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A review by mrshev
A Classless Society: Britain in the 1990s by Alwyn Turner
2.0
I think the problem with books written about history is that if they are within your own memories of that period then you have already formed a judgement of them.
This book reads like a love letter to John Major who, in the author’s eyes, can do no wrong and was a paragon of virtue, truth and integrity in the seedy world of British politics - which is pure fantasy. He was an insipid, uninspired and unimaginative man who happened upon being Prime Minister. Blair (in hindsight a one-dimensional delusionist and media junkie) - entered office after years of Tory infighting with a great deal of hope. The author seems to not recall that. He also does not recall what was actually happening in Europe and the U.S. which was seismic.
He quotes Drop the Dead Donkey a bit too much and writes off Britpop with the same disdain as a Findus pancake. Dance music? Rave culture? Grunge? The Internet? Monica? It’s like the author just listened to every episode of Today in Parliament and turned it into the Diary of Adrian Mole. There must be better recent histories out there.
This book reads like a love letter to John Major who, in the author’s eyes, can do no wrong and was a paragon of virtue, truth and integrity in the seedy world of British politics - which is pure fantasy. He was an insipid, uninspired and unimaginative man who happened upon being Prime Minister. Blair (in hindsight a one-dimensional delusionist and media junkie) - entered office after years of Tory infighting with a great deal of hope. The author seems to not recall that. He also does not recall what was actually happening in Europe and the U.S. which was seismic.
He quotes Drop the Dead Donkey a bit too much and writes off Britpop with the same disdain as a Findus pancake. Dance music? Rave culture? Grunge? The Internet? Monica? It’s like the author just listened to every episode of Today in Parliament and turned it into the Diary of Adrian Mole. There must be better recent histories out there.