Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Political tract, no balance but raises serious issues, 1 Jan 2010
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
This book is easy to read and entertaining; but don't be deceived, it is not humour, despite being categorised as "Humour/General". It is a political tract, presented as a collection of around 250 anecdotes which record unreasonable behaviour on the part of those in authority in the UK today. Some of them certainly have a funny side, like the tale of the police van driving the wrong way down a one-way street, declaring it "police business", when heading for a fish and chip shop. It is not so funny though when the officers object to being photographed and allegedly arrest the onlooker for three made-up crimes. How about a hamburger vendor arrested for having a kitchen knife in her car? Or a woman arrested for stealing a football that was kicked over her fence? Daft enough to have a funny side, but more chilling than humorous, especially if you buy the author's core premise, that New Labour has gradually transformed Britain from a liberal democracy to a police state, under the cover of fighting terrorism or crime.
That is a bold and frightening claim, and the weakness of the book is that multiple anecdotes selected to support an argument are not the best way to treat such a serious topic. Alan Pearce is a journalist, and sometimes includes an obligatory bland defensive comment from a spokesperson, but nobody could say that this is a balanced book; it does not aim to be.
As the book goes on, it becomes darker. Tales of wounded soldiers arriving back in the land of civilians with little support or money, and ending up as alcoholics or criminals, will bring a tear to any eye. And the closing chapter, "Resistance is futile", is particularly scary, recounting how difficult peaceful demonstration has become, how parliament has been weakened, and how ancient legal protections against the abuse of power have been undermined.
Still, the fact that this book has been published and is freely available shows that free speech is not quite dead in the Britain of today.
In the end we should be grateful to Pearce for gathering together these shocking tales and making the case against excessive legislation, observation and censorship. Personally I share most of his concerns. At the same time, I did feel I was only getting one side of the story. I'd encourage anyone to read it though, and before the coming general election if possible.
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22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
good for dipping into - not to read in one go, 6 Dec 2009
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
If you read the newspapers often you will probably already have come across most of these stories. I had and so the book quickly became a bit tedious for me. There was little analysis of what was really behind the stories or context and the book read like a collection of clippings or cut and paste from the internet.
However, I think the book would be interesting to dip into occasionally - in an exasperating way. It just could have been so much better - were the stories true? Did anything change? The layout was uninteresting - typewriter style print - no illustrations or photos that could have lightened the mood, although it was a useful pocket or handbag style if you like to read travelling.Obviously been rushed out to cash in on the Christmas gift buying booom. Still for someone who reads private eye etc it would make a decent present.
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24 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
smoke, 25 Nov 2009
Whatever people think of Alan Pearce's political viewpoint this book has something worthwhile to say.
The cases depicted here seem almost surreal in their Orwellian nature - but I have seen such idiotic travesties happening myself, and to people I know.
This is a 'funny' book only in the sense of the darkness of its humour. People these days seem more interested in Dan Brown-style conspiracy theories than trying to investigate what 'secret government' is up to in the here and now.
There is undoubtedly a sinister edge to the surveillance society being created in Britain. Most of it is down to the incompetent, fanatically politically-correct policies of local councils, never mind their short-sighted and tight-fisted fiscal strategies. But there is no smoke without fire underneath.
This is a book the general public should take on board - then look for more information. Ask questions. Whose security is really at stake?
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