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The State We're In
This is an analysis of the social, political, and economic arrangements in Britain, which the author asserts have become out-of-date. He argues that the weaknesses of the economy cannot be divorced from the problems in the rest of society. He makes a critique of Britain's institutions and argues that we have an 18th-century state dealing with 20th-century issues.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1995
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October 22, 2022
I appear to have written a lot of notes on this book. It’s not surprising given the content and close analogies between 17 years of Tory misrule Hutton was commenting on, and the current 12 years of Tory misrule we have now experienced here in the UK as of 2022. Hutton in 1994 was working as Economics Editor at The Guardian and could see and comment on the effects of Thatcherism on the nation as well as the symbiotic relationships between the City, the Civil Service and the Government. He has / had a few bees in his bonnet to get out not the least of which were the lack of a formal written UK Constitution enshrining the values and responsibilities expected between citizens and the State, as well as the position of a hereditary monarchy. It is interesting to finish this book and find published in the Financial Times on the same day an article by Rana Faroohar on De-Globalisation (https://www.ft.com/content/f4c17c8c-9...). Many of the observations and findings within this article were touched on and commented upon by Hutton 28 years earlier.
Hutton is at heart a Keynesian with a perspective on market forces that emphasise the human aspects as opposed to the market forces driving the economic machine.
The story of the British Conservative Party with its fundamental beliefs favouring free market economics, centralisation, low taxation, opposition to the devolution of power whilst at the same time espousing non-State intervention, privatisation of state industry, attacks on organised labour, low wages, low public spending, broad libertarian themes, as well as propping up those great British institutions of the Church (of England, naturally!), the Public (private) schools, the holy institution of heterosexual marriage, the Armed Forces and Police and Oxbridge as a bastion of privilege whilst sustaining a class system built on the rights of landowners, is the story of my political awareness – a life consisting of a Tory sandwich with a filling of 13 years of Blairite New Labourism. Tories as a group look back to an age of Great Britain and still believe in the pre-eminence of the British Empire, two-World-Wars-and-One-World-Cup and at heart is ultra-nationalist. It can still tap into the deep vein of narrow-mindedness that lashes through the English as an island race which sees itself as different from and superior to those over there (wherever 'there' might be) and which descends in ever darkening circles to a sectarian regionalism with the top dogs centred on an affluent, predominantly white south-east where the financial sectors are concentrated. This is exactly the Conservative thinking that fuelled Brexit despite clear evidence that working in cohort with one’s nearest neighbours was a successful and useful strategy aimed at the common good of all despite national and cultural differences.
This is the first time I have read Hutton’s book. I probably should have read it before. It helps to have at least a smattering of some sense of Economics as well as a knowledge of how 1994 was arrived at and what happened thereafter.
Hutton charts the situation as he saw it in 1994. By this year the country was in a recession with deepening unemployment. The wealth of North Sea oil had been used to fund de-industrialisation and underwrite the rise in unemployment and the deconstruction of organised labour in the form of Trade Unions who naturally stood against the demolition of largely state-run primary and secondary industries in defence of their members. At the same time, the importance of the City had grown and was encouraged through de-regulation and legislation in favour of City institutions and a low taxation regime which was the powerhouse behind both a growing inequality within the UK and a credit-funded consumer boom which saw house prices double encouraging a rentier society as well as rampant individual debt. Industry did gain in efficiency but this was at the expense of shredding the work force, stagnating wages and extensive debt, not through the application of innovation or increased investment in R & D. Manufacture went the same way as primary Steel production and Coal mining leaving a work force ill trained and committed to a new age which they had had very little choice to determine.
Driving this social chaos is the inflationary paradox at the heart of Capitalism – that growth should continue without surcease and that profits must rise; the required rate of return MUST be higher every year, and this in a system which is closed and in which resources are finite. Furthermore under Conservative rule, conditions for the continued expansion were unlikely to occur given a lack of investment in the future and a denigration of social conditions. It’s a case of tomorrow’s riches today. This is a crisis beyond the normal ‘business cycle’. This cycle also refers to the present day and predicates a recognised by incisive thinkers in the world of economics yet little appears to be have been done. Rakesh Mohan (2011) has stated that
Throughout Hutton’s Jeremiad there are insights which bring you up short and make you think further. In 1994 the Gig Economy had not been considered let alone named. However you could see it coming with Hutton’s definition of the 30 / 30 / 40 society – 30% unemployed, 30% underemployed working in insecure jobs, 40% in secure, tenured jobs. Now - in the world of zero-hour contracts and the falsehood of ‘workers choice’ in the age of Bullshit jobs, with ever-diminishing workers’ rights and decreased and difficult access to the safety net of the welfare state - we have almost come to accept this devaluation of the concept of work in the face of un- and under-employment. This brings out the belief fostered by Adam Smith and Jeremy Bentham and reconstituted within neo-liberal philosophy of the disutility of work. This is based on the equation of Work and Pain. At its heart is the concept of the 'commoditisation' of the worker and the balance between wages and leisure. It totally fails to recognise that Work means more than just an economic transaction. It further fails to understand the human, cultural, social, self-expression and self-realisation aspects of Work.
To carp on what Hutton missed or failed to elucidate clearly enough is as if to discount Marx for failing to foresee the growth of telecommunications and computing. There are some things however which should be mentioned. Hutton concentrates on Japan, failing to realise the importance of China and the reforms enacted by Deng Xiaoping beginning in the late 1970’s. China now stands as the biggest threat to Western Capitalist economies through its vast socialist market economy. The West was initially glad to incorporate China and gain access to a huge market for its luxury goods. China’s current position out-competing older capitalist economies presents a threat to the West and the standard view of Capitalism.
Hutton talks about the naïveté of the Labour Party and its ability to shoot itself in the foot through the multiplicity of socialist identities. Following 13 years of New Labour hedging under Blair and Brown, the current reality would appear to be that no one within the Labour Party believes in a socialist revolution and the Party has done its best to distance itself from hard-liners, the last of which to espouse socialist principles was Jeremy Corbyn, the overseer of electoral meltdown to Johnson and Brexit in 2019. There is no appetite for revolution. The best that might be hoped for is social justice – a party that stands for and prides itself on social reform and levelling up. The worst light the Party might be seen in is the constant havering after the populist vote which has seen it termed ‘Tory Lite’. It would also seem to be hampered by the lack of a leader and thinker prepared to take on the might of Free Market thinkers and challenge the orthodoxy of Conservative thinking which has brought the UK, as a State, to become the sick man of a Europe to which it no longer belongs.
Hutton states as he believes that the only way to bring back some kind of social justice is by
• A written Constitution as a contract between the State and the Citizenry
• An end to the traditional worker/management adversarial relationship characterised by British industry of the 70’s and 80’s
• Longer investment periods and an end to ‘short-termism’ where banks and financial institutions look for fast returns on their capital investments
• Republicanism – if not a republic then an end to hereditary monarchy
• Parliamentary reform which should include electoral reform and an end to the first-past-the-post system as well as a more open and less secretive decision making process
• The decentralisation of power and political process
• Abolition of the hereditary element of the House of Lords
• A clean break between the executive arm of government and its legislative function
• Reclamation of the public realm as an area for decision making and debate
• An independent central bank. (The Bank of England was freed from political interference on 6th May, 1997 by the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, under the first Labour administration of Tony Blair)
• The imposition of regulators on private utility companies with greater powers of control especially between civic and financial efficiency (this began in the 1980s as Thatcher started to sell off public utilities. The regulators are now seen as commonly in cahoots with the private companies in favour of shareholder dividends and profits against value and service to the general public.)
• Devolution of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and increased regional constituent assemblies.
• More city mayors with local powers
• Removal of the charitable status of Public (private) Schools.
Additional riders to this were
• A broadening of the stake holding in companies and institutions so creating a long term interest in the fate and health of the institutions from its owners.
• To extend the supply of cheap, long term credit allowing for long term development and investment in the future
• Decentralisation of decision making
All this is grounded on a belief in a wider public sense of morality that will act altruistically rather than purely for personal gain – and that belief is aimed at the upper middle classes and above as the classes with ownership of power. The truth is that this altruism is monumentally absent. Turkeys do not vote for Christmas. If anything we have moved from the Age of Self to the Age of Narcissism and not to the Age of Social Justice. Whilst Hutton’s wish list is truly moral and humanistic, they sit totally against what is currently seen as the human condition and as such represent a Utopianism of a well-meaning liberal. Inequality is seen as the price of wealth creation by a State which is market led. What Hutton is asking for is little short of Revolution or Never Never Land. The things he wants cannot be achieved without revolution or world-wide Trotskyism. And that is just not going to happen in the world of ‘Business as Usual’. The level of societal change Hutton calls for has not been seen since the end of the Wars of Three Kingdoms in 1650 and the establishment of Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector following the execution of Charles I. This of course led to a subversive counter-revolution till the restoration of the monarchy and the crowning of Charles II in 1660. One could argue that the changes undertaken post 2WW by the Labour administration under Clement Atlee were as radical as the post-regicide 17th century period but since 1945 we have seen the erosion of the welfare state, public health provision and public owned industry in a counter-revolution fronted by the shock troops of the Conservative Party, partly ameliorated by the ‘old patrician Tories’ the last of which was Alec Douglas-Home in 1965.
Ultimately reading the book now is quite depressing even though we are looking back at events described over 28 years ago, and described after 17 years of Conservative government. It becomes doubly depressing when one realises that we are in almost exactly the same position in 2022 after 12 years of Tory misrule under David Cameron, Teresa May and Boris Johnson culminating in the stupidity and ineptitude of the 44-day rule of Liz Truss. It is also that the causes of the chaos remain essentially the same – an unchecked belief in the Free Market Economy. You cannot dig yourself out of recession through tax cuts and financial deregulation, borrowing to repay at some time in the future from an undesignated source. The love affair between Conservative governments and finance and economic institutions is endemic. Liquidity is everything. Investment in infrastructure (education, training, health, innovation) is traditionally poor. The UK persists with and is still ruled by a post-colonial elite with a sense of imperialism which sees itself as the privileged Class. Since 1979 there has been a gradual roll back of people engaging in and determining the kind of society they wish to live in. The public interest can only be expressed as the interest of the majority party in the House of Commons. There has been in effect a substantial disenfranchisement of a large section of the populace in the UK. This has been mirrored by the growth of the Underclass as the fate brought on by government edicts has seen people fall from one class into the next lowest as predicted by Marx. Trickle down DOES NOT WORK!!! and is a fallacy used by the rich as an excuse for further increasing their gluttony.
We live in interesting and deeply troubling times.
Hutton is at heart a Keynesian with a perspective on market forces that emphasise the human aspects as opposed to the market forces driving the economic machine.
The story of the British Conservative Party with its fundamental beliefs favouring free market economics, centralisation, low taxation, opposition to the devolution of power whilst at the same time espousing non-State intervention, privatisation of state industry, attacks on organised labour, low wages, low public spending, broad libertarian themes, as well as propping up those great British institutions of the Church (of England, naturally!), the Public (private) schools, the holy institution of heterosexual marriage, the Armed Forces and Police and Oxbridge as a bastion of privilege whilst sustaining a class system built on the rights of landowners, is the story of my political awareness – a life consisting of a Tory sandwich with a filling of 13 years of Blairite New Labourism. Tories as a group look back to an age of Great Britain and still believe in the pre-eminence of the British Empire, two-World-Wars-and-One-World-Cup and at heart is ultra-nationalist. It can still tap into the deep vein of narrow-mindedness that lashes through the English as an island race which sees itself as different from and superior to those over there (wherever 'there' might be) and which descends in ever darkening circles to a sectarian regionalism with the top dogs centred on an affluent, predominantly white south-east where the financial sectors are concentrated. This is exactly the Conservative thinking that fuelled Brexit despite clear evidence that working in cohort with one’s nearest neighbours was a successful and useful strategy aimed at the common good of all despite national and cultural differences.
This is the first time I have read Hutton’s book. I probably should have read it before. It helps to have at least a smattering of some sense of Economics as well as a knowledge of how 1994 was arrived at and what happened thereafter.
Hutton charts the situation as he saw it in 1994. By this year the country was in a recession with deepening unemployment. The wealth of North Sea oil had been used to fund de-industrialisation and underwrite the rise in unemployment and the deconstruction of organised labour in the form of Trade Unions who naturally stood against the demolition of largely state-run primary and secondary industries in defence of their members. At the same time, the importance of the City had grown and was encouraged through de-regulation and legislation in favour of City institutions and a low taxation regime which was the powerhouse behind both a growing inequality within the UK and a credit-funded consumer boom which saw house prices double encouraging a rentier society as well as rampant individual debt. Industry did gain in efficiency but this was at the expense of shredding the work force, stagnating wages and extensive debt, not through the application of innovation or increased investment in R & D. Manufacture went the same way as primary Steel production and Coal mining leaving a work force ill trained and committed to a new age which they had had very little choice to determine.
Driving this social chaos is the inflationary paradox at the heart of Capitalism – that growth should continue without surcease and that profits must rise; the required rate of return MUST be higher every year, and this in a system which is closed and in which resources are finite. Furthermore under Conservative rule, conditions for the continued expansion were unlikely to occur given a lack of investment in the future and a denigration of social conditions. It’s a case of tomorrow’s riches today. This is a crisis beyond the normal ‘business cycle’. This cycle also refers to the present day and predicates a recognised by incisive thinkers in the world of economics yet little appears to be have been done. Rakesh Mohan (2011) has stated that
"post-industrial society has failed to reconstruct itself and its deconstruction, howsoever Utopian it may look, rests on reinventing[a] social contract that will synergize global forces towards a second Enlightenment”. Broadly speaking what he is talking about is a re-engagement with social justice, a movement away from the Age of Me to the Age of Us; where co-operation replaces adversarial operation. This same message is at the heart of Hutton’s book. We need to do this whilst facing an ever-looming spectre of species extinction caused by the use of hydrocarbons to fund Capital expansion at the expense of pollution and ecological destruction. (Andreas Malm, (2016) ‘Fossil Capital: The Rise of Steam Power and the Roots of Global Warming’). Unmanaged Capitalism is an inherently unstable system which has led the human species to an existential crisis. Growth without surcease cannot occur. We do not live in an open-ended system with infinite resources. Successful enterprise will only occur through social and communal enterprise and mutual understanding. Individualism, whether at national or personal level, just cannot be allowed to occur. ‘Business as Usual’ needs to be replaced by ‘System Change’. Game Theory suggests that we must act now!
Throughout Hutton’s Jeremiad there are insights which bring you up short and make you think further. In 1994 the Gig Economy had not been considered let alone named. However you could see it coming with Hutton’s definition of the 30 / 30 / 40 society – 30% unemployed, 30% underemployed working in insecure jobs, 40% in secure, tenured jobs. Now - in the world of zero-hour contracts and the falsehood of ‘workers choice’ in the age of Bullshit jobs, with ever-diminishing workers’ rights and decreased and difficult access to the safety net of the welfare state - we have almost come to accept this devaluation of the concept of work in the face of un- and under-employment. This brings out the belief fostered by Adam Smith and Jeremy Bentham and reconstituted within neo-liberal philosophy of the disutility of work. This is based on the equation of Work and Pain. At its heart is the concept of the 'commoditisation' of the worker and the balance between wages and leisure. It totally fails to recognise that Work means more than just an economic transaction. It further fails to understand the human, cultural, social, self-expression and self-realisation aspects of Work.
The rhythm of Work gives life meaning. Work offers a sense of place in a hierarchy of social relations both within the organisation and beyond it, and men and women are after all social beings. Those who work belong; those who do not are excluded. Work in short is a utility.Disutility labels workers as essentially shirkers and permits a cheap excuse for the victimisation of the workforce. It is the changing and fundamental characteristics of the nature of work in the face of innovation particularly in the application of Alternative Intelligence that needs to be addressed and not from a position which sees Work as an alternative to Leisure in exchange for wages. The present way we currently approach work is a driver in the inequality of society.
To carp on what Hutton missed or failed to elucidate clearly enough is as if to discount Marx for failing to foresee the growth of telecommunications and computing. There are some things however which should be mentioned. Hutton concentrates on Japan, failing to realise the importance of China and the reforms enacted by Deng Xiaoping beginning in the late 1970’s. China now stands as the biggest threat to Western Capitalist economies through its vast socialist market economy. The West was initially glad to incorporate China and gain access to a huge market for its luxury goods. China’s current position out-competing older capitalist economies presents a threat to the West and the standard view of Capitalism.
Hutton talks about the naïveté of the Labour Party and its ability to shoot itself in the foot through the multiplicity of socialist identities. Following 13 years of New Labour hedging under Blair and Brown, the current reality would appear to be that no one within the Labour Party believes in a socialist revolution and the Party has done its best to distance itself from hard-liners, the last of which to espouse socialist principles was Jeremy Corbyn, the overseer of electoral meltdown to Johnson and Brexit in 2019. There is no appetite for revolution. The best that might be hoped for is social justice – a party that stands for and prides itself on social reform and levelling up. The worst light the Party might be seen in is the constant havering after the populist vote which has seen it termed ‘Tory Lite’. It would also seem to be hampered by the lack of a leader and thinker prepared to take on the might of Free Market thinkers and challenge the orthodoxy of Conservative thinking which has brought the UK, as a State, to become the sick man of a Europe to which it no longer belongs.
Hutton states as he believes that the only way to bring back some kind of social justice is by
• A written Constitution as a contract between the State and the Citizenry
• An end to the traditional worker/management adversarial relationship characterised by British industry of the 70’s and 80’s
• Longer investment periods and an end to ‘short-termism’ where banks and financial institutions look for fast returns on their capital investments
• Republicanism – if not a republic then an end to hereditary monarchy
• Parliamentary reform which should include electoral reform and an end to the first-past-the-post system as well as a more open and less secretive decision making process
• The decentralisation of power and political process
• Abolition of the hereditary element of the House of Lords
• A clean break between the executive arm of government and its legislative function
• Reclamation of the public realm as an area for decision making and debate
• An independent central bank. (The Bank of England was freed from political interference on 6th May, 1997 by the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, under the first Labour administration of Tony Blair)
• The imposition of regulators on private utility companies with greater powers of control especially between civic and financial efficiency (this began in the 1980s as Thatcher started to sell off public utilities. The regulators are now seen as commonly in cahoots with the private companies in favour of shareholder dividends and profits against value and service to the general public.)
• Devolution of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and increased regional constituent assemblies.
• More city mayors with local powers
• Removal of the charitable status of Public (private) Schools.
Additional riders to this were
• A broadening of the stake holding in companies and institutions so creating a long term interest in the fate and health of the institutions from its owners.
• To extend the supply of cheap, long term credit allowing for long term development and investment in the future
• Decentralisation of decision making
All this is grounded on a belief in a wider public sense of morality that will act altruistically rather than purely for personal gain – and that belief is aimed at the upper middle classes and above as the classes with ownership of power. The truth is that this altruism is monumentally absent. Turkeys do not vote for Christmas. If anything we have moved from the Age of Self to the Age of Narcissism and not to the Age of Social Justice. Whilst Hutton’s wish list is truly moral and humanistic, they sit totally against what is currently seen as the human condition and as such represent a Utopianism of a well-meaning liberal. Inequality is seen as the price of wealth creation by a State which is market led. What Hutton is asking for is little short of Revolution or Never Never Land. The things he wants cannot be achieved without revolution or world-wide Trotskyism. And that is just not going to happen in the world of ‘Business as Usual’. The level of societal change Hutton calls for has not been seen since the end of the Wars of Three Kingdoms in 1650 and the establishment of Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector following the execution of Charles I. This of course led to a subversive counter-revolution till the restoration of the monarchy and the crowning of Charles II in 1660. One could argue that the changes undertaken post 2WW by the Labour administration under Clement Atlee were as radical as the post-regicide 17th century period but since 1945 we have seen the erosion of the welfare state, public health provision and public owned industry in a counter-revolution fronted by the shock troops of the Conservative Party, partly ameliorated by the ‘old patrician Tories’ the last of which was Alec Douglas-Home in 1965.
Ultimately reading the book now is quite depressing even though we are looking back at events described over 28 years ago, and described after 17 years of Conservative government. It becomes doubly depressing when one realises that we are in almost exactly the same position in 2022 after 12 years of Tory misrule under David Cameron, Teresa May and Boris Johnson culminating in the stupidity and ineptitude of the 44-day rule of Liz Truss. It is also that the causes of the chaos remain essentially the same – an unchecked belief in the Free Market Economy. You cannot dig yourself out of recession through tax cuts and financial deregulation, borrowing to repay at some time in the future from an undesignated source. The love affair between Conservative governments and finance and economic institutions is endemic. Liquidity is everything. Investment in infrastructure (education, training, health, innovation) is traditionally poor. The UK persists with and is still ruled by a post-colonial elite with a sense of imperialism which sees itself as the privileged Class. Since 1979 there has been a gradual roll back of people engaging in and determining the kind of society they wish to live in. The public interest can only be expressed as the interest of the majority party in the House of Commons. There has been in effect a substantial disenfranchisement of a large section of the populace in the UK. This has been mirrored by the growth of the Underclass as the fate brought on by government edicts has seen people fall from one class into the next lowest as predicted by Marx. Trickle down DOES NOT WORK!!! and is a fallacy used by the rich as an excuse for further increasing their gluttony.
We live in interesting and deeply troubling times.
October 28, 2025
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2.5 Stars
Feelings about the book:
- As a Brit, this did hit close to home. And not much has changed in the 30 odd years since the publication of this book.
Premise/Plot:
- Will Hutton presents a critique of late 20th century Britain’s social, economic and political institutions. He argues that the country is losing its battle amongst numerous crises. All of which is eroding the quality of life for ordinary Brits.
Themes:
- Structural weaknesses, societal inequality, low productivity, declining industry, weak welfare, international economic issues and more
Pros:
- Hutton describes Britain's situation pretty accurately
- Hutton is right to call for serious investment in policy that'll aid the general public
- It's a classic, and rightfully so to. But mainly because the British ruling class is so useless and Hutton's gripes with their rule are still relevant.
Cons:
- Not the most engaging writing style
Quotes:
‘There is too much ideology passing itself off as science, and the results have been lamentable.’
‘Tax and social welfare systems are seen not as instruments of social cohesion and public purpose; rather as burdens in the fight for competitiveness.’
‘There is no constitutional protection of a public interest that transcends party concerns because no conception of the public interest exists independently of what the government defines it to be.’
‘Important freedoms and a long-respected conception of democracy have been sacrificed – but for what?’
‘The collapse of social cohesion that comes when the market is allowed to rip through society has produced a fall in the growth rate; marginalisation, deprivation and exclusion have proved economically irrational.’
‘To be born poor means to stay poor and ill-qualified; while to be born rich brings with it educational attainment and career achievement. Class hardens subtly into caste – and economies do not prosper in caste societies.’
‘The commitment of being a good parent in market societies is becoming more and more difficult.’
‘There comes a point, as with the collapse of apartheid, where even the theorists of a bankrupt ideology are compelled to recognise its non-correspondence with reality.’
2.5 Stars
Feelings about the book:
- As a Brit, this did hit close to home. And not much has changed in the 30 odd years since the publication of this book.
Premise/Plot:
- Will Hutton presents a critique of late 20th century Britain’s social, economic and political institutions. He argues that the country is losing its battle amongst numerous crises. All of which is eroding the quality of life for ordinary Brits.
Themes:
- Structural weaknesses, societal inequality, low productivity, declining industry, weak welfare, international economic issues and more
Pros:
- Hutton describes Britain's situation pretty accurately
- Hutton is right to call for serious investment in policy that'll aid the general public
- It's a classic, and rightfully so to. But mainly because the British ruling class is so useless and Hutton's gripes with their rule are still relevant.
Cons:
- Not the most engaging writing style
Quotes:
‘There is too much ideology passing itself off as science, and the results have been lamentable.’
‘Tax and social welfare systems are seen not as instruments of social cohesion and public purpose; rather as burdens in the fight for competitiveness.’
‘There is no constitutional protection of a public interest that transcends party concerns because no conception of the public interest exists independently of what the government defines it to be.’
‘Important freedoms and a long-respected conception of democracy have been sacrificed – but for what?’
‘The collapse of social cohesion that comes when the market is allowed to rip through society has produced a fall in the growth rate; marginalisation, deprivation and exclusion have proved economically irrational.’
‘To be born poor means to stay poor and ill-qualified; while to be born rich brings with it educational attainment and career achievement. Class hardens subtly into caste – and economies do not prosper in caste societies.’
‘The commitment of being a good parent in market societies is becoming more and more difficult.’
‘There comes a point, as with the collapse of apartheid, where even the theorists of a bankrupt ideology are compelled to recognise its non-correspondence with reality.’
April 9, 2013
Still sadly relevant and a book I should have read the 15+ years ago I bought it. My loss. With Margaret Thatcher's passing yesterday this is a good time to reflect on this book and the changes in the UK since. The situation described in the book has worsened and the prescription contained all the more necessary. As I write, Britain is in the grip of a triple-dip recession with little light at the end of a long, dark tunnel and likely more to follow. The austerity budget of the coalition government has failed and will continue to afflict those least able to defend themselves. More broadly, austerity has failed in continental Europe as well. We can't say we weren't warned.
June 2, 2015
This is in a continuum of Will Hutton's thinking on the political and economic position of the UK. For me he has been and is more right on most things than most of his contemporaries; sadly most of what he has advocated has been ignored to the detriment of the country.
November 2, 2016
Short-termism is bad, in economics and politics, for charity and society at large. However, inevitable under the current system.
Interesting book, the concepts of which I plan to return to.
Interesting book, the concepts of which I plan to return to.
April 13, 2020
Will clearly writes a polemical well, I'm not entirely convinced by some of his conclusions and also lines of thought but on the whole a refreshing (new?) Keynesian perspective on the failings of a state moving ever closer to an all encompassing market society (Britain in 1995).
Common arguments/themes:
- That short-termism is a chronic failing of the British system enabled by high cost of capital and an emphasis on dividends and shareholders requiring high payouts or else they will jump ship and also these very individuals having no real stake in leading business or being involved in decision making. Also supported by banks unwillingness to finance long term loans and to work with companies (like they do in Japan)
- That the unwritten constitution and hegemonic power of those in charge in westminster mirrors that of society and business. Therefore the change the latter we must fix the former.
- That an increasingly marketised society corrodes values and a common sense of purpose and unity/an idea of the common good.
- Welfare has become too harsh and it is a litmus test of a successful society that there is a sufficient saftey net for all. This applies to pensions as well as he isn't happy about the privitisation of this.
- Public goods and natural monopolies don't work in the private sector.
- Need a more republican structure to society with power devolved to a local level
His chapters, particularly earlier on, on some specific areas such as finance I found rather dry. This may be because finance is boring and slighly depressing reading but I guess this isn't Will's fault.
In the later chapters he really came into his own, the explanation of Keynesians and new keynsian critiques of the 'new right's' ideology was particularly good. Also chapters on other capitalist systems and inequality did bits.
Some of his thoughts that I found particularly interesing:
- The view of trade unions as needing to be bolsered but also favouring a less adversarial model then was build in the 20th century. Rather he argues for a model more like that seen in Europe where unions were cooperative, sat on boards and allowed representation of workers interests but also had some stricter rules on strikes and encouraged cooperation over adversary behaviour.
- The emphasis on 'gentlemanly capitalists' growing out of public schools and into Oxford PPE and then government (whoops) or finance. The values appreciated were those of backhand deals and not 'inclusion, commitments, stakeholding, citizenship, the public good and cooperation'
- His views on the marketisation of life seem to predate and mirror Sandel's recent work on the subject (albiet with less philosophical clarity).
- His views on the need to pool sovereignty and work together in an increasingly globalised world lead into his views on Europe and the myth that an island can act as an island in a globalised world.
Some thoughts that were a little more sketchy:
- That the unwritten constitution is to blame. This felt a bit like the silver bullet that would fix a multitude of different problems. In reality I'm not convinced that this is really the problem and rather it goes much deeper into why the country has certain moral ideals and how the hollowing out of the public sphere has led to an increased reliance on supposably value-neutral market forces.
- That grammer schools and selective schools/public schools should be incorporated. I understand that, as he says, this is to not make the best the enemy of the good and it is potentially a more pragmatic approach. That being said the regressive effects of grammer schools and the morally questionable status of schools that systematically push kids of rich parents into top positions of society mean I'm not sure I'm willing to make this concession yet. Come back to me in 20 years, I'm sure I'll have been sufficiently beaten down by life that concession will seem the only way to progression, but we can dream can we not?
Overall very good book with lots of interesing points, not going to 5 it because of the aforementioned points and the fact that some of the earlier chapters were slow reading, but would heartily recommend.
Common arguments/themes:
- That short-termism is a chronic failing of the British system enabled by high cost of capital and an emphasis on dividends and shareholders requiring high payouts or else they will jump ship and also these very individuals having no real stake in leading business or being involved in decision making. Also supported by banks unwillingness to finance long term loans and to work with companies (like they do in Japan)
- That the unwritten constitution and hegemonic power of those in charge in westminster mirrors that of society and business. Therefore the change the latter we must fix the former.
- That an increasingly marketised society corrodes values and a common sense of purpose and unity/an idea of the common good.
- Welfare has become too harsh and it is a litmus test of a successful society that there is a sufficient saftey net for all. This applies to pensions as well as he isn't happy about the privitisation of this.
- Public goods and natural monopolies don't work in the private sector.
- Need a more republican structure to society with power devolved to a local level
His chapters, particularly earlier on, on some specific areas such as finance I found rather dry. This may be because finance is boring and slighly depressing reading but I guess this isn't Will's fault.
In the later chapters he really came into his own, the explanation of Keynesians and new keynsian critiques of the 'new right's' ideology was particularly good. Also chapters on other capitalist systems and inequality did bits.
Some of his thoughts that I found particularly interesing:
- The view of trade unions as needing to be bolsered but also favouring a less adversarial model then was build in the 20th century. Rather he argues for a model more like that seen in Europe where unions were cooperative, sat on boards and allowed representation of workers interests but also had some stricter rules on strikes and encouraged cooperation over adversary behaviour.
- The emphasis on 'gentlemanly capitalists' growing out of public schools and into Oxford PPE and then government (whoops) or finance. The values appreciated were those of backhand deals and not 'inclusion, commitments, stakeholding, citizenship, the public good and cooperation'
- His views on the marketisation of life seem to predate and mirror Sandel's recent work on the subject (albiet with less philosophical clarity).
- His views on the need to pool sovereignty and work together in an increasingly globalised world lead into his views on Europe and the myth that an island can act as an island in a globalised world.
Some thoughts that were a little more sketchy:
- That the unwritten constitution is to blame. This felt a bit like the silver bullet that would fix a multitude of different problems. In reality I'm not convinced that this is really the problem and rather it goes much deeper into why the country has certain moral ideals and how the hollowing out of the public sphere has led to an increased reliance on supposably value-neutral market forces.
- That grammer schools and selective schools/public schools should be incorporated. I understand that, as he says, this is to not make the best the enemy of the good and it is potentially a more pragmatic approach. That being said the regressive effects of grammer schools and the morally questionable status of schools that systematically push kids of rich parents into top positions of society mean I'm not sure I'm willing to make this concession yet. Come back to me in 20 years, I'm sure I'll have been sufficiently beaten down by life that concession will seem the only way to progression, but we can dream can we not?
Overall very good book with lots of interesing points, not going to 5 it because of the aforementioned points and the fact that some of the earlier chapters were slow reading, but would heartily recommend.
April 6, 2023
This book was so enlightening and explains clearly the many issues created by gentlemanly capitalism that rewards financial institutions, banks and shareholders but places a stranglehold on our industries being able to grow and develop through research, training and modernisation. This consequently leads to a majority in society excluded from sharing the wealth and prosperity that would make the UK a more democratic and better place for all.
March 28, 2016
An excellent book, which was incredibly insightful. It's shocking the amount of similarities we still see today throughout our socio-economic policies. Plus it's given me a much better understanding on why Margaret Thatcher divides opinion to such a great extent.
The only reason I rated this 3 stars was simply because I did not understand a good proportion of it! That is of course my fault, and it takes very little away from what is a fascinating book.
The only reason I rated this 3 stars was simply because I did not understand a good proportion of it! That is of course my fault, and it takes very little away from what is a fascinating book.
April 29, 2013
I can see from the reviews this book is decisive depending what side of the political fence you are. Nevertheless it reads very well with a single thread that each chapter converse with which is the failure of short termist economic policy, citing Japanese Nenko and Germany Corporatist model as logical alternatives. Of course this is all before the economic crisis of 2008
July 29, 2016
You could get depressed!
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