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Tanked: Why the British Economy is Failing and How to Fix It
A rare book on economics that is actually written in English. Trenchant, clear and comes complete with solutions. Essential reading for the coming election. -- Simon Jenkins
In the autumn of 2022, Liz Truss took Britain on a journey into economic la-la land and comprehensively tanked the economy. The result? Higher mortgages and rents, high inflation, debt at an eye-watering £2.7 trillion and a sluggish economy rapidly falling behind our (ex-)European partners. As economic journalist Paul Wallace argues in this incisive, expert and accessible book, this was the low point of a once supercharged economy that has over the last 15 years not recovered from the financial crash of 2008.
Written over ten chapters tackling the most important issues (Brexit, debt, the City, immigration, manufacturing, levelling up, public services) Wallace asks in clear, jargon-free prose what the problems are, and what we can do to solve them. He offers a ten-point plan to get our economy back and track, building on its most resilient aspects.
Part-primer, part passionate argument, Tanked is the perfect book for anyone who wants to know their quantitive easing from their bond market, and to understand the how Britain devalued itself.
In the autumn of 2022, Liz Truss took Britain on a journey into economic la-la land and comprehensively tanked the economy. The result? Higher mortgages and rents, high inflation, debt at an eye-watering £2.7 trillion and a sluggish economy rapidly falling behind our (ex-)European partners. As economic journalist Paul Wallace argues in this incisive, expert and accessible book, this was the low point of a once supercharged economy that has over the last 15 years not recovered from the financial crash of 2008.
Written over ten chapters tackling the most important issues (Brexit, debt, the City, immigration, manufacturing, levelling up, public services) Wallace asks in clear, jargon-free prose what the problems are, and what we can do to solve them. He offers a ten-point plan to get our economy back and track, building on its most resilient aspects.
Part-primer, part passionate argument, Tanked is the perfect book for anyone who wants to know their quantitive easing from their bond market, and to understand the how Britain devalued itself.
308 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 29, 2024
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About the author
Paul Wallace
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There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 20, 2025
I have finished reading “Tanked: Why the British Economy is Failing and How to Fix It” by Paul Wallace.
This book starts with a brief post-war economic history of the UK. From the middle of the 1990s, but gathering pace later on, the UK experienced a continuing period of sustained strong growth. This came to an abrupt halt with the 2008 crash. Since then, the UK has struggled to reach anywhere near the levels of growth of the late 90s and early 00s. Productivity issues among other issues seem to be getting in the way. What are the problems we face? What can be done about them? This book delves into those questions.
Straight away a common thread is obvious in this book. The concern that British political chaos in recent years has led to an unpredictable business environment for businesses to grow in. Defenestrating one Prime Minister after another is the tip of the iceberg, the real issue is policy churn with policies that end with either department responsibilities being withdrawn or ministers being sacked. Good policy initiatives seem to be thrown out for no other reason that they belonged to the last person, rather than any credibility they had. This also means that it becomes ever more difficult to focus on the long term.
One thing that I appreciated in this book was how the author linked the performances of Public Services with the economy. This is one thing that many conservative minded people wilfully ignore. Considering the health of Public Services determines the Health of the population, it should be readily acknowledged that they are part of the economic equation even if they are separate from it. Arguably, this view militates against Thatcherite economic orthodoxy which has dominated the economic thinking of our leadership class. But the author makes it very clear that Public Services are struggling, including the NHS. Apart from some concrete and radical suggestions he makes for the NHS, he seems to shy away from suggesting what should be done about the other Public Services directly. In fairness, he does emphasise that the delivery of Public Services should be largely the domain of Local Government, which he points out also chronically needs reform.
The discussion about regional disparities within the UK was very interesting and a lot more In depth than other discussions I have read on the subject. It was thought provoking and disturbing to know that many of our country’s geographic disparities are even more pronounced than many in Western Europe. The author is right to make the suggestion that it is probably not a coincidence that our country is the most centralised in Western Europe. The author briefly reflects on some modern history of Local Government, highlighting when they used to provide basic services and utilities and were trusted to do so by Westminster. This planted the seed of why is it that this no longer the case, but this avenue of discussion was not really pursued.
The discussion on immigration was frank and factual while giving due respect to the position of immigrants past and present to the UK. The author makes clear that immigration to bring in young work forces are temporary solutions, since people don’t stay young forever. He also points out that there is proof that employers have used immigration as a get-out clause for increasing wages and making working conditions better. I was a bit disappointed that the author didn’t expand on this and point out that this isn’t the fault of the immigrants themselves, since they would likely take better wages and conditions if they were offered, as would native workers. It also seemed to avoid discussion about how much proof there is off immigrant labour displacing British labour. This seems like a missed opportunity, but one has to wonder whether it was a tactical swerve by the author to avoid getting into thorny political arguments. This seems odd in retrospect, since the author is quite happy to criticise politicians elsewhere in the book. Still, this is a more open, honest and informed discussion about immigration that you are ever likely to get from most news sources.
Once the problems have been looked at the author lists their 10 point wish list for improving the UK economy which are as follows.
1. Lay the building blocks for growth - but don't set targets
2. Stop the policy churn.
3. Build a business strategy.
4. Bring back the nanny state
5. Widen the curriculum and sort out vocational education
6. Think the unthinkable on the NHS
7. Bring the Treasury down a peg (but not two)
8. Decentralise power- really.
9. Get Brexit undone.
10. Defend and rebuild institutions.
Most of them are sensible. Some of them I agree with more than others, but others make more sense when drilling more into them. The Nanny State one was an interesting addition in that it openly declares the state having an interest in it’s population remaining healthy. Although I would qualify this with saying that Mental Health should be thrown into the mix too, since Mental Health issues. The multiple issues facing the NHS need to be addressed and I would rather look at European alternatives to the current model (although the Canadian one may be worth a look) than the diabolical American one. The Brexit one is realistic. It recognises that rejoining the EU is a long term aspiration but rejoining the Customs Union will have immediately tangible economic benefits and is more achievable in the short term.
Ordinarily I see reading about economic matters as the reading equivalent of eating my vegetables (something I do strictly because I have to). However, in this case I found the author’s clear written form, frankness and interesting research helped to make this experience of delving into this area far more engaging. However, at times it felt like the author was curiously confident in making some claims, but not always confident in pushing them further or linking them in ways that would really blow the lid off this country’s wider disfunction. I praise him for being brave enough for drawing a straight line between the Westminster political disfunction and economic disappointment. But the missing link is the British public. How have their economic concerns and experiences led them to support short termist charlatans like Boris or acts of grievous economic harm like Brexit. Since they vote in the politicians, shouldn’t they be held to account for how things are too?
I also think the author swerved an important argument which is starting to be had. There is something deeply wrong in much of British corporate culture. This manifests in paying low wages labelled “competitive”, bad management, inadequate training and ultimately very soulless work roles. Some books are soon to be released on these concerns shortly, so I will give the author the benefit of the doubt.
However, I would recommend that the author considers releasing an updated version to take account of the future global economic outlook in the face of the imposition of US tariffs.
This book starts with a brief post-war economic history of the UK. From the middle of the 1990s, but gathering pace later on, the UK experienced a continuing period of sustained strong growth. This came to an abrupt halt with the 2008 crash. Since then, the UK has struggled to reach anywhere near the levels of growth of the late 90s and early 00s. Productivity issues among other issues seem to be getting in the way. What are the problems we face? What can be done about them? This book delves into those questions.
Straight away a common thread is obvious in this book. The concern that British political chaos in recent years has led to an unpredictable business environment for businesses to grow in. Defenestrating one Prime Minister after another is the tip of the iceberg, the real issue is policy churn with policies that end with either department responsibilities being withdrawn or ministers being sacked. Good policy initiatives seem to be thrown out for no other reason that they belonged to the last person, rather than any credibility they had. This also means that it becomes ever more difficult to focus on the long term.
One thing that I appreciated in this book was how the author linked the performances of Public Services with the economy. This is one thing that many conservative minded people wilfully ignore. Considering the health of Public Services determines the Health of the population, it should be readily acknowledged that they are part of the economic equation even if they are separate from it. Arguably, this view militates against Thatcherite economic orthodoxy which has dominated the economic thinking of our leadership class. But the author makes it very clear that Public Services are struggling, including the NHS. Apart from some concrete and radical suggestions he makes for the NHS, he seems to shy away from suggesting what should be done about the other Public Services directly. In fairness, he does emphasise that the delivery of Public Services should be largely the domain of Local Government, which he points out also chronically needs reform.
The discussion about regional disparities within the UK was very interesting and a lot more In depth than other discussions I have read on the subject. It was thought provoking and disturbing to know that many of our country’s geographic disparities are even more pronounced than many in Western Europe. The author is right to make the suggestion that it is probably not a coincidence that our country is the most centralised in Western Europe. The author briefly reflects on some modern history of Local Government, highlighting when they used to provide basic services and utilities and were trusted to do so by Westminster. This planted the seed of why is it that this no longer the case, but this avenue of discussion was not really pursued.
The discussion on immigration was frank and factual while giving due respect to the position of immigrants past and present to the UK. The author makes clear that immigration to bring in young work forces are temporary solutions, since people don’t stay young forever. He also points out that there is proof that employers have used immigration as a get-out clause for increasing wages and making working conditions better. I was a bit disappointed that the author didn’t expand on this and point out that this isn’t the fault of the immigrants themselves, since they would likely take better wages and conditions if they were offered, as would native workers. It also seemed to avoid discussion about how much proof there is off immigrant labour displacing British labour. This seems like a missed opportunity, but one has to wonder whether it was a tactical swerve by the author to avoid getting into thorny political arguments. This seems odd in retrospect, since the author is quite happy to criticise politicians elsewhere in the book. Still, this is a more open, honest and informed discussion about immigration that you are ever likely to get from most news sources.
Once the problems have been looked at the author lists their 10 point wish list for improving the UK economy which are as follows.
1. Lay the building blocks for growth - but don't set targets
2. Stop the policy churn.
3. Build a business strategy.
4. Bring back the nanny state
5. Widen the curriculum and sort out vocational education
6. Think the unthinkable on the NHS
7. Bring the Treasury down a peg (but not two)
8. Decentralise power- really.
9. Get Brexit undone.
10. Defend and rebuild institutions.
Most of them are sensible. Some of them I agree with more than others, but others make more sense when drilling more into them. The Nanny State one was an interesting addition in that it openly declares the state having an interest in it’s population remaining healthy. Although I would qualify this with saying that Mental Health should be thrown into the mix too, since Mental Health issues. The multiple issues facing the NHS need to be addressed and I would rather look at European alternatives to the current model (although the Canadian one may be worth a look) than the diabolical American one. The Brexit one is realistic. It recognises that rejoining the EU is a long term aspiration but rejoining the Customs Union will have immediately tangible economic benefits and is more achievable in the short term.
Ordinarily I see reading about economic matters as the reading equivalent of eating my vegetables (something I do strictly because I have to). However, in this case I found the author’s clear written form, frankness and interesting research helped to make this experience of delving into this area far more engaging. However, at times it felt like the author was curiously confident in making some claims, but not always confident in pushing them further or linking them in ways that would really blow the lid off this country’s wider disfunction. I praise him for being brave enough for drawing a straight line between the Westminster political disfunction and economic disappointment. But the missing link is the British public. How have their economic concerns and experiences led them to support short termist charlatans like Boris or acts of grievous economic harm like Brexit. Since they vote in the politicians, shouldn’t they be held to account for how things are too?
I also think the author swerved an important argument which is starting to be had. There is something deeply wrong in much of British corporate culture. This manifests in paying low wages labelled “competitive”, bad management, inadequate training and ultimately very soulless work roles. Some books are soon to be released on these concerns shortly, so I will give the author the benefit of the doubt.
However, I would recommend that the author considers releasing an updated version to take account of the future global economic outlook in the face of the imposition of US tariffs.
September 20, 2025
A really good (if depressing) overview of why our economy is in such structural bad shape..Well written, clear and not too technical
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews