or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
More Buying Choices
43 used & new from £0.01

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Fantasy Island
 
 

Fantasy Island (Paperback)

by Larry Elliott (Author), Dan Atkinson (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
Price: £4.97 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £3.02 (38%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.

Want guaranteed delivery by Thursday, November 12? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details
14 new from £2.50 29 used from £0.01

Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with Yo, Blair!: Tony Blair's Disastrous Premiership by Geoffrey Wheatcroft

Fantasy Island + Yo, Blair!: Tony Blair's Disastrous Premiership
Price For Both: £11.46

Show availability and shipping details


Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

The Gods That Failed: How Blind Faith in Markets Has Cost Us Our Future

The Gods That Failed: How Blind Faith in Markets Has Cost Us Our Future

by Larry Elliott
Yo, Blair!: Tony Blair's Disastrous Premiership

Yo, Blair!: Tony Blair's Disastrous Premiership

by Geoffrey Wheatcroft
4.4 out of 5 stars (15)  £6.49
The Gods That Failed: How the Financial Elite Have Gambled Away Our Futures

The Gods That Failed: How the Financial Elite Have Gambled Away Our Futures

by Larry Elliott
£5.99
Squandered

Squandered

by David Craig
4.1 out of 5 stars (24)  £5.29
The Crunch: How Greed and Incompetence Sparked the Credit Crisis

The Crunch: How Greed and Incompetence Sparked the Credit Crisis

by Alex Brummer
4.5 out of 5 stars (2)  £4.99
Explore similar items

Product details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Constable (24 May 2007)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1845296052
  • ISBN-13: 978-1845296056
  • Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.8 x 2.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 86,643 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested in These Sponsored Links

  (What is this?)
   24 Hour Taxi in Skegness opens new browser window
www.CoastlineCabs.co.uk  -  Up to 8 seat taxis in Skegness Any distance, competative rates. 
   Fantasy Island opens new browser window
store.ovi.com  -  Find fantasy island & other apps for your mobile! 
   Fantasy Island opens new browser window
www.Ask.com  -  Find the Best Results for Fantasy Island
  
 

Product Description

Daily Telegraph, 16 May, 2007

'Fantasy Island sets out in exquisite details the lies, damned
lies and statistical legerdemain that define Labour in office'


The Observer

`This is an angry tract, written like a thriller. It captures the public mood of dissatisfaction. Gordon Brown should take note...A thoroughly good read.'

Inside This Book (Learn More)
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 


 

Customer Reviews

15 Reviews
5 star:
 (5)
4 star:
 (5)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.9 out of 5 stars (15 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Thought-provoking and educational, but occasionally sloppy, 11 Jul 2007
By H. Johns "helenjohns" (London) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This book contains many interesting facts and arguments which will give the reader much to cogitate over on politics well before the Blair decade, as well as during it. The discussions of personal debt, the Private Finance Initiative and how Gordon Brown made successive redefinitions of the economic cycle in order to meet his `Golden Rule' are particularly educational and thought-provoking, and made me long for more serious coverage of such issues in the mainstream media.

However, journalists' desire to play Cassandra often compromises any serious message they are trying to convey, and at times the book lapses into a hysteria which reduces its credibility. For example, having pinpointed the origins of the 1973 oil crisis in the collapse of the Bretton Woods system and a resulting `vast upswing in inflation across all economies', the authors later describe this episode to have been an `environmental-economic catastrophe' simply to tie in with their closing arguments on limits to economic growth. If it was genuinely an `environmental-economic' catastrophe, this should have been mentioned in their earlier exposition. Such occasional sloppy thinking does make one wonder how much of the book's stronger arguments are well-founded.
Comment Comments (2) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant survey of Britain's wasted economy, 3 Jul 2007
By William Podmore (London United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
Larry Elliott, the Guardian's economics editor, and Dan Atkinson, the Mail on Sunday's economics editor, have written a scathing account of the capitalist class's future for Britain. We would have no manufacturing industry, so no services. They cynically note that our so-called growth areas are all talk - barristers (like Blair and Darling), management consultants, spin doctors, PR men, speculators, deal-makers and brokers.

Britain has become a giant offshore hedge fund churning speculators' money, a giant tax haven for the world's super-rich, with four million of us now working `in service', as many as under Victoria. This is no future for a self-respecting people.

The City of London does not work for Britain. It costs 5.3% to raise investment funds in Britain, result, 1% of world R&D in engineering and electronics. In Japan, the cost of borrowing to invest is 1.1%, and they have 47% of world R&D in engineering and electronics. Over half of Britain's R&D money is spent in pharmaceuticals and aerospace, which the government has funded for decades, through the NHS and the Ministry of Defence.

Elliott and Atkinson show how the Labour government has got transport wrong. Between 1997 and 2005, the cost of motoring fell by 6%, but bus fares rose by 16% and rail fares by 7%. No wonder that between 1980 and 2002 road traffic increased by 73%.

Net immigration was 248,300 in 2004-5. Yet unemployment is 4.5 million, so why do we need to import workers? Employers like immigrant labour because it helps to depress wages: as Brown's new Trade Minister, Sir Digby Jones, says, "We have a tight labour market in the UK and yet wage inflation has not been a problem. Immigrants are doing the work for less."

Elliott and Atkinson recommend, "Rebuilding the manufacturing base requires support for strategic industries and, whisper it quietly, the sort of selective protectionism that would be feasible only if our relationship with the European Union were to be radically recast - at present, such assistance would fall foul of EU rules."

They conclude that we must end our `obeisance to globalisation, free trade and unbridled market forces'. And we must ditch the fantasies which hold us back.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Naked Lunch, 25 May 2007
By S. A. Fluendy "compliance officer" (brighton) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Too often, economists say the blindingly obvious too late to save the ship -- like generals, they fight the last war.
This book is looking at a process which is still happening.
The writing is clear and direct, as you'd expect from journalists trained to communicate rather than politicians practised at concealment.
What is being argued must be engaged with or we trash our future.
I am a colleague of Dan Atkinson.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A historic 'I-told-you-so'
Having read this book 18 months ago, I can't help but feel that the authors have a right to feel a little smug. Read more
Published 9 months ago by F. G. Lelliott

4.0 out of 5 stars Useful overview of the Blair legacy, a little short on detail
I found this quite an entertaining and reasonably informative read. Larry Elliott and Dan Atkinson, both economic journalists with the Guardian newspaper, have a lively style, and... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Nicholas Johnson

4.0 out of 5 stars enjoyable and stimulating critique
I've nothing to add to the excellent review by PhilosopherKing except to say that the economics can be quite tough going at times -- nothing worse than what you need for the... Read more
Published on 22 Sep 2007 by N. Housley

2.0 out of 5 stars Pretty poor
This is an underwhelming book, and I'm not really sure what the authors were trying to achieve in writing it. Read more
Published on 21 Sep 2007 by tomsk77

5.0 out of 5 stars On the money
Given that potential disasters that are already starting to become apparent with Northern Rock and Barclays, the authors' assessment of "Bulls*it Britain" is already being proven... Read more
Published on 16 Sep 2007 by Kevin Hall

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing
I bought this book because of the rave reviews, and because the authors are two very experienced economic journalists, and because there is a huge mismatch between themes spun by... Read more
Published on 4 Jul 2007 by J. Power

4.0 out of 5 stars An entertaining read!!
This is an entertaining read, and does a good job of making recent British political history from World War II to the present easily digestable. Read more
Published on 12 Jun 2007 by S. N. Godwin

3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining but not entirely credible
I find this book difficult to rate: as a piece of polemic it is well-written, punchy, and has an eye for skewering a few sacred cows of the new economy (e.g. Read more
Published on 11 Jun 2007 by Laurie W.

3.0 out of 5 stars A scathing critique that offers no sensible solutions
"Fantasy Island" attempts to deconstruct the myths and paradoxes of the New Labour era, focusing on issues such as debt, unemployment, immigration, educational standards, the NHS,... Read more
Published on 10 Jun 2007 by M. Gordon

5.0 out of 5 stars The perfect antidote to a decade of spin
If you've ever had a nagging feeling in recent years that, despite frequent assurances from Gordon, something's not quite right with the British economy and by extension with... Read more
Published on 6 Jun 2007 by Ballamory

Only search this product's reviews



Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
   
Related forums


Listmania!


Look for similar items by category


Look for similar items by subject


Feedback

Ad

Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.