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Product Description
Review
...[an] admirable book...an addition to the great canon of learned commentaries on the British constitution. (Stein Ringen, TLS )
readable and illuminating (David Runciman, London Review of Books )
compelling new book (Philip Johnston, The Daily Telegraph )
readable and illuminating (David Runciman, London Review of Books )
compelling new book (Philip Johnston, The Daily Telegraph )
Product Description
In the latter part of the nineteenth century Walter Bagehot wrote a classic account of the British constitution as it had developed during Queen Victoria's reign. He argued that the late Victorian constitution was not at all what people thought it was. Anthony King argues that the same is true at the beginning of this century. Most people are aware that major constitutional changes have taken place, but few recognize that their cumulative effect has been to change entirely the nature of Britain's constitutional structure. The old constitution has gone. The author insists that the new constitution is a mess, but one that we can make the best of. The British Constitution is neither a reference book nor a textbook. Like Bagehot's classic, it is written with wit and mordant humour-by someone who is a journalist and political commentator as well as a distinguished academic. The author maintains that, while the new British constitution is a mess, there is no going back now. 'As always', he says, 'nostalgia is a good companion but a bad guide.' Far from shying away from the thorniest issues facing the British polity today, the author grapples with them head on. He offers a trenchant analysis of the increasingly divergent relationship between England, Scotland and Wales in the light of devolution and a devastating critique of an all-elected House of Lords, whose benches, the author fears, risk being adorned by 'a miscellaneous assemblage of party hacks, political careerists, clapped-out retired or defeated MPs, has-beens, never-were's and never-could-possibly-be's'. The book is a Bagehot for the twenty-first century - the product of a lifetime's reflection on British politics and essential reading for anyone interested in how the British system has changed and how it is likely to change in future.
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First Sentence
There was a time, not so long ago, when almost every commentator on the British constitution was agreed on one thing: that Britain's constitution, unlike the constitutions of most other countries, had evolved very gradually over time. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
There was a time, not so long ago, when almost every commentator on the British constitution was agreed on one thing: that Britain's constitution, unlike the constitutions of most other countries, had evolved very gradually over time. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is an intensely interesting and informative book, which should be read with care by all of those who take an interest in the ancient constitution (a constitution with a small c) and particularly in those innovations that have been introduced since 1997: a period during which constitutional change has accelerated. The book is also of interest in another sense: it describes in some detail the structure of British government, its limitations and how that structure is actually sustained. The publication of this book is certainly timely and necessary, and will remain as a comprehensive and accurate record of constitutional developments that have occurred, by design or unintentionally, in past decades - principally since the 1970s. The presentation is thematic. Each chapter, of which there are fourteen, can be read as a self-contained essay, because cross-references between one chapter and another have been kept to a minimum. The book is punctuated with anecdote and humour and that fact alone enhances its interest and readability. The style is fluent and the book has an impelling narrative drive. Professor King concludes that the British constitution is in a 'mess', but does not employ that word in its pejorative sense. He recommends that we should leave `well alone`, because any comprehensive reformulation of the constitution - creating a Constitution with a capital C - might only serve to make matters worse, even if such a Constitution could be formulated and agreed, which appears in present circumstances to be most unlikely, despite the dedication of a small number of enthusiastic devotees of a new start. Stuart E Hopkins
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
What a great man Tony King is. He always seems to bring a new angle and ideas to stale or seemingly uninteresting topics.
Probably the best lecturer, writer, correspondent and all round academic to write about British politics.
This book outlines King's accumulated understanding of the topic and sets out the possibilities for the future of political life.
I find it ironic that a Canadian probably has a best understanding of the British political system, then again he probably understands the American system better than any American as well.
However if you do not have the slightest interest in politics then this book might not be for you.
Probably the best lecturer, writer, correspondent and all round academic to write about British politics.
This book outlines King's accumulated understanding of the topic and sets out the possibilities for the future of political life.
I find it ironic that a Canadian probably has a best understanding of the British political system, then again he probably understands the American system better than any American as well.
However if you do not have the slightest interest in politics then this book might not be for you.
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