With its short life and great height, the spiky Shard graphically illustrates exponentially increasing inner-city land values, while the chaos of old and new masonry surrounding it testifies to the greed and short-termism of successive generations.
Too many labour-law changes have created two-tier markets, with an inner tier remaining protected but an outer one on temporary or short-term contracts.
But his intrepid journeys into the urban tumult of Karachi, the inner sanctums of extremist mosques and the tribal areas make up for his comparatively short stay.