Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet or computer - no Kindle device required. Learn more.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle Cloud Reader.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
The Silent State: Secrets, Surveillance and the Myth of British Democracy Paperback – 6 Jan. 2011
| Heather Brooke (Author) See search results for this author |
- Choose from over 20,000 locations across the UK
- FREE unlimited deliveries at no additional cost for all customers
- Find your preferred location and add it to your address book
- Dispatch to this address when you check out
Enhance your purchase
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.
- Print length288 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherWindmill Books
- Publication date6 Jan. 2011
- Dimensions12.9 x 1.8 x 19.8 cm
- ISBN-100099537621
- ISBN-13978-0099537625
Frequently bought together

- +
- +
Customers who bought this item also bought
Product description
Review
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
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Windmill Books (6 Jan. 2011)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 288 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0099537621
- ISBN-13 : 978-0099537625
- Dimensions : 12.9 x 1.8 x 19.8 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: 682,300 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 1,107 in Democracy
- 1,483 in Civil Rights & Citizenship
- Customer reviews:
About the author

Heather Brooke worked as a political and crime reporter in the US before moving to Britain where she is now a freelance journalist and Freedom of Information campaigner. Her investigation into the expense accounts of Members of Parliament led to the biggest clear-out of politicians that country had seen in decades and the first forced resignation of the Speaker of the House in 300 years. She writes for all of the main UK national papers and has published three books.
Heather Brooke has won numerous awards including the Judges' Prize at the 2010 British Press Awards, the FOI Award from Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), and a Freedom of Expression Award from Index on Censorship. She is a visiting professor at London's prestigious Department of Journalism at City University.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings, help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyses reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on Amazon-
Top reviews
Top reviews from United Kingdom
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
"I tried to rein in my righteousness, which I notice is the danger of these types of books. Instead, I hope the numerous stories I narrate will do more than any righteous rant to illustrate the farcical hypocrisies and absurdities of our current situation."
Did she succeed in reining in her righteousness? Sadly, no. I was very disappointed as this book just seemed to become a shrill rant, and I felt at times that it took aim at the wrong, or rather less important, things. I also felt that she over-stated her case in many instances and provided no, or insufficient evidence, for some of her assertions.
One of the targets in Ms Brooke's sights is local government spin. I have to say her attack seemed to me to suggest she isn't able to differentiate between publicity and PR, propaganda & information. She takes issue with local government magazines & newspapers which she sees as vehicles for 'spin' particularly if they say how well the council is doing in providing value for money, etc.. My local council produces a twice yearly newspaper which I find useful and informative. They also have an excellent website. I don't think it is unreasonable for a council to include information showing how they provide value for money, particularly when, as Tower Hamlets head of commercial operations is quoted as saying, local papers 'churn out a negative diet of crime and grime, often attacking their local council and generally creating a negative impression'. I don't live anywhere near Tower Hamlets but our local papers are just like that. Again it is not unreasonable that councils should try to provide their side of the story.
The attack on local government 'spin' also revealed some 'spinning' on Ms Brooke's part. She wrote: "It should come as no surprise that a recent survey ...showed the public's satisfaction with their council went down from 53 to 45 per cent as PR spending rocketed." It wasn't clear to me whether the survey indicated any causal relationship so I googled it (she didn't provide details of where it could be found - so much for transparency). The survey was published in the Local Government Communications report entitled "Proving Communications Work". It is interesting to note that the organisation that conducted the survey had an explanation for the reduction in satisfaction: the nature of the questioning was different, so much so that the Audit Commission has stated that the results for the two years in question were not comparable. Given that the paragraph revealing the statistics was immediately followed by the paragraph explaining the reduction, it is hard to believe Miss Brooke wasn't also aware of the reason - so she is guilty either of shoddy journalism (unlikely given her track record) or of selective reporting which makes her sweeping comments and decrying of 'spin' somewhat hypocritical.
Ms Brooke is particularly exercised by the fees charged to access information that she says has been compiled by the state using taxpayer funds, with most of her spleen vented on the costs of accessing post code information and Ordnance Survey maps. I couldn't quite see her point here - as a member of the public I can access such data and frankly I don't have a problem with the state charging organisations that are going to exploit the information commercially for access to the databases.
Ms Brooke also criticises the justice system, again in part because of the cost of accessing court transcripts & documents. Once more, for me she over-states her case. Her argument is that such charges, and the fact that courts don't throw down the red carpet to the public, means that justice isn't seen to be done. I just don't get this - I do not need, nor do I have the time, to physically attend court or to pore over court transcripts. For me, and dare I say it for most people, the concept of justice being seen to be done is that offenders are brought to court and punished. We don't need to be there. Worse still is that perhaps one of the most appalling aspects of our justice system, that trials can be held in private with the defendants & their lawyers having no access to the evidence against them, is barely mentioned - just two lines in the book. This is a far more important matter in relation to the judicial system than the cost of court transcripts or the fact that seats for the public in our courts aren't that comfortable.
It is about how the government collects internal statistics then lies and misrepresents them to the general public, and then has the nerve to charge us for the information.
The author believes that a healthy democracy needs people to be able to get details on what the government is doing so we can see what they are up to with our money, which hopefully would stop them lying to us.
Examples of government lying and information hiding are giving for local council, the courts, police, statistics fiddling, government PR, the aforementioned MP expenses scandal and other things.
One example is how the statistics on road safety showed a drop in accidents since speed cameras and speed humps have been introduced suggesting that they do prevent road accidents, but unfortunately it turns out the drop was because the government got the police to record traffic accidents differently and in fact the number of people admitted to hospitals from traffic accidents has not fallen suggesting speed cameras/humps make no difference and are a waste of taxpayers' money.
Another example was a case of a women that complained to the council about vandalism and the council branded her a potentially violent person for allegedly shouting at them. There was no evidence and the women was not given a chance to tell her side of the story. Been labeled potentially violent resulted in her having to withdraw her application to be a foster-parent. She ended up suing the council for libel and won.
The most jaw dropping of the lot was when the book's writer used a freedom of information request to get MP's expenses, the government actually heavily censored the information but one of the people doing the censoring leaked the uncensored version. The leaked uncensored version showed many MPs to be milking the expenses system and the resulting scandal caused resignations, sackings, de-selections, retirement announcements, public apologies and the repayment of expenses. A few MPs/lords were even prosecuted and sentenced to jail.
This is an excellent book and is likely to make the reader very angry, my only complaint is that it lacks details and reads a bit like a tabloid paper but the quality of information is still good enough for five stars.
The author - rightly - draws attention to the (existing) rights of public access to local authorities' financial transactions but makes no mention of the abuses that occur and public money wasted as a result of some 'questions and objections' from members of the public - all of which have to be responded to. It would have been useful if the author had pointed out that this (existing) provision applies only to local authorities - ?as will the new £500 requirement - what about the rest of the public sector - especially central government and quangos.
However these are relatively small gripes - still strongly recommended.




