Книги, похожие на «Michael Walsh, The Devil's Pleasure Palace»

A timely and provocative account of the fall of New Labour, the rise of Corbyn, and what it means for the left in Britain.‘Lewis Goodall is one of the most exciting voices in British politics right now’ Emily Maitlis‘Hugely illuminating, thought-provoking and moving in its seriousness and optimism’ Lord Andrew AdonisIn the 21st Century the Labour Party has undergone the most extraordinary transformation in its history. After more than a decade of political dominance, the party lost two consecutive general elections and found its leadership usurped by the obscure far-left MP Jeremy Corbyn. As Britain voted to leave the EU, Labour seemed destined for long term irrelevance.But then it all changed. Far from being the death of the party as many had predicted, at one fell stroke the general election of 2017 heralded its strange and unexpected rebirth. Against all the odds, Corbyn became the first Labour leader since 1997 to gain the party seats, and was simultaneously hailed as the saviour of the British Left and a harbinger of doom for its New Labour elite.In Left for Dead? journalist Lewis Goodall tells the full story of this political revolution with unprecedented access to all its key players, from Blair to Corbyn. Weaving together personal memoir, exclusive interviews, juicy gossip and incisive critique, he travels from the streets of his childhood in the shadow of the Birmingham Rover factory to the corridors of power in Westminster, tracing the journey of the party from the twilight of the ‘Third Way’ to the tumult of the financial crisis to the ravages of Brexit and Corbynism.Because one thing is for certain – while the left in Britain might not be dead, the traditional social democratic centre-left which we have known since the war is barely twitching in the road. But what has replaced it? Where has it come from? And what does it mean for the long-term future of the Labour Party?

In this controversial and hotly discussed book, Sir Peregrine presents a reactionary and playful look at the origins, evolution and demise of the aristocracy.Every country has the aristocracy it deserves; so what does it say about Britain that it is in the process of removing the last vestiges of political power from one of the most ancient hereditary aristocracies in the world, and one, moreover, whose record of public service has been impeccable?The word aristocracy has many connotations, some good, some bad, and Britain's aristocracy has in the past earned most of them in some degree or another. But Sir Peregrine Worsthorne, one of our most influential and respected political commentators, argues that not only does the good far outweigh the bad, but that our aristocracy has contributed mightily to our stability and prosperity, and that without it we would have neither. And yet it is ever more being politically written out of the national story, with the result that soon there will be no hereditary peers in the House of Lords.The disestablishment of the peerage will bring cheers to the lips of many, but in this passionately argued and highly original essay Worsthorne forcefully demonstrates the shallowness of those who would crow. For though many now forget it, Britain once had an upper class which was the envy of the world, and which, crucially, 'had enough in-built authority – honed over three centuries – and enough ancestral wisdom – acquired over three centuries – to dare to defy the arrogance of intellectuals from above and the emotions of the masses from below; to dare to resist the entrepreneurial imperative; to dare to try to raise the level of public conversation; to dare to put the public interest before private interests; and to dare to shape the nation's will and curb its appetites … to do for Demos what courtiers could never do for princes: be a true friend rather than a false flatterer.'