Fantasy Island

by Larry Elliott, Dan Atkinson

We live in a country fantasising about its ability to run up debts seemingly without end, to enjoy high-paid employment for which it is not qualified, to project military power that it does not possess and in general to assume, in defiance of the evidence, a superior economic and political position in relation to most of the rest of the world. Then there is the apparent conviction that limitless growth can co-exist with environmental protection, that the over-borrowed and abundantly staffed state machine is actually being courageously pruned even while its payroll rises and, finally, that the just-around-the-corner radiant future is one in which will work in the 'creative economy'. Welcome to Fantasy Island. He may be the most spectacular election winner in modern British political history but Blair leaves behind him a seedy dreamworld mired in debt and bankruptcy, drifting into a crisis of employment and employability, hallucinating into existence a diplomatic and military role that it cannot possibly afford. It's time to take stock of the future he and Brown have mapped out for us while there's still time to do something about it.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published May 24, 2007

Reviews

[Bill Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book - very readable, with plenty of anecdotal and detailed factual evidence.

The interesting take for me was that the problems we inherited after the Blair / Brown government seem amazingly similar to the one Labour has just inherited from the last Tory government.

Great political economy book but fails to provide any answers.

[Jonny Brick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Time capsule of 2007, a time of fantasies in Britain to do with debt, creative industries, foreign policy, climate and work. The authors correctly predict financial problems and it's a good summary of the Blair Era.

[Lysergius · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ship of fools on a cruel sea, ship fools sail away from me...
It was later than I thought when I first believed you
Now I cannot share your laughter, ship of fools...