Britain’s rich are getting richer, according to the annual Sunday Times list.

While most Britons are feeling the effect of the credit crunch, looking nervously at their mortgage burdens and gasping at the size of the utility bills, the super-rich just keep piling it on, it seems.

At the top of the list for the fourth year is Lakshmi Mittal, the 57-year-old Indian steel magnate, whose wealth increased 44 percent to 27.7 billion pounds.

Other high-rankers were businessmen Philip Green, Richard Branson and Stelios Haji-Ioannou, author J.K. Rowling and musicians Paul McCartney and Amy Winehouse.

One respondent wrote: “I have just finished reading the Sunday Times rich list and it has made me sick.”

That’s what rich lists are for of course, but many may be feeling this year that perhaps the fundamental balance between the rich and the rest is changing, that the gap is getting wider and more permanent. Others will be encouraged that such huge rewards are available in Britain and redouble their efforts to make money.

What sort of reaction does the Rich List provoke in you?