witch hunt in the media over people who avoid taxes is ridiculous. I also agree that a more streamlined state could be advantageous for the majority of Brits. I do have an issue with this articles defence of the super rich though: "What, then, of the fabulously rich? They have plenty of money, surely no-one with any sense would say that they actually need all of it? Well, that's not really the point, is it? The point is that it is theirs and the rest of us have no claim to it. They may have made that money very easily, they might have inherited it. Hell, they may have made it at cards for all I care!" What if they made it dealing in rare earth metals in the Congo, helping fund a brutal civil war in the ongoing scramble for Africa? A lot of capitalism is conducted in an environmentally and ethically unsound manner. Environmental damage often creates a feedback making life yet harder for capitalism's victims, for example the people of the Nigerian delta which has been destroyed by oil spills during the extraction process. This makes the wealth distribution question global. A classic statistic is that 2% of the worlds population own over half of it's wealth (in 2006 according to the World Institute for Development Economics Research). This global imbalance is what helps maintain the British consumer lifestyle. Most Brits probably come within the top 10 percent of the worldly wealthy salary wise. Have we earned