Thursday, November 12, 2015

Nick Clegg on "The Age of Unreason"

Nick Clegg's book will be published by Bodley Head next year under the title: 'Politics: The Art of the Possible in an Age of Unreason."

The Bookseller reports:
In Politics Clegg will examine the current state of politics, which the publisher said had seen "old certainties disappear, outsider figures become mainstream, and nationalism, populism and identity politics rise up at home and abroad." The former deputy PM will draw on his personal experience of modern politics during the coalition government of 2010-15 to offer an "objective glimpse behind the curtains revealing how power in Britain really works." 
The Bodley Head's editorial director, Will Hammond, described it as “a must-read for anyone interested in British politics” as well as for the many "alienated by the political landscape today”...
Nick Clegg has described the book as a reflection on “how the politics of reason, evidence and compromise can survive at a time when grievance and unreasoned populism are on the march at home and abroad” as well as “an examination of the state of British politics, told through candid stories and observations from my time at the top and the bottom of the political ladder”. 
Hammond said: “Nick Clegg is uniquely well placed to describe the inner workings of Downing Street and Westminster while maintaining a dispassionate distance from our current government and opposition. More than an illuminating insider’s account, though, the book will use those experiences to explain why politics has changed so dramatically in recent years, what has been lost in the process and what might be done to address this lack. This book will be a must-read for anyone interested in British politics but will also speak to those who feel alienated by the political landscape today."

3 comments:

David Evans said...

“This book will ... also speak to those who feel alienated by the political landscape today." Sadly many of those felt they had a home in the Liberal Democrats because we showed how Jo Grimond’s “liberals should be on the side of the governed not the governing” could really work. However, Nick was almost single handedly responsible for destroying that trust, and we, and even more so the communities we are no longer there to fight for, are paying the price for his “grown up government.”

Anonymous said...

"This book ... will also speak to those who feel alienated by the political landscape today."

And if readers aren't alienated when they start the book, they probably will be by the end of it ...

crewegwyn said...

Indeed. Why bother reading the book before throwing (further) bricks at Nick Clegg?