The Lost Decade: 2010–2020, and What Lies Ahead for Britain

by Polly Toynbee, David Walker

The ten years from 2010 have been devastating. A decade of austerity and paralysis nurtured contempt for leaders, institutions and fellow citizens and fertilised the ground for a rebellious Brexit. It has been a decade characterised by national tragedies from Grenfell to Windrush, and food banks to the property crisis.But, as Adam Smith said, 'there's a great deal of ruin in a nation'. No truthful portrait of an era can be monochrome. Bright spots included the rise of renewable energy, lower crime rates, legalisation of same-sex marriage and the creative industries continuing to punch well above their weight in spite of cuts.In The Lost Decade , Polly Toynbee and David Walker offer the definitive survey of this most tumultuous of periods in British history and look to what lies ahead for us. This is the anatomy of a dark decade, bringing hope for better to come.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, History

355 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 3, 2020

About the author

Polly 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.

Reviews

[Liam Kerrigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A damning indictment of the actions of Tory governments (in their various forms) over the last decade.

It is an illuminating read in that, until the figures are presented in front of you, as they are throughout this book, it can often be difficult to appreciate just how deep the cuts had been under austerity measures.

It must be admitted that this is also a particularly depressing read. Were the lost growth and potential caused by public spending cuts not bad enough, as well as the knowledge that this was not borne out of economic necessity but political expediency, the difficulties we are yet to face as a result of the UK’s exit from the EU will only compound these issues.

This sense of difficulties yet to come reached its apex for me in the discussion on adult social care. 41% of elderly day care centres have been cut. Adult social care funding decreased despite a 14% in the number of over-65s who needed it and two-million people who would have qualified to receive care at home in 2010 didn’t get it in 2019. Couple all of this with the fact that you have the biggest generation in history hitting retirement age right now and you begin to wonder how, or more accurately if, the system will cope. The families of these older people can’t look after them because they’re having to work longer and/or multiple jobs because wages are so low. If enough older people are able to get the assistance they need from private providers by either taking out equity from or selling their home, this only kicks the can down the road. The next generation, with far fewer home owners and far more people with no savings as it has been hoovered up by private landlords, won’t have that option. It is an impending crisis second only to climate change.

This book highlights the scale of the challenge(s) this country will face, or will have faced even before the current COVID-19 crisis. The Tories won the 2019 election by essentially promising a reversal of their actions up to that point and now they have been forced to make unprecedented interventions and spending commitments due to the pandemic and resulting lockdown. What is clear is that, no matter the cost of these measures, we cannot return to austerity as a consequence.

[George Dollin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highlighting the divisiveness and despair created by 10 years of Tory rule this book consistently reminds you of the self inflicted harm of the last 10 years.

[Pushon Bhattacharya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I may not like the authors much, but this is a great overview of the Conservatives' ruination of the country in the 2010s.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary - A timely synthesis of Britain's woes and prospects for change. But where are the footnotes?

Footnotes can be annoying, especially if the reader is constantly being prompted to break mid-sentence. That said, in a book as richly-populated by data, I would say some sort of sourcing was essential. Endnotes or even a cross-reference bibliography to the main sources would have done it, but nada.

I loved 'Unjust Rewards' back in 2008/2009, and gained a lot from this latest State of England (and also to some extent, devolved nations). I'm an admirer of Toynbee's journalism, and I assume the italicised case studies come from hers and Walker's articles. They brought to life the necessarily drier analysis on demographic trends, even if their origins like most of the citations is not backed up with references.

Some of these points are striking - nearly half of Cornish children on free school meals, and average after-tax household income in Nottingham at under £13k. The exhaustion public of reserves (health, care services, education, heritage and culture) under our asset-stripping Etonian overlords is a case well-made.

The collective cognitive dissonance in the national mindset was equally well sketched. How could it be that the population when surveyed claimed its happiness levels to be among the highest in Europe, when poverty and Brexit-focused culture wars were busy sapping the life from us all - with the figures to prove it.

Well, almost. I trustToynbee's journalism, and the sources are named in most cases here to be able to track them down. But still, for a serious book, which seriously needs reading if you haven't, it's an oversight not to lay out the evidence on which it's been based.

[Mo · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent analysis of why we are where we are now. If only those who voted Brexit had read this before they voted. Not possible of course as it is an account of the years 2010 to 2020. This doesn't change the fact that austerity and political mismanagement are the real culprits of our time. The final chapters of what happens next doesn't offer sunlit uplands.

[Lucia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this. I read it with an open mind knowing I would mostly be on the opposite side of the argument but I do like Polly Toynbee. However within ten pages the authors’ disdain for the public and language to describe their opponents was basic and lazy. I expected more insight. Instead it’s just one long complaint

[Charlotte Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

*3.5

I wish this book had either been longer, or had tried to cover less ground. As it stands, I felt like parts of this book just listed statistic after statistic without any real discussion or in-depth look into the situation, which became a bit tiresome to read

[Clare Russell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Journalistic rather than academic, but would have been more powerful had the incredible individual stories been more prominent
A bleak picture ending with hope
Would be interesting to see post covid/boris conclusions. Essential reading before you vote in 2024

[Laura B · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well written but just so depressing

[George Ruddick · Rating 3 out of 5]

sad

[Hannah Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. This was fine but I expected more from it: it was quite basic. If you keep up with the news and political analysis, you probably don't need to read it.