Toffler (1970) led this perspective in Future Shock, arguing that the evolution of transport and communications technologies and the intensified flows of people that have resulted imply that ‘place is no longer a primary source of diversity’ (quoted in Leyshon, 1995, p. 35). More recently, the subtitle of O’Brien’s Global Financial Integration proclaimed ‘the end of geography’ – a situation involving ‘a state of economic development where geographical location no longer matters’ (O’Brien, 1992, p. 1) (see Cartoon 1.1).