Jeremy Warner: A mighty cull of billionaires

Outlook The annual Forbes billionaires list used to make dull old reading. Every year there would be more of them, until eventually they became so common that there hardly seemed any point in being one. Uncle Tom Cobley and all seemed to join this once exclusive club. But no more. The latest list, published today, reveals a shocking, credit-crunched, cull. Out go the likes of Sir Tom Hunter – was he ever one in the first place? – and Icap's Michael Spencer. There appear to be no new British additions at all, and even Sir Philip Green, the retail financier, has found his estimated fortune nearly halved to £4.8bn. Poor dear. Must be tough to rub along on so little.