Introduction

Imagine a Britain where everyone's height was a measure of their household income...

The Rolex Archipelago

The rich are globalised. They have founded a country made up of millions of small islands scattered all over the world.

Blurb

Why the book exists and what it's about.

Subjects and Themes

What you'll find between the covers.

Facts and figures

Some of the surpising and shocking facts that emerged while the book was being researched.

Introduction

Imagine a Britain where everyone's height was a measure of their household income - so the more money they made in the last year, the taller they were so that in a household with an average income everyone would have an average height - 5 feet 6 inches. And suppose a decree went out to require one person in every household in Britain to march into Hyde Park during a single spring day in 2007. The poorest people enter the park first.

The parade begins on the chime of midnight and the first arrivals are all tiny dwarfs - barely one foot tall. Very small people tramp through the night and even by dawn - at 6 am - those entering the park are still no more than three feet high.

It is not until 3 pm in the afternoon that people of average height begin to pass through the gates. For hours the height of the new arrivals grows very slowly but by 10.48 pm people eleven feet tall are striding into the park.

The day has almost come to an end and we begin to see some real giants. At 11.36 pm the newcomers are a hundred feet tall - by 11.46 they are over 700 feet tall but they are puny compared with the giants that enter in the last couple of seconds before the gates close at midnight - their tops are so high you can't see them from the ground - they are over 30 miles tall.

The very last giant to pass through the gates as the clock strikes has his head in outer space - 207 miles from the surface of the earth.