Articulate, thorough and very well informed, this is a comprehensive and withering takedown of the incompetent and malign forces which have conspired to render life in the UK increasingly fraught and materially poorer over the last decade and a half. It is also, for the most part, very well written; the quality of O’Brien’s prose is significantly better than, I suspect, anything which could be mustered by any of his subjects. Never mind the ranting, semi-literate headline writing of the newspaper men which he portrays, none of the prose churned out by Cameron, Johnson, et al is as erudite, nuanced or perceptive as that which O’Brien pens. When you read early in the introduction that this is, “…a tale of loss and betrayal; of unbridled arrogance and unchallenged ignorance; of personal impunity, warped ideology and political incompetence” it is clear that, if nothing else, you’re likely to be in for an interesting ride. The 45 page introduction lies at the heart of the book and, in it, O’Brien describes how a convergence of self-interested actors has generated an economic, media and political ecosystem in which inequality has been encouraged to flourish, in which everyone except the already powerful and wealthy have become less powerful and less wealthy and in which, ultimately, the country has lost itself and become broken. Time was when “Broken Britain” was only to be found enjoying a second pint of cheap, industrial lager in a High Street chain pub at 10.15.am. on a weekday morning; now, O’Brien demonstrates, it is all pervasive. His subsequent chapters, battering the reputations of nine of the individuals who have done the damage, are – by definition – less wide ranging but my, doesn’t O’Brien do a good job? His combination of exhaustively researched (and referenced) factual reporting with pointed, wry analysis is difficult to resist and, as page succeeds page and the evidence mounts up, the accuracy of his scrutiny becomes both irrefutable and rather overwhelming. O’Brien reserves much of his best writing for Cameron, nailing his lazy lies about the origins of the financial crisis and his stupidity at being pulled into the Brexit referendum (and then, worse, losing it) with a comprehensive attention to detail which many other commentators would do well to emulate. He does not, perhaps, do full justice to Cameron’s blithe insouciance on walking away from the mess he created and he could probably have paid some attention to the Greensill Scandal while, equally, the book was written too early to document the entitled exceptionalism which underpinned Cameron’s unexpected return to public life as Foreign Secretary – but, all that said, O’Brien pulls no punches. I particularly like his use of a quotation from Cameron’s (excruciating) autobiography about his “growing sense of being mediocre” as a schoolboy at the end of the chapter. This is not to suggest that O’Brien isn’t excoriatingly brilliant elsewhere. His relatively sympathetic depiction of Cummings as principled but deluded – a solipsistic ideologue who, in contrast to those whom he served, was actually trying to act in the best interests of the country – is engaging and, of course, his final chapters on Johnson and Truss are, if clearly predictable, to the point. While, like many, I was already familiar with the description of Johnson penned by his former Eton housemaster, the quotation from the institution’s former headmaster, John Claughton, was new to me and worth the price of the book alone. All things considered, then, this is not to be missed, a recommendation which, fascinatingly, is not shared by the largely ad hominem one star reviews on this site. Which serfs from Tufton Street were drafted in to write them, I wonder?
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This is a well researched and well written account of the 12 factors that have led to failure of government, the control of news by a few wealthy people and the total lack of morality and self importance of key figures. There are 12 chapters, the first three are on media encroachment and agenda setting. The rest are politicians who were useless, arrogant, inflexible and so on. So they include Cameron, Johnson, Corbyn Cummings, Johnson and Truss with an add on for Sunak. Completed in Feb 2024 it is so up to date and explains a lot of the chaos and poor thinking on brexit and the false austerity before it. It is a brilliant read and all the sources are given at the end of the book along with an index. It's a serious book but very readable. I took three days because there is a lot of information to absorb and a lot of stuff that is incredible. How have we been conned!
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How They Broke Britain Dashing for the train I espied James O’Brien’s book with its arresting title, How They Broke Britain. Who were ‘They’ I thought, what did they break, and why? What – partisan media, diminution of public services: sewage, court trial delays, et al. – hardly controversial. Why, I guessed correctly – as anyone might – when I bought this dramatic account of alleged misdeeds by the high and mighty, actual or self-appointed. “This book, then,”, states O’Brien, “is a charge sheet: a compendium of poor behaviour and bad actors”. “We will see that what has happened to the UK over the last few decades – notably since 2010, especially since 2016 and quite spectacularly since 2019 – is as unforgivable as it is immense.” [p.2] Those responsible for the damage, claims O’Brien, include MPs Nigel Farage, David Cameron, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Jeremy Corbyn. Pride of place, or at least first in line, goes to one not an MP, nor even a UK citizen, Rupert Murdoch. He is accused of being the one who made the press even more a tool of narrow political interests, instead of the vital task of holding power to account. Omitted as a chapter – although often referred to in several as a culprit – is the MP whose meddling in Education turned the difficult occupation of teaching into an impossible job, so school teachers report. Other alleged miscreants, considered worthy of a chapter, include such media figures as Paul Dacre and Andrew Neil, as well as influencers such as Dominic Cummings. Answering his own question as to why a version of Fox News had not intruded into UK, O’Brien claims that “the lucrative business of taking the commoditisation of hate, the othering of minorities, the demonisation of racial or religious difference and the denigration of dissent to a whole new level had already been almost completely sown up. By Paul Dacre and Viscounts Rothermere’s Daily Mail.” [p.80]. David Cameron and George Osborne are jointly charged in How They Broke Britain with introducing a prolonged austerity regime: arguably unnecessarily extended, or perhaps entirely unnecessary, given its dubious justification, notably “that the economic collalapse of 2008 was somehow caused by public spending in the UK.” [p87]. Also, O’Brien reminds us, “The grossly fallacious idea that the 2008 economic meltdown was due to Labour’s public sector spending, as opposed to a banking crisis born largely from the American subprime mortgage scandal, was absolutely crucial to Cameron and, even more so, his chancellor George Osborne.” [p.238]. Why 4 stars? Because a fascinating read, I thought, but unlike technical books whose value I can assess for clarity and correctness, I simply don’t have the authority to make an objective claim. Nonetheless, a careful read is de rigeur for a meaningful critique. I did spot one error – O’Brien’s claim about Swedish crime. James O’Brien’s How They Broke Britain will not appeal to those addicted to ‘my party, right or wrong’, and anyway the whole arena is perhaps too emotionally charged for wide appeal to be claimed. As John L. Austin once wrote, it may be best ‘to let sleeping dogmatists lie’.
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If you really want to know then you need to read this book, well written and a definite page turner.
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You better be able to comprehend the English language. It is a tough sloughing read not a page turner. You must be politically astute to read it.
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Lettura interessante che propone un affresco della politica contemporanea del Regno Unito. Sinceramente diversi personaggi non di primo piano mi erano del tutto sconosciuti e questo ha un po' rallentato la lettura. Vengono messi in luce gli stretti rapporti tra media e politica che hanno innescato un circolo vizioso degenerando il tessuto economico e sociale. Da leggere.
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Klarsichtige Beschreibung des Brexits und wie es dazu kommen konnte, das das UK als erster Staat in der Geschichte "ökonomische Sanktionen gegen sich selbst verhängte". Wie insbesondere rechtspopulistische Medien ein Land in den Abgrund führen können ist ein Lehrstück für jeden in Europa.
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James O’Brien is a marmite character but, undisputedly an excellent political writer and pundit. I loved the deconstruction of Johnson, May and Truss and the depressing portrait of the ineffectual Corbyn, far more concerned about steering the Labour Party further left than the unfolding catastrophe of Brexit. Highly recommended.
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Excellent review of the background shenanigans and the players who created these shenanigans resulting in the unnecessary chaos of Brexit.
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