The Silent State and over 1.5 million other books are available for Amazon Kindle . Learn more


or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
Trade in Yours
For a £0.45 Gift Card
Trade in
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Sorry, this item is not available in
Image not available for
Colour:
Image not available

 
Share your own customer images
Publisher: learn how customers can search inside this book.
Start reading The Silent State on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

The Silent State: Secrets, Surveillance and the Myth of British Democracy [Paperback]

Heather Brooke (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
RRP: £8.99
Price: £6.74 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £2.25 (25%)
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
Only 4 left in stock (more on the way).
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon. Gift-wrap available.
Want it Friday, 21 June? Choose Express delivery at checkout. Details

Formats

 Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition £6.17   -- --
Paperback £6.74   -- --
Trade In this Item for up to £0.45
Trade in The Silent State: Secrets, Surveillance and the Myth of British Democracy for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.45, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Special Offer until June 30, 2013: Receive an additional £5 promotional Gift Card, when you trade-in at least £10 worth of books. Learn more

Book Description

Publication Date: 6 Jan 2011

Award-winning investigative journalist Heather Brooke exposes the shocking and farcical lack of transparency at all levels of government. At a time when the State knows more than ever about us, Brooke argues that without proper access to the information that citizens pay for, Britain can never be a true democracy.

*SECRECY*: anonymous bureaucrats, clandestine courts, men in tights and the true cost of 'public' information. *PROPAGANDA*: spin, PR and bullshitting by numbers. The British government spent £38m more on advertising last year than their closest competitor, Proctor and Gamble - find out what they spent it on! *SURVEILLANCE*: discover the extent of Britain's network of databases spying on ordinary citizens, *EXPENSES*: read, for the first time, the exclusive and definitive account of Brooke's five-year campaign to have MPs' expenses revealed, which rocked the nation and transformed Britain's political landscape.

Frequently Bought Together

The Silent State: Secrets, Surveillance and the Myth of British Democracy + The Revolution will be Digitised: Dispatches from the Information War + Your Right to Know: A Citizen's Guide to the Freedom of Information Act
Price For All Three: £29.12

Buy the selected items together

Product details

  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Windmill Books (6 Jan 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0099537621
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099537625
  • Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 1.7 x 19.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 38,351 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

More About the Author

› Visit Amazon's Heather Brooke Page
Heather Brooke
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.

Product Description

Review

You won't know whether to laugh or rise up and overthrow absolutely everything. (CHARLIE BROOKER )

She's a total ninja. (BEN GOLDACRE )

A wonderful book... Heather Brooke puts every other British journalist to shame. She has changed British public culture and earned an essential place in our national history. She is an extraordinary figure who must be celebrated. (PETER OBORNE )

Secrecy is one of the great British diseases. It's so secret that we don't even admit we suffer from it. Heather Brooke is part of the cure - challenging the routine concealment and distortion of important information. There should be more journalists doing the same. (NICK DAVIES )

'passionate, eloquent and persuasive...We need the likes of Heather Brooke to challenge, to take up grievances and to campaign.' (Peter Riddell,Times Book of the Week )

Book Description

A modern classic of journalism and an iconic investigation of power in C21st Britain, by one of the country's leading reporters.
See all Product Description

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?

› Explore similar items

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
97 of 102 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for all UK voters 6 April 2010
By K. Bairstow
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I bought this book having heard of Heather Brooke through her instrumental role in breaking the MPs expenses scandal and I'm so very glad I did.

Heather lifts the lid on the rotten heart of British democracy and exposes just how little real information the electorate actually have to work with when judging the performance of their elected officials, police services and judiciary.

We pay for huge amounts of data to be gathered on our behalf and about us, and yet we are (in many cases explicitly) denied access to that data. Sometimes we get to pay for it many times over before being presented with a figure-fiddled, dumbed-down press release that bears little or no resemblance to the facts.

In many ways a lot of UK voters already suspect many of the issues raised in this book, but to see the hard facts is something of a smack-in-the-face. If you are suffering from voter apathy, this is one book that is guaranteed to stir you out of it.

Heather has a wonderfully fluid and accessible writing style that carries you through what could easily have been a dry subject with ease and humour. Her ability, and persistance, to get at the truth places her at the pinnacle of modern investigative journalism and, for me, the name Heather Brooke belongs amongst those of game-changes like Bob Woodward,Carl Bernstein and Amira Hass.
2 Comments | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
No
44 of 46 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Depressing and shocking 4 May 2010
By J. C. Day
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have spent 30 odd years of teaching History, and attempting to answer questions from students such as "How could they do that", "How did they get away with that", "Why did people believe them" about various historical events of the last 2000 years. Any ideas I might have had that we now live in more democratic and enlightened times are blown away by this book. Some of the stories are not new, but collected together they are a dismal and depressing chronicle of present-day Britain. In many ways we have as little freedom as medieval peasants.
2 Comments | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
No
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Long Live Freedom? 20 Aug 2010
By Ian Millard
Format:Paperback
This book is by the American (I think) lady journalist who blew open the UK Parliament's expenses scandal and one had to wonder where were all those highly-paid "political experts" on BBC, press etc, who seemed to be willing to cooncur with the freeloading and outright fraud of our so-called "democratic representatives". Heather Brooke is heroic and deserves more recognition.

This book goes into the extent to which the citizen has been gradually subdued and forced prone by the State, particularly (many might say) during the years from 1997 when The Party Formerly Known As Labour was in power. Not only in power at Westminster but in councils across the UK, which is where many of the worst abuses have happened. We have all learned about how ordinary local councils have (thanks to Blair-Brown) had the power to spy on people using methods previously used mainly by MI5 or special branches of the police: wiretaps, electronic bugging, tailing people for months...and often only to find out whether or not they should have put their children in a local school and not another one, etc.

The idea that this will change under the government of David Scameron would be at least optimistic. He seems to want to give back some rights to affluent citizens, while using thhat as a cover to cut useful/necessary services to the public....meanwhile, thhe 16 million people on benefits (particularly the 10 million poorest, who are unemployed, disabled, or spouses thereof) are going to be subject to an even more East German Stasi type of regime of coontrol and surveillance (and interrogations etc disguised as "helping people back to ---usually non-existent-- work").... Read more ›
2 Comments | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
No
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent survey of the state's attacks on our democracy 12 Aug 2010
By William Podmore
Format:Paperback
Investigative journalist Heather Brooke, who exposed Parliament's systemic corruption, has written a splendid broadside in defence of our liberties. Chapters cover the rise of surveillance, government public relations, government spin, power without responsibility, charging for information, secret justice, the presumption of guilt, and the story of her exposure of the expenses scandal.

She shows how surveillance is wrong in principle, is costly and doesn't work. In 2002, the EU at Lisbon backed government subsidies to the IT industry, after the dot.com bust.

Our 445 local authorities spent £430 million on self-publicity in 2008. The government's Central Office of Information spent £540 million in 2008-9, the Foreign Office spent £497 million, the MoD £44 million in 2007-8, and the Department of Health £107 million.

She argues that we need to register all those entering or leaving the country and where they settle, to help local and national government to plan services.

She writes, "It's easier to lie when no one knows your name. It's easier to do all sorts of unethical, if not criminal things when you are promised anonymity. Only by acting as a named individual and relating to others as such can there be justice and integrity in bureaucracies."

She praises two very useful websites, [...] and [...] which let us see how our MP votes. We also have a right to know what interests are seeking to influence MPs. The state is putting more curbs on court reporting and more often using secret evidence in closed hearings.

Democracy under capitalism remains restricted, truncated, false and hypocritical, because capitalism does not trust the people.... Read more ›
8 Comments | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
No
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars Should be required reading in all secondary schools
If you live in the allegedly "United" Kingdom and were under the impression that your elected representatives were working in yours and the country's interests, then... Read more
Published 20 days ago by Square Peg 4 Round Hole
5.0 out of 5 stars A REAL EYE OPENER!!!
This book will really open your eyes to all the double speak and PR rubbish you are bombarded with on a daily basis. Read more
Published 3 months ago by David J. Hayward
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book
Great book. Not for bed time reading because it will leave you quite angry. Heather Brooke actually exposed the MP expenses scandal before The Daily Telegraph got hold of it. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Physioman
3.0 out of 5 stars good start - where's the rest of it?
THE SILENT STATE
It's like reading a big book where most of the juicy bits have been censored. Many of the people who read this book, will follow this sleazy stuff in the... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Mr. J. Hudson
4.0 out of 5 stars Eye Opener
Eye-opening. This book covers so much of what is wrong with British politics, but also includes a powerful story illustrating that 1 person can actually have the power to make... Read more
Published 22 months ago by C. Houston
5.0 out of 5 stars The Silent State
The Silent State

A brilliant book and really makes you think about how much freedom we really have to question are political masters, the police, local government and... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Dave Russell
3.0 out of 5 stars Tabloid polemic, possibly true, but unsupported by evidence....
Heather Brooks has established her reputation by exposing the MP's expenses scandal, and she makes serious and worrying criticisms of the way we are governed, and the way... Read more
Published 24 months ago by sceptic
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books I have ever read.
If every third person in the country read this book there would be no Government. Yes, this book could bring down the Government if enough people read it. Read more
Published on 26 May 2011 by Picadilly Commando
5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining and informative
If you'd like to know how messed up our Government system is and how our elected officials actively barr us from information that we pay for and to top it all waste millions of our... Read more
Published on 17 May 2011 by GSARider
3.0 out of 5 stars stickman
Gave up half way. I am sure we all know not to trust governments. It would have been more readable if it had been written as a novel.
Published on 6 May 2011 by Stickman
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

There's a problem loading this menu at the moment.

Learn more about Amazon Prime.

    Your Shopping Basket is empty.

    Give it purpose -- fill it with books, DVDs, clothes, electronics and more.

    If you already have an account, sign in.

    There's a problem previewing your shopping basket at the moment.

    Check your Internet connection and go to your cart, or try again.

    View Shopping Basket (0 items)

      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
      Search Customer Discussions
      Search all Amazon discussions
         
      Related forums

      Listmania!

      Create a Listmania! list

      Look for similar items by category

      Feedback


      Amazon.co.uk Privacy Statement Amazon.co.uk Delivery Information Amazon.co.uk Returns & Exchanges