Kerre Woodham: Rich pickings

It was a case of eat the rich this week in Great Britain, as Alistair Darling delivered one of the blackest of budgets in Britain's modern history.

The country's business elite, already facing lower incomes and fewer bonuses in the workplace, have now been slammed with a new top tax rate of 50 per cent.

They have also had their personal allowances slashed, and there will now be restrictions in tax relief for their pension schemes as well.

Financial officers in certain sectors face greater accountability for their financial reports - in some cases, where businesses fail, they'll be held personally accountable - and a number of initiatives have been announced that will restrict the potential for wealthy professionals to hide their assets and income streams.

Business commentators have reacted with horror saying the policy is certain to backfire as wealth creators flee to safe havens such as Dubai and Switzerland where po-faced bankers have an almost religious devotion to ensuring a man and his millions will never be parted.

Labour's popularity rating has plummeted still further, but Darling maintains he had little choice other than to take drastic action given that Britain will be borrowing more than 12 per cent of its GDP next year, the economy is expected to shrink by 3.5 per cent and debt's expected to surge by 700 billion ($1799 billion) in five years.

It's officially the worst recession since World War II - but then I guess we all know that now don't we.

The working classes were made to feel they were doing their bit - the cost of a pint, a fag and a flutter on the dogs has all gone up thanks to an increase in the Government tax.

It's like living in a parallel universe though.

Out on the first floor of the Tower of Babel, otherwise known as Oxford Street, the usual throng of humanity appears in no way diminished. The shops are chocka with American, German and Swiss families all snatching up bags of bargains.

The shop assistants I've spoken to say the recession doesn't really affect them. They reckon as long as they have jobs, the storm will pass them by.

The hotels are packed with people from all parts of the globe here to run the London Marathon and restaurants and shows are booked out.

Treasurers and chancellors can wave all the big sticks they like - they can tax the marrow out their citizens and warn of gruel and stale bread and rinds of cheese for perpetuity. But unless you're one of the masters of the universe brought low or one of the workers who've lost their jobs because of stupid decisions made by people years ago and thousands of miles away, it's hard to believe we're going through the worst economic crisis in modern history.