Broonland is a scathing and witty indictment of the architect of New Labour, Gordon Brown. Chris Harvie shows how Gordon Brown came to preside over a bankrupt country on the brink of economic and political breakdown. Taking us on a tour of Britain over the last decade, he explores the ever-widening disparity between rich and poor, and how manufacturing was replaced by 'retail, entertainment and recreation' - otherwise known as shopping, gambling and drinking. Looking at how a deregulated, casino economy veered wildly out of control, and how Britain's public utilities and industries were privatized and sold off to the highest bidder, Broonland is both an essential anatomy of New Labour's bankrupt policies and a caustic portrait of a decade that went from boom to bust.
CHRISTOPHER HARVIE is a Member of the Scottish Parliament for Mid Scotland and Fife. Harvie is a visiting professor at Strathclyde and Aberystwyth universities and serves on the board of the European Centre for Federalism Studies, Tubingen, Germany. His many books include 'Scotland and Nationalism' and 'Fool's Gold: The Story of North Sea Oil'. His website is www.intelligent-mr-toad.de
Title: Broonland: The Last Days of Gordon Brown
Author: Christopher Harvie
ISBN: 9781844674398
Binding:
Publisher: Verso Books
Publication Date: 2009-09-01
Number of Pages: 224
Weight: 0.2813 kg
[Harvie] is out for serious trouble with the UKL establishment, and provides a definitive depiction of broken-up Britain. - Tom Nairn, London Review of Books If you like writing stuffed with fascinating ideas, to the point that the sentences burst like a badlywrappedpresent froman enthusiastic friend, then dip in. George Kerevan, Scotsman Chris Harvie is a rare bird in the field sport of Scottish politics - grand visions and eclectic ideas. Gerry Hassan, Sunday Times Scotland A capacious critique of this most complex of modern British politicians- whose 'last days' may not, even yet, be near Pat Kane, Independent