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The Verdict: Did Labour Change Britain? Hardcover – 7 Oct 2010

by
Polly Toynbee (Author)
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Polly Toynbee (Author), David Walker (Author)
2.6 out of 5 stars 12 customer reviews
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 367 pages
  • Publisher: Granta Books; 1st Edition edition (7 Oct. 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1847081487
  • ISBN-13: 978-1847081483
  • Product Dimensions: 16 x 2.9 x 23.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 799,304 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

About the Author

POLLY TOYNBEE & DAVID WALKER have co-authored Unjust Rewards: Exposing Greed and Inequality in Britain Today and 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 edits Public and was formerly chief leader writer of the Independent.

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4.0 out of 5 starsInstant History
By Tufnell Paul on 2 Jan. 2011
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
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.Read more ›
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1.0 out of 5 starsA very poor book
By Iain Delworth on 29 Sept. 2011
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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4.0 out of 5 starsBrilliant book using a range of data and well worth ...
By Amazon Customer on 29 April 2015
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
Brilliant book using a range of data and well worth the money. I am sure there will be those that refuse to come to it with an open mind. It shows how someone with a pr background rather than a true political background can fool enough of the people - well nearly enough.
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1.0 out of 5 starsHelping Polly Stick to her Principals
By Mr. David R. Bates on 8 Dec. 2012
Format: Paperback
Do not buy this book - on BBC R4 Any Questions? on Fri 7th Dec Polly pointed out she was boycotting Amazon. Please help her in her quest for righteousness
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1.0 out of 5 starsA whitewash
By Steven Chambers on 25 Jan. 2013
Format: Paperback
I was bought this. I read it and it was awful. It cherry-picked through the Labour years making everything rosy. The Labour politicians were the best we have ever had; the decisions they made were brave and crusading and shown later to be totally correct in every way etc etc. It gets very tiresome after a while.
1 Comment 8 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
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1.0 out of 5 starsThe New Labour socialist revolution
By Ben Kelly on 21 May 2013
Format: Kindle Edition
Sugar coated propagandistic drivel from Polly the champagne socialist.Do we expect a fair assessment from a woman who said the New Labour was the best government of her life time? No of course not. New Labour was a terrible tide of destruction which accelerated the decline and decay of this country.

The destruction of civil liberties, revolutionary changes to the constitution, the end of the neutrality of the civil service, government based on spin, 90 percent increase on spending on the welfare state (the road to serfdom), "education, education, education" said Mr. Blair only to further erode the quality of our education system, the consummation of the conversion of our police force from public servants there to prevent crime to massive bureaucracy there to protect the state and solve crime statistically after the fact, two absolutely disastrous wars which have failed miserably to achieve anything of worth, CCTV spread onto every street and avenue, attempt at introducing ID cards to make us serfs,the hugely irresponsible fake credit boom and subsequent economic collapse, the bloated state slithering its tentacles into every area of our lives....

I can't go on, it makes me too angry. This book is a disgraceful attempt to sugar coat just how bad the 13 year New Labour reign was by a ideologue extremist left wing journalist who is unscrupulousness and utterly dishonest and hypocritical, she hones her dogmatic socialist ideals from her holiday home in Tuscany and cares not a jot about that great unthinking mass 'the working class' that she constantly patronises and who she knows nothing of.
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