Going up in the world

Anyway, I digress: Back in 1930, the Chrysler building at 319m was the tallest in the world, but not for long. The very next year some other developer with a similarly trouser-felt inferiority complex and a fatter wallet threw up the Empire State Building at 381m (and if that did not ensure the survival of his genes, I don’t know what else would have done). This same one-upmanship is also clearly evident here in Europe. The Shard in London was for the shortest imaginable period the tallest building in Europe. Erected in July 2012 to a height of 309.6m, it was unsurpassed until the following November when it was overtaken by the Mercury City Tower in Moscow at 338.8m. This competition all seems rather pointless, since no one has deeper pockets than the Arabs – and the tallest building in the world, The Burj Khalifa, completed in 2009, now stands at 829.8m, well over 4.5 km taller than any puny European erection. I know, I’ve told you nothing new and I admit it: I like