Every thinking person knows that a great change is needed in our
country. Will Hutton's passionate book shows how the right and left
have gone wrong over the course of the last century – and how we can
remake a better Britain. Britain's inability to invest in itself is at
the heart of our problems. The malevolent thread linking the grievous
errors of the last forty-five years is the attempt to create the
utopia of free markets and a minimal state. The terrible consequences
scar our country today. We need an alternative economic and political
philosophy, especially if we are to ward off a nihilist populism. Two
great traditions – ethical socialism and progressive liberalism –
can be brought together to offer a different way forward. Hutton
describes the views of their major thinkers, and their common vision
of what he calls the 'We Society' – combining the 'We' and the 'I'.
The two strands of thought both believe in the duty to treat people
fairly in a capitalist system that, without guiderails, spirals into
inequality, monopoly and exploitation. Out of this shared worldview
came the great reforming Liberal government of 1906–14, supported by
Labour MPs who'd been elected in industrial areas with Liberal
backing. This alliance, Hutton argues, was the great opportunity of
modern British history. It was destroyed by the First World War. In
1945 a Labour government, informed by great Liberal intellectuals like
Keynes and Beveridge, showed once again what can be achieved when the
two progressive strands fuse. Since then, our deeply unfair electoral
system has allowed Conservatives to dominate government and commit a
long series of great, avoidable errors. The Labour Party, fatally
divided between socialist purity and timid pragmatism, must rediscover
the ingredients that made for the success of the great reforming
governments of the twentieth century. This failure to uphold the 'We
Society' has betrayed Britain. Capitalism must be repurposed to work
for the common good. And our degraded democracy, the necessary means
for such change, must be reformed. Hutton's proposals are inspiring
and rooted in values held by the overwhelming majority of us. Above
all, they are achievable.
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How to Remake Britain
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9781804549407
Publisert
2024
Utgave
1. utgave
Utgiver
Vendor
Apollo
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter