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Waiting for the Etonians
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Product Description
Do you remember what life was like before the crash?
After the Great Crash of 2008, Americans could at least blame an incompetent right-wing government. But when the money ran out, Britain was ruled by left wingers who had grown up despising the 'funny-money' men. And yet, like the most gullible investors on Wall Street, New Labour prostrated themselves before the snake oil charmers of financial capital.
Since they came to power in 1997, Nick Cohen has been taking the pulse of what has turned out to be the longest period of left-wing government in British history. Over a decade later, he reports from the sickbed of liberal England as battered and broken voters contemplate a remarkable shift. With splendid outrage and great compassion, Waiting for the Etonians, is an account of a country that, for the first time since the end of the Empire, is considering embracing the old ruling class it has despised for decades.
- When level-headed couples were still taking mortgages five times their joint income.
- When the middle class was divided between the haves and the have yachts.
- When Her Majesty's Government boasted that their 'light-touch regulation' of finance had abolished boom and bust, and laughed hysterically at anyone who disagreed.
After the Great Crash of 2008, Americans could at least blame an incompetent right-wing government. But when the money ran out, Britain was ruled by left wingers who had grown up despising the 'funny-money' men. And yet, like the most gullible investors on Wall Street, New Labour prostrated themselves before the snake oil charmers of financial capital.
Since they came to power in 1997, Nick Cohen has been taking the pulse of what has turned out to be the longest period of left-wing government in British history. Over a decade later, he reports from the sickbed of liberal England as battered and broken voters contemplate a remarkable shift. With splendid outrage and great compassion, Waiting for the Etonians, is an account of a country that, for the first time since the end of the Empire, is considering embracing the old ruling class it has despised for decades.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
30 of 38 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I generally have a lot of time for Nick Cohen: I'm one of those socialists who is aghast at the way the post 9/11 'left' has lost its moral compass. However, I've just got this book, and the first chapter I turned to was the one on fox-hunting. Even though I know - sadly - he shares his hero Orwell's loathing for sandal wearing vegetarians, it's an issue I'd have thought would still push many of his buttons - a wealthy elite using PR spin and massive media and political influence to remain above the law, even -hilariously - using cultural relativism - a Euston Group bugbear - to bring the likes of The Guardian on side ("we are an oppressed minority group, so our culture must be respected!"). Alas, no -none of this gets a mention! Instead, he swallows the Countryside Alliance line wholesale (pest control? Is that why they have articifial earths? Is that why they caught hares in Norfolk for the Waterloo Cup in Merseyside? Is that why they introduced foxes to Australia? C'mon!). He then goes on to 'argue' that, because someone has defected from an anti-hunt group to a pro, that 'proves' the anti case was bad and the pro is in the right: by that reasoning, George Galloway and a large chunk of the middle-class so-called Left's move from Left to Theocratic Right 'proves' that feminism and gay rights are a mistake! Blimey! It's a chapter so devoid of intelligent analysis, facts or reason, that it makes me wonder about the factual accuracy of chapters where he's discussing something I know less about! Yes, I'll read the rest of the book - but cautiously.
14 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
We live in an age in which one of the most odious incarnations of Groupthink prevails in the guise of a sort of pompously irrelevant, ultra-conformist and self-serving progressivism. Cohen is unpopular in some quarters. He's unpopular with the more nauseating school of moral relativists and with people whose point of view is a dismaying collection of second-hand, predictably and consistently irrational off-the-shelf bigoted rants that you can hear being spouted from atop any soapboax in Hyde Park [or, if you like, in a lecture by Germaine Greer or Professor Terence Eagleton] any day of the week. Not that you'd want to subject yourself to a barrage of cant and meaningless twaddle, but that's what's largely on the menu.
Unlike the output of the people who dislike Cohen, Nick's flawless writing is rational, humanist, sane and logical. Moreoever, it provides a vast amount of entertainment. I have lots of books of articles I might have read in the press. Waiting for the Etonians belongs with this small quantity of superior books - Orwell's collected works being an example - and these are the only ones to keep. Who cares if you have read bits and pieces before? The best writing is always worth re-reading. Nick's book is priceless.
Unlike the output of the people who dislike Cohen, Nick's flawless writing is rational, humanist, sane and logical. Moreoever, it provides a vast amount of entertainment. I have lots of books of articles I might have read in the press. Waiting for the Etonians belongs with this small quantity of superior books - Orwell's collected works being an example - and these are the only ones to keep. Who cares if you have read bits and pieces before? The best writing is always worth re-reading. Nick's book is priceless.
51 of 70 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I'm bewildered how Nick Cohen and his publishers got away with selling and promoting this book without violating some kind of truthfulness law. Basically it's a reprint of his articles in various papers over the last few years - yet absolutely nowhere on the front cover does it say that, nor did it in the Observer when the first article was published, under the guise of it being 'an extract from the book'. It really does feel like a huge con.
When I got the book home and started reading it I was angry to discover I had been duped - I don't buy books to read recycled articles, many of which I've already read in the Observer.
So buyer beware - this isn't anything other than a bunch of old, sometimes out-of-date, articles reprinted.
The problem with writing short pieces for newspapers is that, sometimes, they're not as crafted as beautifully as they would be for a full-length book. Many of these pieces feel like they've been rushed off to hit a deadline and squeezed down to a specific number of words to fill a predetermined space slot.
Whilst I agree with Nick Cohen on much of what he says (and I never thought I'd say that, but in the light of the global slump that's taken place over the last few months I, like many on the left, am now feeling very foolish and want to re-assess) if he had written the book that he says he has on the cover, I suspect he would have had a much more successful tome on his hands.
I would urge his publishers to get one of their staff to rewrite the copy on the cover, should it go into reprint, to make clear exactly what the hapless buyer is actually getting.
When I got the book home and started reading it I was angry to discover I had been duped - I don't buy books to read recycled articles, many of which I've already read in the Observer.
So buyer beware - this isn't anything other than a bunch of old, sometimes out-of-date, articles reprinted.
The problem with writing short pieces for newspapers is that, sometimes, they're not as crafted as beautifully as they would be for a full-length book. Many of these pieces feel like they've been rushed off to hit a deadline and squeezed down to a specific number of words to fill a predetermined space slot.
Whilst I agree with Nick Cohen on much of what he says (and I never thought I'd say that, but in the light of the global slump that's taken place over the last few months I, like many on the left, am now feeling very foolish and want to re-assess) if he had written the book that he says he has on the cover, I suspect he would have had a much more successful tome on his hands.
I would urge his publishers to get one of their staff to rewrite the copy on the cover, should it go into reprint, to make clear exactly what the hapless buyer is actually getting.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Radical preaching
I started reading Nick Cohen's essay collection when 'Waiting for the Etonians' was a pretty fatalistic declaration. Read more
Published on 10 May 2010 by J. Jenkins
The Paradox of Cohen.
I've admired Cohen for some time, as a journalist who has been a scrutineer of the seismic yet underreported shifts in political thought for many years. Read more
Published on 11 May 2009 by Mr. M. Goold
A latter day George Orwell
Once again Nick Cohen blows the cobwebs from the hypocrisy of the British Left and says what was crying out to be said. Read more
Published on 15 Mar 2009 by Alexander McKay
5-star
I think the sub-title gives it away that it is a collection of essays. I've read most of the Observer ones already but well worth re-reading. Read more
Published on 23 Feb 2009 by Edward West
Brilliant and insightful
Just to correct the silly one star review. Aren't reviews meant to be on content alone, not packaging? Read more
Published on 2 Feb 2009 by Spinoza
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