Reasons to Be Cheerful: from Punk to New Labour Through the Eyes of a Dedicated Troublemaker Paperback – 2 Jan. 2002

by Mark Steel (Author)

4.7 29 ratings

In every major political event of the last twenty-five years, Mark Steel has managed to play an extremely minor role. Punished by his headmaster for eating a banana in public, Mark Steel decided to commit his life to eradicating injustice. In his attempts, in the late 70's, to persuade his pub mates of the political validity of non-sexist attitudes, he was mostly called a 'poof'. And then, innocently wandering into the heat of battle during the Brixton riots in 1981, he was wrongfully arrested for stealing shoes. He's protested at a lucky dip stall in a local fete in the cause of anti-fascism; he's hidden striking steel workers under an eiderdown to defeat Thatcher's union laws; and in the GLA elections of May 2000 he received 1,823 votes as a candidate for the London Socialist Alliance. This is an extremely funny account of a staggeringly unsuccessful political life.

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'A unique political chronicle of the last twenty-five years - both intellectually rewarding and hilariously funny' -- Time Out

'Bolshy, belligerent and bloody hilarious' -- Francis Wheen

'Mark Steel is hilariously funny' -- Guardian

'Mark Steel makes intelligent people laugh hopefully, a job of extraordinary value' -- Independent

'Polemical, passionate and consistently funny' -- Independent on Sunday

About the Author

Mark Steel is a writer, presenter and comedian. His TV and radio series include The Mark Steel Solution, The Mark Steel Revolution and The Mark Steel Lectures. He writes a weekly column for the Independent newspaper and is a regular on Radio 4's Loose Ends and The News Quiz. He lives in London.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster UK; Reprint edition (2 Jan. 2002)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0743208048
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0743208048

Best Sellers Rank: 246,505 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 1,438 in Civil Liberties & Political Activism
- 2,341 in Political Biographies
- 7,940 in Historical Biographies (Books)

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4.7 29 ratings

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Mr. D. L. Taylor

Funny & Thought Provoking

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 September 2016

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Never read anything my Mark Steel before, but I loved this! Very funny and made some excellent points as well as catching the spirit of socialism, demos etc in the 1980s. A great read!

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Amazon Customer

... the bus/train - it is literally laugh out loud funny for anyone at all politically aware who lived through ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 February 2016

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Don't read this on the bus/train - it is literally laugh out loud funny for anyone at all politically aware who lived through the late seventies and eighties in the UK.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 November 2018

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Came in great condition, and is a great read! Bargain!

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Lord Emsworth

An amusing, engaging, and interesting memoir and a great history of British politics from the last 1970s to the early 2000s

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 February 2016

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I used to enjoy watching Mark Steel doing stand up comedy in the late 1980s and early 1990s, though have not seen him live since that era. Those hazy memories were, in part, what inspired me to read this book, the other inspiration was a recommendation from the marvellous Francis Wheen (whose books I highly recommend).

Mark cheerfully admits that he probably couldn't have timed his lifelong commitment to socialism much worse. After enduring years of Thatcherism (and a few with John Major in power), he then had to put up with Blair and New Labour. Despite this he has remained an activist for c25 years (at the time the book was published) and those years are the basis for an amusing, engaging, and interesting memoir that provides a great history of British politics from the last 1970s to the early 2000s, and some fascinating social history.

Mark also manages to come up with an upbeat, inspirational ending that convincingly argues any act of protest is worth doing no matter how it might seem or feel at the time.

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A. H. Forrester

Great!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 January 2014

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I've just received it and read a few paragraphs and Mark Steel already has me nodding and laughing! Great stuff!!!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 January 2016

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Brilliant item, brilliant price, fast delivery!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 June 2015

Great book!

Equal distribution of Laughter

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 February 2010

Being a revolutionary socialist isn't all about manning the barricades and mixing Molotov cocktails, y'know. Mark Steel's memoir is a hilarious and passionate account of his part in the class struggle. For all the humour, this is a genuinly insightful, intelligently written and inspirational political book.

2 people found this helpful

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H. CHILDS

A five star book for Brits?

Reviewed in the United States on 9 September 2007

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I enjoyed Steel's book on the French Revolution, so I thought I would give his other book a try. As an American with little understanding of British politics, I thought I might learn a bit as I went.

That said, the book is not published in the U.S. and that should have been a tip off. It seemed that there were three references per page that were lost on me. Some chapters were dense and meaningless enough to me that I just skimmed them. This book is not "learn more about recent British politics", rather "commentary assuming you already know British politics."

But the rest were excellent. Steel is quite funny in this book. And despite my complaints, I did learn quite a bit about the landscape of British politics. But the heart of the book is Steel's personal path: participating in demonstrations, recounting how he espoused Socialist views to his friends, becoming famous-ish, and essentially growing up. And all of that is excellent.

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Reasons to Be Cheerful: from Punk to New Labour Through the Eyes of a Dedicated Troublemaker Paperback – 2 Jan. 2002

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