The Verdict: Did Labour Change Britain?
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Product Description
Product Description
Did the Labour government improve people's lives? Are we healthier, wealthier or wiser; happier or safer than in 1997, when Labour came to power? If we are, how much do w have to thank Blair and Brown and their cabinets for? In The Verdict, Polly Toynbee and David Walker strip away spin, personality and political rhetoric to judge how our lives have changed. They consider Labour's lasting legacy and what its successors can learn from Labour's performance. Travelling the country, Toynbee and Walker compare Labour's promises with people's own accounts of what they experienced in recent years. They drop in on a Sure Start centre and visit schools, hospitals and colleges - and estates plagued by disorder - to ask: what different did Labour make? Combining sharp, witty writing, human stories and expert analysis, The Verdict charts Labour's often bewildering array of initiatives, projects and schemes. It questions how many depended on bubble finance and how many will be missed as recent public spending cuts take hold. From the early optimism of 'Things can only get better' to the misery of the financial crisis, Toynbee and Walker hand down the definitive judgement on Labour's record.
About the Author
POLLY TOYNBEE & DAVID WALKER have co-authored Unjust Rewards: Exposing Greed and Inequality in Britain Today, as well as audits of Labour's first and second terms: Did Things Get Better? and Better or Worse, Did Labour Deliver? POLLY TOYNBEE is an author and a political and social commentator for the Guardian. DAVID WALKER was founding editor of Public magazine.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The authors have now written three of these books - one for each term of the Labour government. This is the best; naturally, because it has the extra perspective of the fall of Labour. The book maintains the focus of the previous books, on what was done by government and on its effect on us, the voters; and is is all the better for that.
So, if you're looking for the answer to the two monster questions of the Labour in power (Why did TB, who was clearly so conscious of his place in history, squander all his political capital on a quixotic escapade in Iraq? And, why did GB, who fought so long and hard to get to Number 10, arrive there with no plan whatsoever?), you'll have to look elsewhere.
What do we get? An exhaustive catalogue of the scattershot initiatives addressing primary, secondary and tertiary education, poverty, the health service and other Labour red button items. The authors just about make sense of things in education, primary at least, and health, but coherence and focus are harder to discern in law & order, poverty and foreign policy.
Many good things happened between 1997 and 2010, but the authors are never certain whether they would have happened anyway. For example, the crime rate went down in all over the western world, not just in the UK. Nor are the authors clear whether most of the good was being done with borrowed money - borrowed by the government itself, on and off balance sheet, borrowed by the public on the back of a property bubble, or borrowed (or worse) by the City and then handed over to the government in the form of taxes.
The economy is the weakness of the book. The authors don't feel able to take a position on this. Perhaps it's just too early to do so. The other gap is Iraq. Perhaps we will never know whether we are more or less safe in our beds as a result of the invasion of Iraq.
Still I was sleeping easier as a result of what labour did to primary schools and the health service. Now the barbarians have taken the citadel, I rest less easy.
Please read this book. It's clear, objective and fair-minded. It's not complete, but there is a lot historical analysis to go yet.
So, if you're looking for the answer to the two monster questions of the Labour in power (Why did TB, who was clearly so conscious of his place in history, squander all his political capital on a quixotic escapade in Iraq? And, why did GB, who fought so long and hard to get to Number 10, arrive there with no plan whatsoever?), you'll have to look elsewhere.
What do we get? An exhaustive catalogue of the scattershot initiatives addressing primary, secondary and tertiary education, poverty, the health service and other Labour red button items. The authors just about make sense of things in education, primary at least, and health, but coherence and focus are harder to discern in law & order, poverty and foreign policy.
Many good things happened between 1997 and 2010, but the authors are never certain whether they would have happened anyway. For example, the crime rate went down in all over the western world, not just in the UK. Nor are the authors clear whether most of the good was being done with borrowed money - borrowed by the government itself, on and off balance sheet, borrowed by the public on the back of a property bubble, or borrowed (or worse) by the City and then handed over to the government in the form of taxes.
The economy is the weakness of the book. The authors don't feel able to take a position on this. Perhaps it's just too early to do so. The other gap is Iraq. Perhaps we will never know whether we are more or less safe in our beds as a result of the invasion of Iraq.
Still I was sleeping easier as a result of what labour did to primary schools and the health service. Now the barbarians have taken the citadel, I rest less easy.
Please read this book. It's clear, objective and fair-minded. It's not complete, but there is a lot historical analysis to go yet.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Bought this as a Christmas present, but think I might have to buy it again! A great read for anyone involved in regeneration throughout the labour period.
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is one of the worst books I have read in a long time. It purpose it's to provide a verdict on Labours record in government but it delivers way off the mark. A complete lack of narrative (yes, even non-fiction should have one), contradicting points, poor editing, a complete lack of sources and incomparable data all contribute to this being a total waste of time and money. I really enjoy reading Polly Toynbee in the Guardian but this book was a complete let down.
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