After Britain: New Labour and the Return of Scotland

by Tom Nairn

After Britain is a scathing analysis of the twilight of an ancient state: the United Kingdom. Its constitutional monarchy (lacking a written constitution), its parliamentary democracy (with a totally undemocratic second chamber), and its rule of law (without a full bill of rights or freedom of information) were once the envy of the world. Now, a "modernizing" government is embarking on a last ditch effort to shore up the fragments of old glory. In this mordantly funny and brilliantly perceptive book, Tom Naim shows how self-government in Scotland and Wales will inexorably remove sovereignty from Westminster. He also paints a satirical portrait of New Labour that cuts through the glitz and spin to the emptiness beneath.

Genres: Scotland, Politics

336 pages, Paperback

First published September 27, 2000

About the author

Tom Nairn was a Scottish political theorist of nationalism. He was an Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Government and International Affairs at Durham University.

Nairn attended Dunfermline High School and Edinburgh College of Art before graduating from the University of Edinburgh with an MA in Philosophy in 1956. During the 1960s, he taught at various institutions including the University of Birmingham (1965-6), coming to prominence in the occupation of Hornsey College of Art (1967–70), after which he was dismissed. He worked at the Transnational Institute, Amsterdam from 1972–76, and then as a journalist and TV researcher (mainly for Channel 4 and Scottish Television) before a year at the Central European University with Ernest Gellner (1994–95) and then setting up and running a Masters course on Nationalism at University of Edinburgh (1995-1999). In 2001 he was invited to take up an Innovation Professorship in Nationalism and Cultural Diversity at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia, leaving in January 2010. Returning to the UK, he became a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study at Durham University in 2009.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this nearly 10 years ago. Perhaps a time to re read it with the possibility of devolution coming up