Today he is worth £3.6 billion and is reckoned to be the country’s fourth richest citizen. A middle-class Jewish boy from North London who left school at fifteen, Green started and failed with four businesses before he made it with Jean Jeannie, which he sold to Lee Cooper for an enormous profit that set him on the road to fame and fortune. But there were pitfalls on the way, his involvement with Amber Day, a public company, left him with an abiding dislike for both the City establishment and outside investors. Ever since, he has relied upon a close group of like-minded entrepreneurs, including the Barclay twins, to help fund his buccaneering forays into Britain’s High Streets. The authors describe Green’s takeover and highly profitable break up of the Sears empire and his first audacious attempt to seize control of Marks & Spencer at the end of 1999. Green then turned his attention to the ailing BHS, for which he paid a mere £200 million and then transformed its fortunes to such an extent that, in 2004, he was able to transfer dividends totalling £400 million to his Monaco tax haven. His appetite unsated, Green then turned his attention to the Arcadia Group, which included brands such as Miss Selfridge, Top Shop and Dorothy Perkins before making another bid for M&S in 2004. Again he was foiled, partly because of what he saw as treachery on the part of his former protégé Stuart Rose, the man who was appointed by M&S to see off Green’s bid.

How Philip Green built his High Street Empire

Top Man

Today Britain, like most Western countries, is richer than ever. More people have more things. But at the same time the divisions between rich and poor, between haves and have-nots, are so deep and painful that society itself is in real danger of coming apart. In this study the Henley Centre examines the shift from the welfare capitalism of the 1980s to our present state of economic and political confusion, illuminating trends with data from its own studies and a range of other material to suggest where we may be going next.

Stewart Lansley

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