The Rotten State Of Britain
The idea for this book goes back some nine years. In
1997, New Labour seemed purposeful and businesslike.
They promised a new, open kind of government to repair
‘the state we’re in’. Perhaps they had changed, I thought.
Perhaps, under their stewardship, things could indeed
only get better. I have little faith in politicians, but I
thought they deserved the benefit of the doubt.
Two years later, though I had become completely disillusioned.
New Labour’s words were not being backed up
by deeds. In fact, things were getting worse, not better. I
started to gather the material that is the basis of this book.
It proved difficult to find a publisher for these
concerns. The overwhelming orthodoxy was that Gordon
Brown had proved himself to be a safe pair of hands on
the economy. And that the government was, for the most
part, in tune with the people. I was told that it would be
hard to find an audience for my view that Gordon
Brown’s obsessive focus on central targets, and his party’s
willingness to subvert the apparatus of the state for its
own advantage, have created, practically by stealth, a new
form of centralized and authoritarian government—far
worse than ever under Margaret Thatcher.
I was as delighted to find a publisher a year ago as I am
saddened by the state of Britain today. Its financial
condition is far graver than we deserve, its political elite
more dangerous, its liberties largely extinguished. This
book describes how the dishonesty, deceit and incompetence
of our leaders have left Britain in a truly rotten
state.
The Best Book on the Market
‘Market’ was the sixth word I ever learnt – after ‘This little piggy goes to…’ But I learnt first hand about the market as I watched my father serving customers at his car repair shop. And yet more as my mother added up the countless rows of pounds, shillings and pence in the business’s ledgers.
So when I studied economics at St Andrews University in Scotland, I knew something wasn’t right. The textbook writers were trying to make their subject a science, like mechanics. They treated people like robots, not human beings. By stripping out every trace of human psychology – irrationality, generosity, habit, ignorance – they stripped out everything that makes markets actually work.
Now I’m Director of one of the world’s leading free-market policy think-tanks, and at last I can explain why college economics is just wrong. And more importantly, how most of what politicians build on this crumbling foundation is wrong too.
I wanted something that everyone – even politicians – could understand, so I’ve cut out the jargon and show how markets really work through my own story, and the stories of countless others of people in real-world markets. Because markets are only human.
-
The Rotten State of Britain
-
The Best Book On The Market
