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Dismembered: How the Conservative Attack on the State Harms Us All
What is the state? And what's it ever done for you?More than you think.
The state houses us, educates us, employs us, protects us on the street and in the wider world. It is the country we created together, and a part of our national identity. However, in recent years there has been a systematic and covert attack on the state that has turned us all against it - the government have depleted funding and resources, and mounted an ideological assault on the public sector through the media.
Toynbee and Walker travelled around Great Britain gathering the voices of the people who make up the nurses and patients, teachers and parents, policemen and civilians. This book is your chance to hear their side of the story.
The story they tell is one of dismemberment across our nation a fragmented NHS, a reduced police force, divided schools and a vulnerable military. In Dismembered, it becomes clear that this attack on the state is an attack on each and every one of us, for our peace and productivity as a country depend upon a strong state.
DISMEMBERED lays bare the deliberate dismantling of the public sector and its consequences. Our post-Brexit well-being and prosperity are now at stake.
The state houses us, educates us, employs us, protects us on the street and in the wider world. It is the country we created together, and a part of our national identity. However, in recent years there has been a systematic and covert attack on the state that has turned us all against it - the government have depleted funding and resources, and mounted an ideological assault on the public sector through the media.
Toynbee and Walker travelled around Great Britain gathering the voices of the people who make up the nurses and patients, teachers and parents, policemen and civilians. This book is your chance to hear their side of the story.
The story they tell is one of dismemberment across our nation a fragmented NHS, a reduced police force, divided schools and a vulnerable military. In Dismembered, it becomes clear that this attack on the state is an attack on each and every one of us, for our peace and productivity as a country depend upon a strong state.
DISMEMBERED lays bare the deliberate dismantling of the public sector and its consequences. Our post-Brexit well-being and prosperity are now at stake.
- GenresNonfictionPolitics
353 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 16, 2017
9 people are currently reading
127 people want to read
About the author
Polly Toynbee
29 books38 followersPolly Toynbee (born Mary Louisa Toynbee, 27 December 1946) is a British journalist and writer, and has been a columnist for The Guardian newspaper since 1998. She is a social democrat and broadly supports the Labour Party, while urging it in many areas to be more left-wing, though during the 2010 general election she urged a tactical vote in support of the Liberal Democrats in an attempt to bring about a Lab-Lib coalition in support of proportional representation. She was appointed President of the British Humanist Association in July 2007. In 2007 she was named 'Columnist of the Year' at the British Press Awards.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 8, 2019
Responding to the neoliberal/Thatcherite notion that government services can be shrunk down and that the magic of capitalism and charity coffers will somehow take care of a vast array of important tasks, Toynbee and Walker argue that this is unlikely. Those jobs may not be accomplished by private enterprise; and, even if they are done piecemeal, the idea of the state amounts to more than the sum of its parts.
In unending quest for "efficiency," sometimes it initially seems best, they say, for the state to hire private contractors to fulfill what the state itself has traditionally done. But private business keeps its eye on maximizing its own profit and “has no place for trust, let alone for an ethos of public service." As a result, when private contractors are involved, the state must perform a different role: supervising the contracting jobs to ensure that they are done properly and competitively. This project management carries its own challenges, and it isn't obviously better than having government employees perform the entire job from start to finish.
A worthwhile observation.
In unending quest for "efficiency," sometimes it initially seems best, they say, for the state to hire private contractors to fulfill what the state itself has traditionally done. But private business keeps its eye on maximizing its own profit and “has no place for trust, let alone for an ethos of public service." As a result, when private contractors are involved, the state must perform a different role: supervising the contracting jobs to ensure that they are done properly and competitively. This project management carries its own challenges, and it isn't obviously better than having government employees perform the entire job from start to finish.
A worthwhile observation.
September 17, 2017
This is a depressing but necessary read. Toynbee and Walker show the scale and consequences of anti-statism to health, financial regulation, criminal justice, education and transportation.
It is a bloody mess. Assuming that profit-seeking agencies and organizations can managed aged care or childcare is ridiculous to the extreme. This book shows the impact of anti-statism on people's daily lives, with shocking results.
Most importantly, Toynbee and Walker demonstrate how the global financial crisis was used as a cover to 'roll back' the state when - actually - the profiteering bankers failed because of their greed, and the state was brought in to keep the financial sector in operation. Yet since that time, the support and respect for the state has declined and the bankers are back.
The irrationality of anti-statism will lead to declines in health, education, energy policy and transportation infrastructure. This is not going to end well...
It is a bloody mess. Assuming that profit-seeking agencies and organizations can managed aged care or childcare is ridiculous to the extreme. This book shows the impact of anti-statism on people's daily lives, with shocking results.
Most importantly, Toynbee and Walker demonstrate how the global financial crisis was used as a cover to 'roll back' the state when - actually - the profiteering bankers failed because of their greed, and the state was brought in to keep the financial sector in operation. Yet since that time, the support and respect for the state has declined and the bankers are back.
The irrationality of anti-statism will lead to declines in health, education, energy policy and transportation infrastructure. This is not going to end well...
May 6, 2019
A wake up call.
Some elements of this hold a deep personal resonance.
When serving as Deputy Secretary in the Australian Federal Government’s Department of Communications I was honored to be part of the ‘APS200’ which then was an attempt to get senior leaders from across the Australian Public Service to work better together and find and deploy ‘whole of government’ solutions to what were then described as ‘wicked problems’.
I fear that politics in Australia may since have eroded that initiative under the same banner that so many of public services in the UK have been crippled.
On an even more personal note, speaking with a headhunter in recent weeks I was asked if I would consider opportunities in the Public Service. I answered that I would not only consider them but was actively seeking such opportunities. I couldn’t help thinking that response was seen as ‘unusual’.
We will see what we will see?
Some elements of this hold a deep personal resonance.
When serving as Deputy Secretary in the Australian Federal Government’s Department of Communications I was honored to be part of the ‘APS200’ which then was an attempt to get senior leaders from across the Australian Public Service to work better together and find and deploy ‘whole of government’ solutions to what were then described as ‘wicked problems’.
I fear that politics in Australia may since have eroded that initiative under the same banner that so many of public services in the UK have been crippled.
On an even more personal note, speaking with a headhunter in recent weeks I was asked if I would consider opportunities in the Public Service. I answered that I would not only consider them but was actively seeking such opportunities. I couldn’t help thinking that response was seen as ‘unusual’.
We will see what we will see?
February 11, 2018
A (rightly) critical account of the Conservative agenda of anti-statism and the concomitant attack on public services. Successive Tory Governments have shirked fair economic principles for an ideological model which disparages migrants and neglects the vulnerable to the sole benefit of an affluent few. Toynbee and Walker make the case for collective action over individualism, and they do it well. Must read.
December 4, 2019
Shocking but at the same time familiar - I think the thing that leaves you is the complicity of the general population in implicitly accepting austerity and all the damage caused by not complaining - in the same way ahead of the Dec 12th election there is a sense that people are punch drunk with lies and misdirection - active measures - it feels that we as well as the state have been Dismembered...
March 20, 2024
There are some books that are written to stand the test of time and there are some that exist to be read contemporaneously. This is one of the latter.
I found it really difficult to read this given all that has taken place in the world since 2016 when this was written. It goes to show how fast-moving politics is and the impact of national and international events.
I would have probably enjoyed this a lot more if I’d have read it 8 years ago.
I found it really difficult to read this given all that has taken place in the world since 2016 when this was written. It goes to show how fast-moving politics is and the impact of national and international events.
I would have probably enjoyed this a lot more if I’d have read it 8 years ago.
December 16, 2023
Historical now, although it was current when it was written. A lot of the points are still valid, such as "you get what you pay for" when it comes to the state, and as the background to how things got how they are today. Interesting to read it now with hindsight.
June 22, 2019
Some good ideas and intresting discussion points. Unfortunately let down by such strong partisanship that it can come across as petty at points.
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October 31, 2018Description: Toynbee and Walker travelled around Great Britain gathering the voices of the people who make up the state: nurses and patients, teachers and parents, policemen and civilians. This book is your chance to hear their side of the story.
The story they tell is one of dismemberment across our nation state: a fragmented NHS, a reduced police force, divided schools and a vulnerable military. In Dismembered, it becomes clear that this attack on the state is an attack on each and every one of us, for our peace and productivity as a country depend upon a strong state.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews