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ALL MUST HAVE PRIZES
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384 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1996
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About the author
Melanie Phillips
30 books156 followersMelanie Phillips, journalist, broadcaster and author, is Britain’s best known and most controversial champion of traditional values in the culture war.
Her weekly column, which currently appears in The Times of London, has been published over the years in the Guardian, Observer, Sunday Times and Daily Mail. She also writes for the Jerusalem Post and Jewish Chronicle, is a regular panellist on BBC Radio's The Moral Maze and speaks on public platforms throughout the English-speaking world.
Her best-selling book Londonistan, about the British establishment's capitulation to Islamist aggression, was published in 2006. She followed this in 2010 with The World Turned Upside Down: the Global Battle over God, Truth and Power.
Her first novel, The Legacy, which deals with conflicted Jewish identity, antisemitism and the power of history, was published in April by Post Hill Press. Her personal and political memoir, Guardian Angel, was published by Post Hill Press in January.
Among her earlier books is All Must Have Prizes, a devastating critique of Britain's education system. She is also the author of The Sex-Change Society: Feminised Britain and the Neutered Male, published by the Social Market Foundation, America's Social Revolution, published by Civitas, and The Ascent of Woman, a history of the ideas behind the female suffrage campaign, published by Little, Brown. She also wrote a play, Traitors, which was performed at the Drill Hall in London in 1985
Her weekly column, which currently appears in The Times of London, has been published over the years in the Guardian, Observer, Sunday Times and Daily Mail. She also writes for the Jerusalem Post and Jewish Chronicle, is a regular panellist on BBC Radio's The Moral Maze and speaks on public platforms throughout the English-speaking world.
Her best-selling book Londonistan, about the British establishment's capitulation to Islamist aggression, was published in 2006. She followed this in 2010 with The World Turned Upside Down: the Global Battle over God, Truth and Power.
Her first novel, The Legacy, which deals with conflicted Jewish identity, antisemitism and the power of history, was published in April by Post Hill Press. Her personal and political memoir, Guardian Angel, was published by Post Hill Press in January.
Among her earlier books is All Must Have Prizes, a devastating critique of Britain's education system. She is also the author of The Sex-Change Society: Feminised Britain and the Neutered Male, published by the Social Market Foundation, America's Social Revolution, published by Civitas, and The Ascent of Woman, a history of the ideas behind the female suffrage campaign, published by Little, Brown. She also wrote a play, Traitors, which was performed at the Drill Hall in London in 1985
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 23, 2022
As a recently qualified teacher in Australia, I think this is a book that all educators should read - it is tragically all too relevant today across the English-speaking world. Phillips accurately traces the decline in standards and the fragmentation of Western culture to the burden of bad ideas, frequently presenting itself in the form of 'child-centred' education, and to social degeneration and anomie more generally. She sees the reality of the poor and working-class as it is, something that the academic middle-class all too frequently stay silent about and turn away from.
As a student in a rough public school, and a teacher who has recently completed a teacher-education course and a placement in a rough public school many years later, I agree with her about almost everything in this book. Something has gone terribly wrong, and this is a reflection of what is going on in the wider society. For me, one claim that stuck out to me (and something barely talked about at all in the media, though teachers often mention this in private conversation) is her description of the growth of 'educationists' who have come to dominate university departments with terrible ideas, and her recommendation towards the end of the book that teacher-education courses should be abolished, and teachers trained in schools. I couldn't agree more with this proposition. I have seen these people do damage and mal-educate future teachers first-hand, through a pre-occupation with theory rather than practice - I myself felt ill-prepared to enter the profession at the end of my own course.
Overall, it's a very perceptive and groundbreaking book, and it is sad that Melanie Phillips herself has had to pay the professional price for lifting the lid on such a broken system, as I gathered from her interviews, particularly her recent and excellent conversation with The Sun newspaper. I want to personally thank Ms. Phillips for writing such a brilliant and evidenced exposé, which certainly deserved the Orwell Prize for Journalism that it received, and should receive more public attention.
Edit 23/04/22: I feel like making an additional comment - one stand-out from the book that resonates with me is that Phillips eerily and correctly diagnoses that the root of much social breakdown in Britain (and the rest of the English-speaking world) can be traced to an an all-too-common social phenomenon: divorce, and the family breakdown that results from it. It is devastating for children and families, and I agree with her observations. Some would deem her naive, conservative or old-fashioned, but Phillips does not advocate the regressive banning of divorce, but rather sees it as a symptom and consequence of the 'me-society', a kind of postwar turn towards rampant individualism, and an abandonment of social duties and responsibilities to others, coupled with ideological distortion, like the intellectual crusade against the Western nuclear family. She documents some very sad cases resulting from this cultural breakdown - the death of Stacey Queripel in 1994, in the chapter 'The Flight From Parenting', was absolutely heartbreaking to read.
When I was in Year 7 at a rough outer-suburban public school here in Melbourne, Australia, I asked the group of other boys if their parents were still married or not. From my simple question, it turned out that 9 out of 11 of us had divorced parents. Only myself and another boy had parents who were still married. They were all were raised by single mothers, and lacked authority, stability, and happiness at home, which consequently affected their behaviour and motivation at school (the school was feral and out of control, and the teachers seemed demoralised and powerless to stop it - I actually felt sorry for them even then). When I read Phillips years later, it was like two electrodes came together. She confirmed what I always knew, but was never discussed in the media - the working-class and underclass are suffering from complete social breakdown, which is intricately linked to family breakdown and divorce, and the abandonment of morality and respect, yet the establishment doesn't want to face up to it or hear about it. There is a mass denial about what is going on. I'm glad I grew up in a working-class environment and got exposed to this (albeit I come from a stable family), whereas my middle-class peers at university, who overwhelmingly attended prestigious schools and were born to stable, academic parents wouldn't have a clue, and are thus susceptible to victim-centred ideologies, which shift the blame and burden onto a number of nebulous concepts such as 'trauma', without explaining what can be done to ameliorate social conditions.
In many cases, the children of divorced and broken families don't quite seem aware of the problem themselves, and that life can be different. This is not to say that all divorced families are tragic and bad, but a happy divorced family is certainly not the norm. As Phillips documents, a lot of family dysfunction and absentee fathering has become intergenerational, and coupled with a society that doesn't want to make value-judgments over certain lifestyles (e.g. wanting to have children out of wedlock and live on welfare, which in some cases has become normalised), it has become harder to break the cycle of hopelessness and demoralisation. The fact that social and family research institutes in the UK in the 1980s and 1990s suppressed the evidence of the negative impacts of divorce on children is scandalous, all in order to protect their personal prejudices and left-wing biases (thus we see this new fashion of 'blended families' in the 2010s, which to me is nothing more than a positive spin on fragmented families). Overall, I think she is right, and touches on social phenomena and realities that are completely ignored by the media.
As a student in a rough public school, and a teacher who has recently completed a teacher-education course and a placement in a rough public school many years later, I agree with her about almost everything in this book. Something has gone terribly wrong, and this is a reflection of what is going on in the wider society. For me, one claim that stuck out to me (and something barely talked about at all in the media, though teachers often mention this in private conversation) is her description of the growth of 'educationists' who have come to dominate university departments with terrible ideas, and her recommendation towards the end of the book that teacher-education courses should be abolished, and teachers trained in schools. I couldn't agree more with this proposition. I have seen these people do damage and mal-educate future teachers first-hand, through a pre-occupation with theory rather than practice - I myself felt ill-prepared to enter the profession at the end of my own course.
Overall, it's a very perceptive and groundbreaking book, and it is sad that Melanie Phillips herself has had to pay the professional price for lifting the lid on such a broken system, as I gathered from her interviews, particularly her recent and excellent conversation with The Sun newspaper. I want to personally thank Ms. Phillips for writing such a brilliant and evidenced exposé, which certainly deserved the Orwell Prize for Journalism that it received, and should receive more public attention.
Edit 23/04/22: I feel like making an additional comment - one stand-out from the book that resonates with me is that Phillips eerily and correctly diagnoses that the root of much social breakdown in Britain (and the rest of the English-speaking world) can be traced to an an all-too-common social phenomenon: divorce, and the family breakdown that results from it. It is devastating for children and families, and I agree with her observations. Some would deem her naive, conservative or old-fashioned, but Phillips does not advocate the regressive banning of divorce, but rather sees it as a symptom and consequence of the 'me-society', a kind of postwar turn towards rampant individualism, and an abandonment of social duties and responsibilities to others, coupled with ideological distortion, like the intellectual crusade against the Western nuclear family. She documents some very sad cases resulting from this cultural breakdown - the death of Stacey Queripel in 1994, in the chapter 'The Flight From Parenting', was absolutely heartbreaking to read.
When I was in Year 7 at a rough outer-suburban public school here in Melbourne, Australia, I asked the group of other boys if their parents were still married or not. From my simple question, it turned out that 9 out of 11 of us had divorced parents. Only myself and another boy had parents who were still married. They were all were raised by single mothers, and lacked authority, stability, and happiness at home, which consequently affected their behaviour and motivation at school (the school was feral and out of control, and the teachers seemed demoralised and powerless to stop it - I actually felt sorry for them even then). When I read Phillips years later, it was like two electrodes came together. She confirmed what I always knew, but was never discussed in the media - the working-class and underclass are suffering from complete social breakdown, which is intricately linked to family breakdown and divorce, and the abandonment of morality and respect, yet the establishment doesn't want to face up to it or hear about it. There is a mass denial about what is going on. I'm glad I grew up in a working-class environment and got exposed to this (albeit I come from a stable family), whereas my middle-class peers at university, who overwhelmingly attended prestigious schools and were born to stable, academic parents wouldn't have a clue, and are thus susceptible to victim-centred ideologies, which shift the blame and burden onto a number of nebulous concepts such as 'trauma', without explaining what can be done to ameliorate social conditions.
In many cases, the children of divorced and broken families don't quite seem aware of the problem themselves, and that life can be different. This is not to say that all divorced families are tragic and bad, but a happy divorced family is certainly not the norm. As Phillips documents, a lot of family dysfunction and absentee fathering has become intergenerational, and coupled with a society that doesn't want to make value-judgments over certain lifestyles (e.g. wanting to have children out of wedlock and live on welfare, which in some cases has become normalised), it has become harder to break the cycle of hopelessness and demoralisation. The fact that social and family research institutes in the UK in the 1980s and 1990s suppressed the evidence of the negative impacts of divorce on children is scandalous, all in order to protect their personal prejudices and left-wing biases (thus we see this new fashion of 'blended families' in the 2010s, which to me is nothing more than a positive spin on fragmented families). Overall, I think she is right, and touches on social phenomena and realities that are completely ignored by the media.
January 27, 2020
This book should be required reading for every teacher (whether at school or college), politican and political activist in the country. It should also be read by anyone who is interested in, worried by, or cares for, our society. It should most of all be read by parents. The evidence the author presents is truly shocking in places. She explains the background to the current educational mess concisely and wisely.
For anyone who doubts the value of this book, I would say, just watch any TV quiz programme, and you will see ample evidence of the abysmal general education levels of people in Britain. Once you've read it, you'll understand why!
I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
For anyone who doubts the value of this book, I would say, just watch any TV quiz programme, and you will see ample evidence of the abysmal general education levels of people in Britain. Once you've read it, you'll understand why!
I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
April 10, 2018
What an important book. Melanie Phillips canvasses the loss of excellence and pedagogy in British education and the break down of virtue, the family and society. She discusses the loss of meaning when the church departs from the bible's teaching on absolutes and the loss of responsibility and mutual care for each other in a relativistic and individualistic society. The issues she discusses are quite universal. This is a hard read but one worth persevering with. Melanie has away of expressing all those issues that we struggle with as we look at a world in chaos.
February 16, 2025
First published in 1996, this terrific book was almost three decades ahead of it’s time. From the forensic detail of British education debates to the overarching social/political narratives, Phillips wrote a masterpiece with All Must Have Prizes. She exposes the unintended consequences of progressive educational policies, warning of declining academic standards and the erosion of objective knowledge:
“At some point in the last few decades, the educational world came to agree that its overriding priority was to make children feel good about themselves: none of them should feel inferior to anyone else or a failure… What disadvantaged children needed above all was more structured teaching, greater attention paid to those elementary rules of language or of arithmetic and a heavier emphasis on order.”
Phillips offers a sharp critique of relying on economic forces to course correct:
“The unfettered market cannot produce a civilised culture because it sets citizens against each other for personal gain instead of working together for the common good. It is not underpinned by virtues such as trust, integrity or altruism but is a savage, unprincipled structure in which the weak are junked as trash.”
Her thesis for positive change is to harness the strengths of political conservativism and Western traditions (both religious and cultural):
“The whole point of commitment is that it is an undertaking that restricts one’s freedom of action. But of course, to the unbridled individualist there can be no restriction at all on freedom. Any restriction is a form of oppression… The conventional family, along with the relationship between adults and children, is in the process of being deconstructed. Some of those who actively pushed this process along did so with the revolutionary aim of transforming western society. In the main, however, the change was widely embraced because of the pressures of a highly individualistic culture committed to egalitarian democracy.”
This book is a razor-sharp critique of the British education system and broader cultural shifts, offering a prescient analysis that remains strikingly relevant today. Her incisive social and political insight anticipated many of today’s debates on meritocracy, identity politics, and institutional decline. Bold and unflinching, this book is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the roots of contemporary cultural shifts…
“At some point in the last few decades, the educational world came to agree that its overriding priority was to make children feel good about themselves: none of them should feel inferior to anyone else or a failure… What disadvantaged children needed above all was more structured teaching, greater attention paid to those elementary rules of language or of arithmetic and a heavier emphasis on order.”
Phillips offers a sharp critique of relying on economic forces to course correct:
“The unfettered market cannot produce a civilised culture because it sets citizens against each other for personal gain instead of working together for the common good. It is not underpinned by virtues such as trust, integrity or altruism but is a savage, unprincipled structure in which the weak are junked as trash.”
Her thesis for positive change is to harness the strengths of political conservativism and Western traditions (both religious and cultural):
“The whole point of commitment is that it is an undertaking that restricts one’s freedom of action. But of course, to the unbridled individualist there can be no restriction at all on freedom. Any restriction is a form of oppression… The conventional family, along with the relationship between adults and children, is in the process of being deconstructed. Some of those who actively pushed this process along did so with the revolutionary aim of transforming western society. In the main, however, the change was widely embraced because of the pressures of a highly individualistic culture committed to egalitarian democracy.”
This book is a razor-sharp critique of the British education system and broader cultural shifts, offering a prescient analysis that remains strikingly relevant today. Her incisive social and political insight anticipated many of today’s debates on meritocracy, identity politics, and institutional decline. Bold and unflinching, this book is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the roots of contemporary cultural shifts…
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July 2, 2010I do not recommend this book. It's tedious to the max, verbiose, in parts rather bizarre, and pretty repetitive. Getting through it was a real slog; just preventing my eyes from glazing over was a major part of the challenge, and I was delighted to find that so many of the final pages are notes. Theodore Dalrymple makes essentially the same arguments in a way that is lively, concise, and far more readable.
April 25, 2022
Scathing. Dated now, but we need to see where we've come from to work out where we are going. I want to say on this topic once I've had the time to sit with it for awhile.
December 19, 2022
Patent nonsense backed up by nothing of substance. I read this for a course, wouldn't recommend reading for pleasure/information.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews