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Selfish Whining Monkeys
With a sharp eye for the magnificently absurd, Rod Liddle sets light to modern-day Britain.‘One of Britain’s funniest, most daring columnists. If he weren’t so offensive you’d almost call him a national treasure’ Mail on Sunday‘I, and my generation, seem feckless and irresponsible, endlessly selfish, whining, avaricious, self-deluding, self-obsessed, spoiled and corrupt and ill.’What is it that has transformed the British who in living memory were admired for their unassuming, stiff-upper-lipped capacity for `muddling through' into the feckless,obese, self-deluding, avaricious and self-obsessed whingers we have become? Savagely funny and relentlessly contrary, yet with a poignant sense of all that we have lost, Rod Liddle mercilessly exposes the absurdity, cant and humbuggery of the way we live now.
245 pages, Paperback
First published April 24, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
August 3, 2018
It’s the subject of every book I’ve read recently. Nobody can stand life and are so desperate they’ll cling to anything that gives them some sense of something. This has happened because all the old givers of meaning – religion, class, tradition, culture – have fallen away. All destroyed in the name of progress. We got rid of the old structures because they were oppressive and we wanted freedom to be ourselves. But it turns out that when faced with infinite choice we feel the weight of infinite responsibility and life is unbearable. Everyone, is going mad. Rod Liddle is cashing in by having a laugh at the varied and creative ways in which they do it.
One interesting trend is the outbreak of fake illnesses over the past few decades. ME or yuppie flu is one of the better known ones. Closely related is Fibromyalgia, which means aching muscles and fibres, and Irritable Bowel Syndrome, more likely just a result of poor diet. The most inventive of these is Morgellons, which involves microscopic hairs which have burrowed into your skin and then popped back up again, causing rashes and sores. The medical profession says Morgellons doesn’t exist. This convinces sufferers that it is in fact caused by either the US government or by aliens, or both. Liddle recounts a doctor friend of his who worked in A&E in central London who found that at least half of those coming in for help weren’t sick at all. In amongst the gunshot wounds, the stabbings and the drunks were “the worried well”, people who have nothing wrong with them.
“My friend treated a woman there who had been sitting for ages on one of those plastic chairs, waiting for her turn with the doc. ‘What is the matter with you?’ ‘I’m tired,’ she said. ‘I’m really tired.’ Next.”
For those who lack the imagination to come up with a fake illness, there is always the Internet where you can release your frustration in fake outrage. There are plenty of things to get outraged about: people who have different views from yours, for example, or who support a different team, or who come from somewhere else, or who liked a film that you thought was stupid. With the internet you now have a voice and an audience, or at least that’s the way it seems.
"You read four lines some unknown idiot has written on a blog you like, and you sail off across the ether, across cyberspace, depositing your noisome little turds of quarter-baked fuck-brained idiocies here, there and everywhere, demanding this or declaiming that, eviscerating your opponent or stamping your little cyberfeet."
The villains in this 200 page rant are another bunch of fakers that he calls the “faux left social liberals”. This is a particular group of individuals who can be found on the boards of bodies like the BBC Trust, the Independent Safeguarding Authority, the UK Border Agency Advisory Committee, the Senior Salaries Review Board and many others that you’ve never heard of. As Liddle says:
"There are more fucking quangos and advisory bodies than there are grains of sand on a beach."
It’s extremely odd and suspicious and not the first time heard of this. The UK Column news report used to obsess about this all the time (they may still do, but I haven’t watched it for a while) with endless intricate graphics showing how all these people were connected, the implication being that they were all up to something very dodgy, though I don’t think the UK column ever really knew what.
Liddle has figured out a bit more. According to him, this club consists of middle class liberals, many of whom are CBEs and who exist to promote a faux left consensus. Faux, because it’s more about the appearance of progressiveness than any real attempt to improve the lot of the working classes. They won’t, for example, admit that immigration causes real problems for working class people. They are soft on crime and don’t care that most criminals choose the working classes as their victims.
I suppose it is the middle class madness to adopt a position of moral superiority and invest as much energy in maintaining their position at the top of the evolutionary tree as the Morgellons sufferers or internet trolls do in their own delusions.
Liddle begins and ends his catalogue of selfishness with his theory of how this has come about. There are two ideologies which have taken hold of the population. One from the left and one from the right. From the left we have the liberalisation of social rules, many of which have been good, such as the end of sexism and racism. From the right we have Chicago school economics which advocates free markets and deregulation. We have social laissez faire and financial laissez faire. From both sides comes the breaking down of rules, do what you want and money is the only measure of anything, so nothing matters. Deregulated markets and deregulated humans. It has been disastrous for the working classes who have suffered from falling education standards, rising housing prices and families financially ruined by divorce. But for the metropolitan bourgeoisie (them again) it’s been rather nice – lower taxes, protected inheritances and no need to be stuck in a bad marriage if you can afford a lawyer, plus you can feel worthy because you’re better than everyone else. And that is all that matters
One interesting trend is the outbreak of fake illnesses over the past few decades. ME or yuppie flu is one of the better known ones. Closely related is Fibromyalgia, which means aching muscles and fibres, and Irritable Bowel Syndrome, more likely just a result of poor diet. The most inventive of these is Morgellons, which involves microscopic hairs which have burrowed into your skin and then popped back up again, causing rashes and sores. The medical profession says Morgellons doesn’t exist. This convinces sufferers that it is in fact caused by either the US government or by aliens, or both. Liddle recounts a doctor friend of his who worked in A&E in central London who found that at least half of those coming in for help weren’t sick at all. In amongst the gunshot wounds, the stabbings and the drunks were “the worried well”, people who have nothing wrong with them.
“My friend treated a woman there who had been sitting for ages on one of those plastic chairs, waiting for her turn with the doc. ‘What is the matter with you?’ ‘I’m tired,’ she said. ‘I’m really tired.’ Next.”
For those who lack the imagination to come up with a fake illness, there is always the Internet where you can release your frustration in fake outrage. There are plenty of things to get outraged about: people who have different views from yours, for example, or who support a different team, or who come from somewhere else, or who liked a film that you thought was stupid. With the internet you now have a voice and an audience, or at least that’s the way it seems.
"You read four lines some unknown idiot has written on a blog you like, and you sail off across the ether, across cyberspace, depositing your noisome little turds of quarter-baked fuck-brained idiocies here, there and everywhere, demanding this or declaiming that, eviscerating your opponent or stamping your little cyberfeet."
The villains in this 200 page rant are another bunch of fakers that he calls the “faux left social liberals”. This is a particular group of individuals who can be found on the boards of bodies like the BBC Trust, the Independent Safeguarding Authority, the UK Border Agency Advisory Committee, the Senior Salaries Review Board and many others that you’ve never heard of. As Liddle says:
"There are more fucking quangos and advisory bodies than there are grains of sand on a beach."
It’s extremely odd and suspicious and not the first time heard of this. The UK Column news report used to obsess about this all the time (they may still do, but I haven’t watched it for a while) with endless intricate graphics showing how all these people were connected, the implication being that they were all up to something very dodgy, though I don’t think the UK column ever really knew what.
Liddle has figured out a bit more. According to him, this club consists of middle class liberals, many of whom are CBEs and who exist to promote a faux left consensus. Faux, because it’s more about the appearance of progressiveness than any real attempt to improve the lot of the working classes. They won’t, for example, admit that immigration causes real problems for working class people. They are soft on crime and don’t care that most criminals choose the working classes as their victims.
I suppose it is the middle class madness to adopt a position of moral superiority and invest as much energy in maintaining their position at the top of the evolutionary tree as the Morgellons sufferers or internet trolls do in their own delusions.
Liddle begins and ends his catalogue of selfishness with his theory of how this has come about. There are two ideologies which have taken hold of the population. One from the left and one from the right. From the left we have the liberalisation of social rules, many of which have been good, such as the end of sexism and racism. From the right we have Chicago school economics which advocates free markets and deregulation. We have social laissez faire and financial laissez faire. From both sides comes the breaking down of rules, do what you want and money is the only measure of anything, so nothing matters. Deregulated markets and deregulated humans. It has been disastrous for the working classes who have suffered from falling education standards, rising housing prices and families financially ruined by divorce. But for the metropolitan bourgeoisie (them again) it’s been rather nice – lower taxes, protected inheritances and no need to be stuck in a bad marriage if you can afford a lawyer, plus you can feel worthy because you’re better than everyone else. And that is all that matters
December 28, 2018
Brilliantly expounded, probably as what he wrote resounded so clearly with my own views- I am of a similar generation and from a similar background so not surprising. Different country too so I don't think his analysis relates just to the UK. Only drawback is that he keeps apologising or making allowances before he says something "controversial" which tends to dilute the message and makes it at times too wordy. He didn't need to do that as the reader makes allowances for this when reading. I always read his ST column first every Sunday as he says what he thinks- PC or not- so I always give respect and consideration to his views. His column is always concise ands humorous and doesn't pull punches nor give any apologies, and refreshing for that....I wish his book was consistently like that.
June 14, 2017
The most enjoyable read I've had for some time. Liddle seems like a no-nonsense type who makes plenty of valid comments throughout.
March 5, 2017
Rod Liddle is a unusually entertaining writer who enjoys using incendiary language. (He says he has an animus against those who seek to control words. I tend to sympathize.) The underlying message, however, is serious and thoughtful; how did we become the way he believes we are - i.e., silly, self-important and emotionally incontinent? Liddle partly blames post-war governments, from both the Left and the Right, and argues that it is the people at the bottom of the pile who have suffered most from rampant consumerism and unfettered credit (Right) allied to the notion that everything is relative and nothing is ever anybody's fault (Left). It is also a kind of elegy for a vanished world of dull suburban houses, dreary Sundays and quietly muddling through. Like him, I wished to escape such things when I was twenty; like him, I now think that something has been lost along the way. Perhaps this is simply age. There was a great deal that needed to change, after all. But the whining! The whining! And, above all, what Liddle calls 'the whiff of Salem'. We have found a witch. May we burn her?
July 28, 2015
Definitely a book that's passed through political correctness and come out the other side.
There seem to be a couple of issues drawing Rod Liddle's ire. The first is the narcissism of modern society, which he skewers mercilessly. The second is the emergence of a super-class of highly advantaged upper-middle-class families who are radically better able to access society's goods than others. Their advantages come from multiple sources – public schooling, living in better areas, social networks that can help access, and so forth – but also (Liddle claims) from a more surprising source: changes to the law that seem egalitarian but work to reinforce privilege.
Is super-class privilege now so entrenched as to be immovable? If you're looking for answers to this, or even some vague suggestions, you won't find them. But as a source of dinner-party factoids and telling phrases, this is a winner. People "who have had their struggles too" will definitely be part of my vocabulary from now on.
There seem to be a couple of issues drawing Rod Liddle's ire. The first is the narcissism of modern society, which he skewers mercilessly. The second is the emergence of a super-class of highly advantaged upper-middle-class families who are radically better able to access society's goods than others. Their advantages come from multiple sources – public schooling, living in better areas, social networks that can help access, and so forth – but also (Liddle claims) from a more surprising source: changes to the law that seem egalitarian but work to reinforce privilege.
Is super-class privilege now so entrenched as to be immovable? If you're looking for answers to this, or even some vague suggestions, you won't find them. But as a source of dinner-party factoids and telling phrases, this is a winner. People "who have had their struggles too" will definitely be part of my vocabulary from now on.
August 4, 2018
A little more substance than, say, a rant by Jeremy Clarkson or Richard Littlejohn, but not by much. Mildly entertaining and mildly thought provoking. Heartening to know that there are at least some people left who don't live in terror of the PC Thought Police.
February 10, 2018
Funny and profane at times. He uses the "F" word a lot. A touching backdrop to this book is the story of his parents, whom you sense he admires and wishes he could emulate. The loss of the British national character and its descent into a nervy, emotionally incontinent, sentimentalist, let-it-all-hang-out, disposition is indeed worthy of critique. Theodore Dalrymple does a more eloquent criticism of this theme; but Liddle's book is also a worthy contribution to this.
September 3, 2019
A cracking read
A whole range of emotions reading this book, humour and despair , very well written hilarious in parts and great sadness on what dear old England has become . Rods parents although a generation older than mine still very similar, if you Rod Liddle. You'll love this book
A whole range of emotions reading this book, humour and despair , very well written hilarious in parts and great sadness on what dear old England has become . Rods parents although a generation older than mine still very similar, if you Rod Liddle. You'll love this book
April 3, 2015
Probably has greatest appeal to over 50s men that have suffered near death experiences and want to put the world to rights.
For those that think that something is missing from society, this book is for you, but don't read it expecting to find any solutions.
For those that think that something is missing from society, this book is for you, but don't read it expecting to find any solutions.
May 17, 2018
Ron goes on a rant. And an enjoyable one it is to read. Especially since I tend to agree with much of what he's on about.
June 30, 2021
Who better to write a book entitled Selfish, Whining Monkeys than someone who's made a career of being selfish and whining?
I read this book to learn more about British culture. Basically what I learned is people are the same all over. At least the Brits and the Americans. At least the ones I know.
The book is amusing. I can't say it's entertaining. It's informative without being educational. Rod Liddle is a columnist for several UK newspapers. He's opinionated. One aspect of him that surprised me was his apologizing for being opinionated when it inadvertantly hurt someone.
This single element stood out to me as separating Rod Liddle from his American counterparts (the ones I'm familiar with); he recognizes his opinions are his own and they're not shared by everyone. Further, he doesn't state opinion as fact, only his take on things. And lastly, he doesn't voice opinion to hurt or offend others. Some may be hurt and/or offended, and he's sorry about that, but please do grow up about it.
Refreshing, that.
April 23, 2021
Mostly irreverent and frequently rude, in Liddle's usual entertaining style, I was surprised to find I was very moved by the final chapter dealing with his parents', and his own, mortality, and quoting Charles Causley's poem Eden Rock.
June 21, 2021
I started reading this several years ago but somehow stuff just got in the way. So, in an attempt to get it off my list, I chose it for my Book Group to read. Interestingly, many of Rod Liddle’s gripes, observations and criticisms of our society that he wrote about then appear to be just as relevant, if not magnified, today. He seems to have anticipated the woke revolution and some of his observations now appear positively prophetic.
“So many - countless - sensibilities hungry to be offended and then respond, not with disagreement, not with a countering of the point of objection, but with the sort of nihilistic rage that such things could even be said, and feeling that whoever said them has to be somehow punished: get the police involved, kick them out of their job - whatever it is - beat them down with whatever weapons come to hand until they really, really f***ing regret having dared to say something with which others might possibly disagree.”
Even today, an alarming number of people seem to want to censor the news the rest of us are permitted to watch on TV and read in the Press simply because they disagree with what is being said. Just this month (June 21) the fanatical and grossly misnamed lobbying group Stop Funding Hate (SFH), demanded that advertisers boycott GB News, a new network chaired and fronted by Andrew Neil that aims to offer an alternative to the liberal-Left conformist groupthink of the mainstream news media. So much for free speech.
Liddle’s style is a mixture of nostalgic reminders of how things used to be - largely non-PC but significantly more tolerant - pointed highlighting the stupidity of some - the Dr Liddle’s Casebook anecdote is a classic - and exasperation at those politicians, and others, who attempt to jump in the bandwagon and who ‘have had their struggles too’.
The points he makes, often with self-deprecating humour and with language designed to shock, do however strike a chord, particularly with those of us of his generation.
Despite significant improvements in health, wealth and of time to enjoy them, we are no happier, indeed we seem to be more depressed, disgruntled and discontent with our lot than ever. The culture of self, the demand for instant, often constant gratification, has made a significant number of us no more than the selfish, whining monkeys of the title.
“So many - countless - sensibilities hungry to be offended and then respond, not with disagreement, not with a countering of the point of objection, but with the sort of nihilistic rage that such things could even be said, and feeling that whoever said them has to be somehow punished: get the police involved, kick them out of their job - whatever it is - beat them down with whatever weapons come to hand until they really, really f***ing regret having dared to say something with which others might possibly disagree.”
Even today, an alarming number of people seem to want to censor the news the rest of us are permitted to watch on TV and read in the Press simply because they disagree with what is being said. Just this month (June 21) the fanatical and grossly misnamed lobbying group Stop Funding Hate (SFH), demanded that advertisers boycott GB News, a new network chaired and fronted by Andrew Neil that aims to offer an alternative to the liberal-Left conformist groupthink of the mainstream news media. So much for free speech.
Liddle’s style is a mixture of nostalgic reminders of how things used to be - largely non-PC but significantly more tolerant - pointed highlighting the stupidity of some - the Dr Liddle’s Casebook anecdote is a classic - and exasperation at those politicians, and others, who attempt to jump in the bandwagon and who ‘have had their struggles too’.
The points he makes, often with self-deprecating humour and with language designed to shock, do however strike a chord, particularly with those of us of his generation.
Despite significant improvements in health, wealth and of time to enjoy them, we are no happier, indeed we seem to be more depressed, disgruntled and discontent with our lot than ever. The culture of self, the demand for instant, often constant gratification, has made a significant number of us no more than the selfish, whining monkeys of the title.
May 26, 2015
I enjoy Rod Liddle as a columnist, never missing his contributions to the Sunday Times or the Spectator. I have always viewed him as a bit of a shock-jock journalist. Some insight, but far more venom and the ability to make me laugh. I was rather surprised by this book. The trademark elements are there, but this is a deeper, more thoughtful book than I expected. In contrasting his parents' attitudes and life experiences with that of his (my) generations' he gives an interesting and persuasive guide to how things have changed for the better and how so of those changes have unintended consequences and how solipsism has become so prevalent. It's all good stuff. It certainly doesn't offer any solutions, but it is an interesting and at times very funny and occasionally moving guide.
January 13, 2018
The subtitle of this book is how we ended up greedy, narcissistic and unhappy. It doesn’t sound cheerful reading! But it is absolutely brilliant. Liddle is a superb writer – humorous, observant, and biting. He does not write from a Christian perspective but there is much in here that I could resonate with. One warning – one of the weak points about the book is the regular use of the ‘F word’….
There were so many quotes that I have written up a fuller review on my blog with extensive quotes...
https://theweeflea.com/2018/01/12/rod...
There were so many quotes that I have written up a fuller review on my blog with extensive quotes...
https://theweeflea.com/2018/01/12/rod...
January 25, 2019
He isn't sure how much he wants to wind liberals up, he isn't sure how many of the things he moans about outweigh the benefits of the changes which wrought them, but he does have a sense of humour. This is a misanthrope doing his level best to offer reasonable analysis while keeping the tone light enough that you might not worry too much about the lack of hard evidence to back up many of his arguments.
If you're looking for something unhinged like Peter Hitchens banging on about how things really were much better in the fifties you're in the wrong place. This is much more self-aware.
If you're looking for something unhinged like Peter Hitchens banging on about how things really were much better in the fifties you're in the wrong place. This is much more self-aware.
July 13, 2020
An absolutely brilliant yet crude insight into the world around us, though slightly outdated given all things atm. An well argumented left wing rant about hard-core conservatism, poignantly balanced by railing against hard left faux liberalism.
Whilst the analysis is shallow at times, it is counterbalanced by the humanity Rod brings to it with his own life - warts and all.
A must read for anyone who wants their views challenged and to just begin thinking about what life is really about beyond politics, economics and social media.
Whilst the analysis is shallow at times, it is counterbalanced by the humanity Rod brings to it with his own life - warts and all.
A must read for anyone who wants their views challenged and to just begin thinking about what life is really about beyond politics, economics and social media.
January 27, 2015
Whilst quite interesting in places and making some interesting and broad comments on the progress of society in the UK. On the other hand (while the book was very much caveated as a long whiny anecdote) I did feel that the trips down Rod's memory lane and hard done by attitude was a bit too much. Better to read some social science if you want social commentary and a Bio if you want memories. This fell a bit in between and I wasn't sure what to do with it...
December 17, 2015
Misanthropic
I like Liddle, I agree with him quite a lot. I like his columns in the various publications he writes for. I don't think there's much direction in this book, but it doesn't particularly suffer for it. If you like him, read it, if you don't, don't.
I like Liddle, I agree with him quite a lot. I like his columns in the various publications he writes for. I don't think there's much direction in this book, but it doesn't particularly suffer for it. If you like him, read it, if you don't, don't.
July 20, 2019
Too much fowl language and hyperbole. His editors should have reined him in and forced out of him a more civilised version of his views that are worth reading. I never finished it to the sheer amount of invective.
For instance his column in the Spectator is a must read. But this? Forget it.
For instance his column in the Spectator is a must read. But this? Forget it.
June 27, 2019
What a brilliant book! Written in the same no-bullshit style as his Sunday Times column, this book is both hilarious and thought-provoking at the same time. Highly recommended!
January 3, 2023
My wife had been eying this book with distaste while I've been reading it. Fair enough, he does like to make himself unpopular with his choice of words and I'm not really surprised she doesn't approve. Going beyond the words and the veneer, the ideas expressed in the actual chapters are a bit hit and miss. He sets out saying he's going to diagnose the whiny, feckless self-important nature of Generation X, a product equally of 60s counter-culture and the consumer capitalism of the 80s. That's the blurb, and he mostly sticks to that but he wanders off into corruption, the old boys network, immigration, private vs public ownership and a host of other stuff. And some of it is bollocks and some of its not, and even when it's bollocks there's usually some truth in there, and even when it's true there's some bollocks, so it's a mixed bag. I think a modern reader would be put off by the liberal sprinkling of disrespectful words and the general irreverent tone, so they'd probably write a lot of his argument off after a few pages. So why, I hear you ask, doesn't he write in a more prude-friendly style? Well, there are loads of writers like that already, so how would he differentiate himself? Being a bit of a twat is his USP.
November 12, 2021
If you are one of those who believes that womanhood is more to do with how you feel about yourself rather than the arrangement of your genitals then you will hate this book. Although it may satisfy your fervent need to be offended and protest.
Rod Liddle attempts to explain how it is that society has become such a needy, offended, victim-driven place, where everything is someone else’s fault and abject, supplicant apology should be made, compensation paid and if it isn’t then statues will be toppled and roads blocked by glued-on anoraks. Oh the horror!
It’s mainly the liberal left, Rod thinks, who have driven us to an absolutist, Munch scream of angst at everything around us. Even if it’s unscientific or, you know, pointless.
You wouldn’t call Rod Liddle witty, but he draws a chuckle or two in his style of straightforward, blunt rhetoric and clever rudeness. I think this is a good read, well-argued and often self-deprecating.
It will appeal both to those who will nod sagely at his observations, and to those who will wail in horror, head directly to their keyboards and type furiously into the blogs, noticeboards and social ether of their fellow offended.
Rod Liddle attempts to explain how it is that society has become such a needy, offended, victim-driven place, where everything is someone else’s fault and abject, supplicant apology should be made, compensation paid and if it isn’t then statues will be toppled and roads blocked by glued-on anoraks. Oh the horror!
It’s mainly the liberal left, Rod thinks, who have driven us to an absolutist, Munch scream of angst at everything around us. Even if it’s unscientific or, you know, pointless.
You wouldn’t call Rod Liddle witty, but he draws a chuckle or two in his style of straightforward, blunt rhetoric and clever rudeness. I think this is a good read, well-argued and often self-deprecating.
It will appeal both to those who will nod sagely at his observations, and to those who will wail in horror, head directly to their keyboards and type furiously into the blogs, noticeboards and social ether of their fellow offended.
July 28, 2025
I really didn't enjoy this read, didn't like the author's style, and even though I've had never heard of him, didn't like him as a person. In the first twelve pages he must use the phrase 'but more of that later' which was irritating.
I did learn some useful points, but they seem to be related to the areas in which he provided data to support his arguments..but there were very few of those occasions. The book title just appears to be something he hit upon, if he did expand on these points, he didn't make a very good job of it. I bought it in a charity shop for a pound, and wish I hadn't.
I did learn some useful points, but they seem to be related to the areas in which he provided data to support his arguments..but there were very few of those occasions. The book title just appears to be something he hit upon, if he did expand on these points, he didn't make a very good job of it. I bought it in a charity shop for a pound, and wish I hadn't.
December 28, 2020
First be aware, this book is full of foul language. If this offends, do not read.
I found some of this book I did agree with whole heartily. but there were other parts that I think Liddle had remembered wrongly. However, I do realise that this was his personal remembrances, and as we all know, sometimes memory can play tricks on you. I did find some of the content was really very funny, and agree that there are always people who can take offence at just about everything. I had hoped to find more wit here, as I am not interested in his politics.
I found some of this book I did agree with whole heartily. but there were other parts that I think Liddle had remembered wrongly. However, I do realise that this was his personal remembrances, and as we all know, sometimes memory can play tricks on you. I did find some of the content was really very funny, and agree that there are always people who can take offence at just about everything. I had hoped to find more wit here, as I am not interested in his politics.
December 6, 2019
Excellent
An amusing and often poignant discourse on the 'state we are in'. I found many observations and conclusions in his book that I could understand and accept with a disconcerting regularity. Maybe I am of a similar background and of a similar mind and so maybe that is why I gave it 5 stars? Uncritical, so what if I am?
An amusing and often poignant discourse on the 'state we are in'. I found many observations and conclusions in his book that I could understand and accept with a disconcerting regularity. Maybe I am of a similar background and of a similar mind and so maybe that is why I gave it 5 stars? Uncritical, so what if I am?
April 20, 2021
Rod is a brilliant and honest writer. However, I think he is better in smaller doses. He addresses the malaise felt by his generation, which I share. He spends most of the book discussing these problems. He discusses possible causes in a short but intriguing chapter near the end, and I feel this could’ve been explored more fully. He offers no solutions. Perhaps he thinks there are none.
November 4, 2020
It was very informed and at times funny, but at times just a mega rant.
It was very informed and at times funny but at times just a mega rant. Mostly enjoyable. Plus three more words.
It was very informed and at times funny but at times just a mega rant. Mostly enjoyable. Plus three more words.
July 23, 2019
Selfish Whining Wazzocks
This should be a a set text at GSCE level although it would probably need to be reduced to 90 character bite-sized chunks to be digested.
This should be a a set text at GSCE level although it would probably need to be reduced to 90 character bite-sized chunks to be digested.
December 10, 2019
Well it’s rod liddle.....
A fun rant of which most people will agree with some if not all sentiments. We have changed but not always for the better.
A fun rant of which most people will agree with some if not all sentiments. We have changed but not always for the better.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews