Comprehensive but strangely uninspiring account, 07 May 2008
No-one could fault the time and effort that have gone into producing this extensive work but the sheer volume of facts, figures and comments might well prove mind-numbing to the average reader and certainly led to me - who can just remember the period in question - losing interest and scanning through pages looking for the essence amongst innumerable details. A great resource for a student of the times but not for those seeking a general account of these important years.

A Very Enjoyable Trip Through Late 40s Britain, 16 Dec 2007
This compilation of two books covering the period 1945 - 51 and intended to be the first two parts of a work that will progress to 1979, is very enjoyable and sweeps the reader along at a great pace. The daunting 632 pages thus become quite manageable. Kynaston covers the actions of the major movers and shakers in the government and in sport, architecture, industry and the unions, and the literary world. These action are contrasted with the feelings and attitudes of the people on the receiving end as judged by diarists and the results of the Mass Observation exercise that was still in place. Kynaston handles this wealth of material with great skill and moves through all these areas with great aplomb such that the narrative never becomes boring or a disjointed list of different topics.
Minor criticisms of this otherwise excellent book from someone who lived through the period might include a little too much space given to racial attitudes and a failure to really capture the feeling and appearance of bombed cities. There is also a failure to capture the atmosphere of a hospital of the time which was, of course, completely different to today, or the fear of unwanted pregnancy. There is also a tendency to anticipate new building that only really became significant after 1951. Nevertheless, these are relatively minor quibbles and I commend this book as a great read to all those interested in UK domestic history of the late 1940s, and look forward to further instalments.

Wonderful instructive and entertaining history, 09 Dec 2007
I was aged ten in 1945 and experienced this period of British history and found this brilliant in its accurate depiction of everyday life, account of the political scene and the birth of the welfare state. Read it and understand where a lot of those chickens (good and bad) now roosting on this sceptred isle came from.

An outstanding study of a changing nation, 21 Oct 2007
David Kynaston begins his book, the first of a planned multi-volume survey of Britain, on a high note by chronicling the celebrations of V-E Day. It is a joyous starting point for his ambitious goal, which is to chart the evolution of the nation from the end of the Second World War to the election of Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government in 1979. It is an era that began with the commitment to nationalizing industries and creating the modern welfare state and ended with a government winning power with a promise to undo many of these programs, and Kynaston plans to show how the country developed over this period. This he does by focusing on the people who lived in those times, drawing from the early work of Mass-Observation, contemporary press accounts and the private writings of diarists to provide a sprawling portrait of Britain in the late 1940s.

What particularly stands out is how much different the nation was back then. The Britain that emerges from these pages is a nation driven by an industrial economy, with an overwhelmingly white and predominantly male workforce in physically demanding jobs producing a quarter of the world's manufactured goods. The everyday lives of these Britons was different as well, lacking not only the modern conveniences that the author notes early in the text but even many of the basics of prewar life, basics which had been sacrificed to the exigencies of war. Kynaston notes their growing frustration with ongoing scarcity, a frustration that illustrated the gulf between their harsh realities and the idealistic dreams of government planners that is a persistent theme of the book.

Richly detailed, superbly written, and supplemented with excellent photographs, Kynaston's book is an outstanding account of postwar Britain. It offers readers an evocative account of a much different era of British history, yet one with all-too familiar concerns over youth, crime, and an emerging multiracial society. Having devoured its pages, I look forward eagerly to the next installment and the insights Kynaston will offer.

A very readable history of post war Britain , 15 Aug 2007
I read a review in The Sunday Times when the book first came out. I thought it was a suitably obscure subject and asked the library to get me a copy. In then became a bestseller and I was told that the waiting list was 54 and I was 27.

I then read better reviews and they said it was a great book. I was born in 1950 so that period of history is of interest to me as I believed it shaped the1950s and 1960s and some of the attitudes still prevail today.

The book is a great review of British life in its every aspect and the thinking of the time. We had won the war but the peace was tougher than the war for a lot of people. Rationing went on for years and the old attitudes in society did not break down quickly enough.

I did not start to take notice of what was going on in society until about 1963 and the attitudes that are set out in this book certainly prevailed for thr next twenty years. All the old threadbare cliches of privilege and what society was all about still existed.

In 1946 the National Trust had a meeting and one of their representatives said about Montacute House in somerset that the public could not of course be admitted to the house because they smelt. There was two minutes dead silence.

People did smell in 1946 if you read about their washing an living conditions.

Housing was a big priority then as now Neil Kinnock's family moved in November 1947 to a new two bed-roomed prefab on a council estate in Nant-y Bwch " It was like moving to Beverly Hills he recalled " It had a fridge, a bath, central heating and a smokeless grate... and people used to come just to look at it.

The BBC was holding up standards as always and banned in 1948 jokes about lavatories, effeminacy in men, immorality of any kind.Extreme care should be taken about certain references such as pre natal influences(e.g. his mother was frightened by a donkey and marital infidelity.

The public's views on extra marital sex were recorded. One taxi proprietor said "I may say my wife and I have dropped one or two people who weren't playing the game ,we didn't think they were worth knowing."

It is an interesting old fashioned view that you would ostracise people for immorality. You would be ploughing a lonely furrow now if you did that.

In economic terms there was lot of price fixing and when proper competition came later British industry were not up to it because they had had such cosy arrangements.

There were standards to be maintained and a lot of people saw themselves as gentleman and had a code " Shoes have laces", "motor cars are black" "jelly is not officer's food". People believed this stuff.

Price fixing was everywhere between such companies as Lyons and Wall's in ice creams. Selling was a gentleman's existence with Sheffield operating as a big cartel. Orders were reported to the respective trade and association committee and at the end the day they would tell you what prices to quote. The price fixing was incredible.

British industry was not prepared to follow the American gospel of productivity and the 3 Ss standardisation, simplification specialisation.

In education only those who passed the eleven plus were deemed fit for a decent education and people like Cliff Richard did not pass and neither did John Prescott and the author said did not get the bike and thereafter never quite forgave the world.


All these attitudes were alive and well right through my teens in the sixties and well into the seventies. Some of them are still around now sixty years later.

If you want to understand present day Britain this is the book for you and at 632 pages before you get to the notes and index it is a hefty read but well worth it.

I will be quoting it to all those who think today's problems are some how unique.


We have seen it all before.

Comprehensive but strangely uninspiring account, 07 May 2008
No-one could fault the time and effort that have gone into producing this extensive work but the sheer volume of facts, figures and comments might well prove mind-numbing to the average reader and certainly led to me - who can just remember the period in question - losing interest and scanning through pages looking for the essence amongst innumerable details. A great resource for a student of the times but not for those seeking a general account of these important years.

A Very Enjoyable Trip Through Late 40s Britain, 16 Dec 2007
This compilation of two books covering the period 1945 - 51 and intended to be the first two parts of a work that will progress to 1979, is very enjoyable and sweeps the reader along at a great pace. The daunting 632 pages thus become quite manageable. Kynaston covers the actions of the major movers and shakers in the government and in sport, architecture, industry and the unions, and the literary world. These action are contrasted with the feelings and attitudes of the people on the receiving end as judged by diarists and the results of the Mass Observation exercise that was still in place. Kynaston handles this wealth of material with great skill and moves through all these areas with great aplomb such that the narrative never becomes boring or a disjointed list of different topics.
Minor criticisms of this otherwise excellent book from someone who lived through the period might include a little too much space given to racial attitudes and a failure to really capture the feeling and appearance of bombed cities. There is also a failure to capture the atmosphere of a hospital of the time which was, of course, completely different to today, or the fear of unwanted pregnancy. There is also a tendency to anticipate new building that only really became significant after 1951. Nevertheless, these are relatively minor quibbles and I commend this book as a great read to all those interested in UK domestic history of the late 1940s, and look forward to further instalments.

Wonderful instructive and entertaining history, 09 Dec 2007
I was aged ten in 1945 and experienced this period of British history and found this brilliant in its accurate depiction of everyday life, account of the political scene and the birth of the welfare state. Read it and understand where a lot of those chickens (good and bad) now roosting on this sceptred isle came from.

An outstanding study of a changing nation, 21 Oct 2007
David Kynaston begins his book, the first of a planned multi-volume survey of Britain, on a high note by chronicling the celebrations of V-E Day. It is a joyous starting point for his ambitious goal, which is to chart the evolution of the nation from the end of the Second World War to the election of Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government in 1979. It is an era that began with the commitment to nationalizing industries and creating the modern welfare state and ended with a government winning power with a promise to undo many of these programs, and Kynaston plans to show how the country developed over this period. This he does by focusing on the people who lived in those times, drawing from the early work of Mass-Observation, contemporary press accounts and the private writings of diarists to provide a sprawling portrait of Britain in the late 1940s.

What particularly stands out is how much different the nation was back then. The Britain that emerges from these pages is a nation driven by an industrial economy, with an overwhelmingly white and predominantly male workforce in physically demanding jobs producing a quarter of the world's manufactured goods. The everyday lives of these Britons was different as well, lacking not only the modern conveniences that the author notes early in the text but even many of the basics of prewar life, basics which had been sacrificed to the exigencies of war. Kynaston notes their growing frustration with ongoing scarcity, a frustration that illustrated the gulf between their harsh realities and the idealistic dreams of government planners that is a persistent theme of the book.

Richly detailed, superbly written, and supplemented with excellent photographs, Kynaston's book is an outstanding account of postwar Britain. It offers readers an evocative account of a much different era of British history, yet one with all-too familiar concerns over youth, crime, and an emerging multiracial society. Having devoured its pages, I look forward eagerly to the next installment and the insights Kynaston will offer.

A very readable history of post war Britain , 15 Aug 2007
I read a review in The Sunday Times when the book first came out. I thought it was a suitably obscure subject and asked the library to get me a copy. In then became a bestseller and I was told that the waiting list was 54 and I was 27.

I then read better reviews and they said it was a great book. I was born in 1950 so that period of history is of interest to me as I believed it shaped the1950s and 1960s and some of the attitudes still prevail today.

The book is a great review of British life in its every aspect and the thinking of the time. We had won the war but the peace was tougher than the war for a lot of people. Rationing went on for years and the old attitudes in society did not break down quickly enough.

I did not start to take notice of what was going on in society until about 1963 and the attitudes that are set out in this book certainly prevailed for thr next twenty years. All the old threadbare cliches of privilege and what society was all about still existed.

In 1946 the National Trust had a meeting and one of their representatives said about Montacute House in somerset that the public could not of course be admitted to the house because they smelt. There was two minutes dead silence.

People did smell in 1946 if you read about their washing an living conditions.

Housing was a big priority then as now Neil Kinnock's family moved in November 1947 to a new two bed-roomed prefab on a council estate in Nant-y Bwch " It was like moving to Beverly Hills he recalled " It had a fridge, a bath, central heating and a smokeless grate... and people used to come just to look at it.

The BBC was holding up standards as always and banned in 1948 jokes about lavatories, effeminacy in men, immorality of any kind.Extreme care should be taken about certain references such as pre natal influences(e.g. his mother was frightened by a donkey and marital infidelity.

The public's views on extra marital sex were recorded. One taxi proprietor said "I may say my wife and I have dropped one or two people who weren't playing the game ,we didn't think they were worth knowing."

It is an interesting old fashioned view that you would ostracise people for immorality. You would be ploughing a lonely furrow now if you did that.

In economic terms there was lot of price fixing and when proper competition came later British industry were not up to it because they had had such cosy arrangements.

There were standards to be maintained and a lot of people saw themselves as gentleman and had a code " Shoes have laces", "motor cars are black" "jelly is not officer's food". People believed this stuff.

Price fixing was everywhere between such companies as Lyons and Wall's in ice creams. Selling was a gentleman's existence with Sheffield operating as a big cartel. Orders were reported to the respective trade and association committee and at the end the day they would tell you what prices to quote. The price fixing was incredible.

British industry was not prepared to follow the American gospel of productivity and the 3 Ss standardisation, simplification specialisation.

In education only those who passed the eleven plus were deemed fit for a decent education and people like Cliff Richard did not pass and neither did John Prescott and the author said did not get the bike and thereafter never quite forgave the world.


All these attitudes were alive and well right through my teens in the sixties and well into the seventies. Some of them are still around now sixty years later.

If you want to understand present day Britain this is the book for you and at 632 pages before you get to the notes and index it is a hefty read but well worth it.

I will be quoting it to all those who think today's problems are some how unique.


We have seen it all before.

A shame it's so one-sided, 05 Dec 2008
This is an excellent book for some factual research. Trouble is, he tends towards the Michael Moore approach and only presents one side of the argument which weakens his case.

If you do read this and are able to view it in the relevant context, I think you will agree that he has painted a rather realistically bleak picture of what a bad chancellor Brown was.

Oh well, what could Brown do now, eh...?!?

Vernon is a Moron?, 18 Oct 2008
I am currently studying this title and although I agree largely with Vernon's views I find his attitude to nurses incredibly patronising (and given the list of things the man hates...."pomposity", etc) rather surprising. Although the man was a Doctor so perhaps I shouldn't be so surprised at all.

As a male psychiatric nurse who has worked with some Consultant Psychiatrists who can make "interesting" decisions regarding treatment and prescribing, I have found that due to their poor skills in diagnosis and patronising communications I no longer have time to "plump pillows and take temperatures" as I am so busy explaining in a clear manner what has been said my patients.

This is why when Doctors who are coming up in the ranks of their profession rely on the nursing staff to "get them through", as we have more insight into patient care and diagnosis. This is due to the fact that we have a lot of contact with our patients and do not "drift" into a ward for 2 hours a week for "ward round".



A devastating critique, 03 May 2008
If you want to know the damage that the Moron has done to the economy of Britain, this is the book you should read. A page turner filled with factually backed accusations. The effect of Gordon Brown's actions on the finances of his country, its institutions and its Constitution are all examined and picked apart. There is little here for your comfort but much for your ammunition pouch. No wonder this book is being sold at a premium - £25 per copy as opposed to the publisher's price £9.95 each and £25 for 10! Only towards the end of the book does the momentum fall off: the writer tires of his subject, and with such a subject, this should surprise no one.

Shining a light into the darker recesses of Mr Clown's record, 28 Apr 2008
At last, an easily digestible, straightforward exposition of all that is Gordon Brown. Why, you will ask, has no-one in the media charted the cataclysmic damage caused by this dour control freak in a way that makes clear what has happened? You won't get it on the state sympathetic BBC, and you won't hear it talked about in the Westminster Village. None of the matters discussed can be genuinely rebutted because they're all true. Read it and weep.

Haven't read it but..., 19 Mar 2008
Picking up a leaflet in the FT this morning this book is £9.99 from the publisher. Do not pay £60 from the two current ditributers!!

contact them on 01271 328892.

Comprehensive but strangely uninspiring account, 07 May 2008
No-one could fault the time and effort that have gone into producing this extensive work but the sheer volume of facts, figures and comments might well prove mind-numbing to the average reader and certainly led to me - who can just remember the period in question - losing interest and scanning through pages looking for the essence amongst innumerable details. A great resource for a student of the times but not for those seeking a general account of these important years.

A Very Enjoyable Trip Through Late 40s Britain, 16 Dec 2007
This compilation of two books covering the period 1945 - 51 and intended to be the first two parts of a work that will progress to 1979, is very enjoyable and sweeps the reader along at a great pace. The daunting 632 pages thus become quite manageable. Kynaston covers the actions of the major movers and shakers in the government and in sport, architecture, industry and the unions, and the literary world. These action are contrasted with the feelings and attitudes of the people on the receiving end as judged by diarists and the results of the Mass Observation exercise that was still in place. Kynaston handles this wealth of material with great skill and moves through all these areas with great aplomb such that the narrative never becomes boring or a disjointed list of different topics.
Minor criticisms of this otherwise excellent book from someone who lived through the period might include a little too much space given to racial attitudes and a failure to really capture the feeling and appearance of bombed cities. There is also a failure to capture the atmosphere of a hospital of the time which was, of course, completely different to today, or the fear of unwanted pregnancy. There is also a tendency to anticipate new building that only really became significant after 1951. Nevertheless, these are relatively minor quibbles and I commend this book as a great read to all those interested in UK domestic history of the late 1940s, and look forward to further instalments.

Wonderful instructive and entertaining history, 09 Dec 2007
I was aged ten in 1945 and experienced this period of British history and found this brilliant in its accurate depiction of everyday life, account of the political scene and the birth of the welfare state. Read it and understand where a lot of those chickens (good and bad) now roosting on this sceptred isle came from.

An outstanding study of a changing nation, 21 Oct 2007
David Kynaston begins his book, the first of a planned multi-volume survey of Britain, on a high note by chronicling the celebrations of V-E Day. It is a joyous starting point for his ambitious goal, which is to chart the evolution of the nation from the end of the Second World War to the election of Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government in 1979. It is an era that began with the commitment to nationalizing industries and creating the modern welfare state and ended with a government winning power with a promise to undo many of these programs, and Kynaston plans to show how the country developed over this period. This he does by focusing on the people who lived in those times, drawing from the early work of Mass-Observation, contemporary press accounts and the private writings of diarists to provide a sprawling portrait of Britain in the late 1940s.

What particularly stands out is how much different the nation was back then. The Britain that emerges from these pages is a nation driven by an industrial economy, with an overwhelmingly white and predominantly male workforce in physically demanding jobs producing a quarter of the world's manufactured goods. The everyday lives of these Britons was different as well, lacking not only the modern conveniences that the author notes early in the text but even many of the basics of prewar life, basics which had been sacrificed to the exigencies of war. Kynaston notes their growing frustration with ongoing scarcity, a frustration that illustrated the gulf between their harsh realities and the idealistic dreams of government planners that is a persistent theme of the book.

Richly detailed, superbly written, and supplemented with excellent photographs, Kynaston's book is an outstanding account of postwar Britain. It offers readers an evocative account of a much different era of British history, yet one with all-too familiar concerns over youth, crime, and an emerging multiracial society. Having devoured its pages, I look forward eagerly to the next installment and the insights Kynaston will offer.

A very readable history of post war Britain , 15 Aug 2007
I read a review in The Sunday Times when the book first came out. I thought it was a suitably obscure subject and asked the library to get me a copy. In then became a bestseller and I was told that the waiting list was 54 and I was 27.

I then read better reviews and they said it was a great book. I was born in 1950 so that period of history is of interest to me as I believed it shaped the1950s and 1960s and some of the attitudes still prevail today.

The book is a great review of British life in its every aspect and the thinking of the time. We had won the war but the peace was tougher than the war for a lot of people. Rationing went on for years and the old attitudes in society did not break down quickly enough.

I did not start to take notice of what was going on in society until about 1963 and the attitudes that are set out in this book certainly prevailed for thr next twenty years. All the old threadbare cliches of privilege and what society was all about still existed.

In 1946 the National Trust had a meeting and one of their representatives said about Montacute House in somerset that the public could not of course be admitted to the house because they smelt. There was two minutes dead silence.

People did smell in 1946 if you read about their washing an living conditions.

Housing was a big priority then as now Neil Kinnock's family moved in November 1947 to a new two bed-roomed prefab on a council estate in Nant-y Bwch " It was like moving to Beverly Hills he recalled " It had a fridge, a bath, central heating and a smokeless grate... and people used to come just to look at it.

The BBC was holding up standards as always and banned in 1948 jokes about lavatories, effeminacy in men, immorality of any kind.Extreme care should be taken about certain references such as pre natal influences(e.g. his mother was frightened by a donkey and marital infidelity.

The public's views on extra marital sex were recorded. One taxi proprietor said "I may say my wife and I have dropped one or two people who weren't playing the game ,we didn't think they were worth knowing."

It is an interesting old fashioned view that you would ostracise people for immorality. You would be ploughing a lonely furrow now if you did that.

In economic terms there was lot of price fixing and when proper competition came later British industry were not up to it because they had had such cosy arrangements.

There were standards to be maintained and a lot of people saw themselves as gentleman and had a code " Shoes have laces", "motor cars are black" "jelly is not officer's food". People believed this stuff.

Price fixing was everywhere between such companies as Lyons and Wall's in ice creams. Selling was a gentleman's existence with Sheffield operating as a big cartel. Orders were reported to the respective trade and association committee and at the end the day they would tell you what prices to quote. The price fixing was incredible.

British industry was not prepared to follow the American gospel of productivity and the 3 Ss standardisation, simplification specialisation.

In education only those who passed the eleven plus were deemed fit for a decent education and people like Cliff Richard did not pass and neither did John Prescott and the author said did not get the bike and thereafter never quite forgave the world.


All these attitudes were alive and well right through my teens in the sixties and well into the seventies. Some of them are still around now sixty years later.

If you want to understand present day Britain this is the book for you and at 632 pages before you get to the notes and index it is a hefty read but well worth it.

I will be quoting it to all those who think today's problems are some how unique.


We have seen it all before.

A shame it's so one-sided, 05 Dec 2008
This is an excellent book for some factual research. Trouble is, he tends towards the Michael Moore approach and only presents one side of the argument which weakens his case.

If you do read this and are able to view it in the relevant context, I think you will agree that he has painted a rather realistically bleak picture of what a bad chancellor Brown was.

Oh well, what could Brown do now, eh...?!?

Vernon is a Moron?, 18 Oct 2008
I am currently studying this title and although I agree largely with Vernon's views I find his attitude to nurses incredibly patronising (and given the list of things the man hates...."pomposity", etc) rather surprising. Although the man was a Doctor so perhaps I shouldn't be so surprised at all.

As a male psychiatric nurse who has worked with some Consultant Psychiatrists who can make "interesting" decisions regarding treatment and prescribing, I have found that due to their poor skills in diagnosis and patronising communications I no longer have time to "plump pillows and take temperatures" as I am so busy explaining in a clear manner what has been said my patients.

This is why when Doctors who are coming up in the ranks of their profession rely on the nursing staff to "get them through", as we have more insight into patient care and diagnosis. This is due to the fact that we have a lot of contact with our patients and do not "drift" into a ward for 2 hours a week for "ward round".



A devastating critique, 03 May 2008
If you want to know the damage that the Moron has done to the economy of Britain, this is the book you should read. A page turner filled with factually backed accusations. The effect of Gordon Brown's actions on the finances of his country, its institutions and its Constitution are all examined and picked apart. There is little here for your comfort but much for your ammunition pouch. No wonder this book is being sold at a premium - £25 per copy as opposed to the publisher's price £9.95 each and £25 for 10! Only towards the end of the book does the momentum fall off: the writer tires of his subject, and with such a subject, this should surprise no one.

Shining a light into the darker recesses of Mr Clown's record, 28 Apr 2008
At last, an easily digestible, straightforward exposition of all that is Gordon Brown. Why, you will ask, has no-one in the media charted the cataclysmic damage caused by this dour control freak in a way that makes clear what has happened? You won't get it on the state sympathetic BBC, and you won't hear it talked about in the Westminster Village. None of the matters discussed can be genuinely rebutted because they're all true. Read it and weep.

Haven't read it but..., 19 Mar 2008
Picking up a leaflet in the FT this morning this book is £9.99 from the publisher. Do not pay £60 from the two current ditributers!!

contact them on 01271 328892.

Another Wilson easy read, 22 Nov 2008
What you would expect from A N Wilson, an easy and sometimes humorous read of happenings of "Our Times"
All history is written from a biased view (and Wilson is no exception), would you expect a protestant historian to write on the Reformation in the same vein as a catholic writer?
Wilson in all his factual books makes the reader hunger for more information on some subjects which deserve more space and in depth research, this is not a bad thing; the bibliography is very good for making further queries.
One point, why do we have to have "Notes" at the end of the book? I much prefer footnotes on each page. The constant turning to the rear of the book can be a distraction.
As far as I am concerned a good book well worth the purchasing.
What now,is there to be a book from Wilson on the "Future" ?



Poor stuff, 08 Nov 2008
Not a history book.A.N. Wilson shares with us his opinions and prejudices about life in the past fiftyfive years. He does not let matters of recorded fact stand in his way.

Since all the events described took place in my lifetime, and I have my own opinions and prejudices, plus an interest in facts, Ifound this book of interest only for the insight it gave me into the thought processes of Mr Wilson. Not a topic of any great interest to me.

A TRUE ICONOCLAST, 01 Oct 2008
This is the most absurd book of history I have ever read. Wilson is ruthlessly judgemental, sloppy with his dates, casual in his disdain for the niceties of 'proper' history, and his book is brilliant.

In his lucid, digressive style, Wilson delineates an alternately hilarious and devastating analysis of the major events - political, cultural, religious - in British life over the last sixty years. It induced in me convulsions of sadness, laughter, and anger, and I only wish other historians had the temerity - not to mention the learning - to deliver a book of this standard.

Comprehensive but strangely uninspiring account, 07 May 2008
No-one could fault the time and effort that have gone into producing this extensive work but the sheer volume of facts, figures and comments might well prove mind-numbing to the average reader and certainly led to me - who can just remember the period in question - losing interest and scanning through pages looking for the essence amongst innumerable details. A great resource for a student of the times but not for those seeking a general account of these important years.

A Very Enjoyable Trip Through Late 40s Britain, 16 Dec 2007
This compilation of two books covering the period 1945 - 51 and intended to be the first two parts of a work that will progress to 1979, is very enjoyable and sweeps the reader along at a great pace. The daunting 632 pages thus become quite manageable. Kynaston covers the actions of the major movers and shakers in the government and in sport, architecture, industry and the unions, and the literary world. These action are contrasted with the feelings and attitudes of the people on the receiving end as judged by diarists and the results of the Mass Observation exercise that was still in place. Kynaston handles this wealth of material with great skill and moves through all these areas with great aplomb such that the narrative never becomes boring or a disjointed list of different topics.
Minor criticisms of this otherwise excellent book from someone who lived through the period might include a little too much space given to racial attitudes and a failure to really capture the feeling and appearance of bombed cities. There is also a failure to capture the atmosphere of a hospital of the time which was, of course, completely different to today, or the fear of unwanted pregnancy. There is also a tendency to anticipate new building that only really became significant after 1951. Nevertheless, these are relatively minor quibbles and I commend this book as a great read to all those interested in UK domestic history of the late 1940s, and look forward to further instalments.

Wonderful instructive and entertaining history, 09 Dec 2007
I was aged ten in 1945 and experienced this period of British history and found this brilliant in its accurate depiction of everyday life, account of the political scene and the birth of the welfare state. Read it and understand where a lot of those chickens (good and bad) now roosting on this sceptred isle came from.

An outstanding study of a changing nation, 21 Oct 2007
David Kynaston begins his book, the first of a planned multi-volume survey of Britain, on a high note by chronicling the celebrations of V-E Day. It is a joyous starting point for his ambitious goal, which is to chart the evolution of the nation from the end of the Second World War to the election of Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government in 1979. It is an era that began with the commitment to nationalizing industries and creating the modern welfare state and ended with a government winning power with a promise to undo many of these programs, and Kynaston plans to show how the country developed over this period. This he does by focusing on the people who lived in those times, drawing from the early work of Mass-Observation, contemporary press accounts and the private writings of diarists to provide a sprawling portrait of Britain in the late 1940s.

What particularly stands out is how much different the nation was back then. The Britain that emerges from these pages is a nation driven by an industrial economy, with an overwhelmingly white and predominantly male workforce in physically demanding jobs producing a quarter of the world's manufactured goods. The everyday lives of these Britons was different as well, lacking not only the modern conveniences that the author notes early in the text but even many of the basics of prewar life, basics which had been sacrificed to the exigencies of war. Kynaston notes their growing frustration with ongoing scarcity, a frustration that illustrated the gulf between their harsh realities and the idealistic dreams of government planners that is a persistent theme of the book.

Richly detailed, superbly written, and supplemented with excellent photographs, Kynaston's book is an outstanding account of postwar Britain. It offers readers an evocative account of a much different era of British history, yet one with all-too familiar concerns over youth, crime, and an emerging multiracial society. Having devoured its pages, I look forward eagerly to the next installment and the insights Kynaston will offer.

A very readable history of post war Britain , 15 Aug 2007
I read a review in The Sunday Times when the book first came out. I thought it was a suitably obscure subject and asked the library to get me a copy. In then became a bestseller and I was told that the waiting list was 54 and I was 27.

I then read better reviews and they said it was a great book. I was born in 1950 so that period of history is of interest to me as I believed it shaped the1950s and 1960s and some of the attitudes still prevail today.

The book is a great review of British life in its every aspect and the thinking of the time. We had won the war but the peace was tougher than the war for a lot of people. Rationing went on for years and the old attitudes in society did not break down quickly enough.

I did not start to take notice of what was going on in society until about 1963 and the attitudes that are set out in this book certainly prevailed for thr next twenty years. All the old threadbare cliches of privilege and what society was all about still existed.

In 1946 the National Trust had a meeting and one of their representatives said about Montacute House in somerset that the public could not of course be admitted to the house because they smelt. There was two minutes dead silence.

People did smell in 1946 if you read about their washing an living conditions.

Housing was a big priority then as now Neil Kinnock's family moved in November 1947 to a new two bed-roomed prefab on a council estate in Nant-y Bwch " It was like moving to Beverly Hills he recalled " It had a fridge, a bath, central heating and a smokeless grate... and people used to come just to look at it.

The BBC was holding up standards as always and banned in 1948 jokes about lavatories, effeminacy in men, immorality of any kind.Extreme care should be taken about certain references such as pre natal influences(e.g. his mother was frightened by a donkey and marital infidelity.

The public's views on extra marital sex were recorded. One taxi proprietor said "I may say my wife and I have dropped one or two people who weren't playing the game ,we didn't think they were worth knowing."

It is an interesting old fashioned view that you would ostracise people for immorality. You would be ploughing a lonely furrow now if you did that.

In economic terms there was lot of price fixing and when proper competition came later British industry were not up to it because they had had such cosy arrangements.

There were standards to be maintained and a lot of people saw themselves as gentleman and had a code " Shoes have laces", "motor cars are black" "jelly is not officer's food". People believed this stuff.

Price fixing was everywhere between such companies as Lyons and Wall's in ice creams. Selling was a gentleman's existence with Sheffield operating as a big cartel. Orders were reported to the respective trade and association committee and at the end the day they would tell you what prices to quote. The price fixing was incredible.

British industry was not prepared to follow the American gospel of productivity and the 3 Ss standardisation, simplification specialisation.

In education only those who passed the eleven plus were deemed fit for a decent education and people like Cliff Richard did not pass and neither did John Prescott and the author said did not get the bike and thereafter never quite forgave the world.


All these attitudes were alive and well right through my teens in the sixties and well into the seventies. Some of them are still around now sixty years later.

If you want to understand present day Britain this is the book for you and at 632 pages before you get to the notes and index it is a hefty read but well worth it.

I will be quoting it to all those who think today's problems are some how unique.


We have seen it all before.

A shame it's so one-sided, 05 Dec 2008
This is an excellent book for some factual research. Trouble is, he tends towards the Michael Moore approach and only presents one side of the argument which weakens his case.

If you do read this and are able to view it in the relevant context, I think you will agree that he has painted a rather realistically bleak picture of what a bad chancellor Brown was.

Oh well, what could Brown do now, eh...?!?

Vernon is a Moron?, 18 Oct 2008
I am currently studying this title and although I agree largely with Vernon's views I find his attitude to nurses incredibly patronising (and given the list of things the man hates...."pomposity", etc) rather surprising. Although the man was a Doctor so perhaps I shouldn't be so surprised at all.

As a male psychiatric nurse who has worked with some Consultant Psychiatrists who can make "interesting" decisions regarding treatment and prescribing, I have found that due to their poor skills in diagnosis and patronising communications I no longer have time to "plump pillows and take temperatures" as I am so busy explaining in a clear manner what has been said my patients.

This is why when Doctors who are coming up in the ranks of their profession rely on the nursing staff to "get them through", as we have more insight into patient care and diagnosis. This is due to the fact that we have a lot of contact with our patients and do not "drift" into a ward for 2 hours a week for "ward round".



A devastating critique, 03 May 2008
If you want to know the damage that the Moron has done to the economy of Britain, this is the book you should read. A page turner filled with factually backed accusations. The effect of Gordon Brown's actions on the finances of his country, its institutions and its Constitution are all examined and picked apart. There is little here for your comfort but much for your ammunition pouch. No wonder this book is being sold at a premium - £25 per copy as opposed to the publisher's price £9.95 each and £25 for 10! Only towards the end of the book does the momentum fall off: the writer tires of his subject, and with such a subject, this should surprise no one.

Shining a light into the darker recesses of Mr Clown's record, 28 Apr 2008
At last, an easily digestible, straightforward exposition of all that is Gordon Brown. Why, you will ask, has no-one in the media charted the cataclysmic damage caused by this dour control freak in a way that makes clear what has happened? You won't get it on the state sympathetic BBC, and you won't hear it talked about in the Westminster Village. None of the matters discussed can be genuinely rebutted because they're all true. Read it and weep.

Haven't read it but..., 19 Mar 2008
Picking up a leaflet in the FT this morning this book is £9.99 from the publisher. Do not pay £60 from the two current ditributers!!

contact them on 01271 328892.

Another Wilson easy read, 22 Nov 2008
What you would expect from A N Wilson, an easy and sometimes humorous read of happenings of "Our Times"
All history is written from a biased view (and Wilson is no exception), would you expect a protestant historian to write on the Reformation in the same vein as a catholic writer?
Wilson in all his factual books makes the reader hunger for more information on some subjects which deserve more space and in depth research, this is not a bad thing; the bibliography is very good for making further queries.
One point, why do we have to have "Notes" at the end of the book? I much prefer footnotes on each page. The constant turning to the rear of the book can be a distraction.
As far as I am concerned a good book well worth the purchasing.
What now,is there to be a book from Wilson on the "Future" ?



Poor stuff, 08 Nov 2008
Not a history book.A.N. Wilson shares with us his opinions and prejudices about life in the past fiftyfive years. He does not let matters of recorded fact stand in his way.

Since all the events described took place in my lifetime, and I have my own opinions and prejudices, plus an interest in facts, Ifound this book of interest only for the insight it gave me into the thought processes of Mr Wilson. Not a topic of any great interest to me.

A TRUE ICONOCLAST, 01 Oct 2008
This is the most absurd book of history I have ever read. Wilson is ruthlessly judgemental, sloppy with his dates, casual in his disdain for the niceties of 'proper' history, and his book is brilliant.

In his lucid, digressive style, Wilson delineates an alternately hilarious and devastating analysis of the major events - political, cultural, religious - in British life over the last sixty years. It induced in me convulsions of sadness, laughter, and anger, and I only wish other historians had the temerity - not to mention the learning - to deliver a book of this standard.



Fantastic insight into a brilliant mind, 27 Oct 2008
I won't say much, as if you are looking at buying this book you will probably have some idea of who this guy is and what he represents.

I found this book touching, fascinating and terrifying. The wool really has been pulled over our eyes and many of our civil liberties taken away from us in the UK.

Read this book, it will open your eyes.

Excellent- a compelling and unique perspective on the Blair/9-11 era., 24 Aug 2008
Being the proverbial 'floating voter' I have a large and unbiased appetite when approaching the genre of 'Political diary'. Alan Clark's were deliciously frank and irreverent, John Major's autobiography (though not strictly a Diary) was noble yet suspiciously sanitized for me and the overblown Alistair Campbell opus last year frankly rather dull considering he was Britain's media Czar and spin-king. But Tony Benn is always excellent value for money. Coming from the old Coventry and Warwickshire automotive heartlands I recall an Uncle regaling me as a boy with stories of picking Mr Benn up at Coventry station and conducting a whistle-stop tour of various BL factories in the 1970s. He was hugely impressed with his concise ability to sum up the sheer morass of industrial rancour in the UK at the time. I had previously purchased the Benn tapes and was utterly engrossed in the nitty gritty 'content' and adversarial 'detail' of government. The face-to-face show downs with Wilson, Callaghan and Foot illustrate the 'profession' of the career politician better than any A Level guide to Government & Politics could. True, there are the usual 'hot-potatoes' that Tony embraces with the utopian - and almost naive- stance of an idealist. But perhaps we could do with one of two of idealists just now. The book has an epistolary feel to it with his observations, critiques and conclusions on everything from New Labour, Cameron (Blue Labour as he calls it), Bush, British celebrity culture and his day to day sketches and contemplations on life-sometimes hugely poignant and moving. I can't say that Tony has made me a card carrying Socialist, the dominant ideology of 'one-party' pragmatism we all now live under perhaps too strong for that but I certainly felt all the more richer and rewarded for the reading experience. I'd rank it in the same league as Alan Clark -though obviously for different reasons! Tony Benn remains among the very best political diarist's we have.


Totally compulsive, 31 Oct 2007
I found it difficult to stop reading this; many times I could have gone on and on if my train hadn't reached its destination or the bath water hadn't gone cold.
Benn is an interesting character and a rarity among politicians. He doesn't tow the party line, he doesn't necessarilly go along with conventional wisdoms - for that alone he should be commended. Coming from the right, I found this diary fascinating stuff. You'd struggle to buy another book that offered such a sustained, constructive, powerful attack on the policies of Tony Blair. How amusing that some of the most piercing criticism of the dreadful Blair has come from leftish sources, eg the Taking Liberties documentary or Greg Dyke's memoirs. And this is where this edition of the diaries triumphs, because, for so long, Benn has been wrong about so many things. Socialism for instance. Yet now -he's right! His criticisms of Blair are devastating, he's spot on time after time. On the subject of Europe, civil liberties and global warming (a particularly interesting passage) he's bang on too (even though he does at one point refer to Dublin as not being in the EU).
The writing style is curious: slightly arch, a little self-knowingly for public consumption, at times luvvie-like (lots of 'It was lovely!' exclamations), at times almost child-like. Benn may not have the intellect or dashing style of classic diarists like Kenneth Williams or Alan Clark, but he is never less than compelling.
It might be argued that these diaries are published too soon after they were written so cannot be edited with the knowledge we will have of these times in years to come. But they have an earthy pungency and also provide a particularly individual slant on contemporary events; it's fantastic that we can get inside the head of such a famous living political figure.
The diary also demonstrates Benn's phenomenal energy. Even at the age of 80 he's zipping round the country on an almost daily basis giving speeches and attending rallies. (I'd recommend this book for any pensioner who is feeling their life is over - Benn could give you heady inspiration.) This is a man who has suffered a great loss fairly recently and the incredible sadness of this, which pervades the book, does not stop him from pursuing his agenda.
A few final points: the index is not totally complete, eg Enoch Powell is mentioned four times in the book but only gets one reference in the back. Note how many times he quotes people as starting sentences with 'well'. And bear in mind that Benn can be arrogant and paint himself in the best possible light, being quite disengenous with his arguments. But then, he is a politician!

Unputdownably good, 31 Oct 2007
There are so few politicians who say what they think. Tony Benn is one of those who does and he does it so entertainingly. Ruth Winstone's editing is brilliant and completely invisible and the diaries themelves range from the touching and human to the crotchety. I'm not sure I'd want to live with TB for a week. But they are hilarious too, featuring his encounters with the kind of strange people he seems to attract, whether it's George Galloway or any number of nutcases on the bus. A tremendous read: makes you think, laugh and cry. Very easy to pick up and really hard to put down.

Comprehensive but strangely uninspiring account, 07 May 2008
No-one could fault the time and effort that have gone into producing this extensive work but the sheer volume of facts, figures and comments might well prove mind-numbing to the average reader and certainly led to me - who can just remember the period in question - losing interest and scanning through pages looking for the essence amongst innumerable details. A great resource for a student of the times but not for those seeking a general account of these important years.

A Very Enjoyable Trip Through Late 40s Britain, 16 Dec 2007
This compilation of two books covering the period 1945 - 51 and intended to be the first two parts of a work that will progress to 1979, is very enjoyable and sweeps the reader along at a great pace. The daunting 632 pages thus become quite manageable. Kynaston covers the actions of the major movers and shakers in the government and in sport, architecture, industry and the unions, and the literary world. These action are contrasted with the feelings and attitudes of the people on the receiving end as judged by diarists and the results of the Mass Observation exercise that was still in place. Kynaston handles this wealth of material with great skill and moves through all these areas with great aplomb such that the narrative never becomes boring or a disjointed list of different topics.
Minor criticisms of this otherwise excellent book from someone who lived through the period might include a little too much space given to racial attitudes and a failure to really capture the feeling and appearance of bombed cities. There is also a failure to capture the atmosphere of a hospital of the time which was, of course, completely different to today, or the fear of unwanted pregnancy. There is also a tendency to anticipate new building that only really became significant after 1951. Nevertheless, these are relatively minor quibbles and I commend this book as a great read to all those interested in UK domestic history of the late 1940s, and look forward to further instalments.

Wonderful instructive and entertaining history, 09 Dec 2007
I was aged ten in 1945 and experienced this period of British history and found this brilliant in its accurate depiction of everyday life, account of the political scene and the birth of the welfare state. Read it and understand where a lot of those chickens (good and bad) now roosting on this sceptred isle came from.

An outstanding study of a changing nation, 21 Oct 2007
David Kynaston begins his book, the first of a planned multi-volume survey of Britain, on a high note by chronicling the celebrations of V-E Day. It is a joyous starting point for his ambitious goal, which is to chart the evolution of the nation from the end of the Second World War to the election of Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government in 1979. It is an era that began with the commitment to nationalizing industries and creating the modern welfare state and ended with a government winning power with a promise to undo many of these programs, and Kynaston plans to show how the country developed over this period. This he does by focusing on the people who lived in those times, drawing from the early work of Mass-Observation, contemporary press accounts and the private writings of diarists to provide a sprawling portrait of Britain in the late 1940s.

What particularly stands out is how much different the nation was back then. The Britain that emerges from these pages is a nation driven by an industrial economy, with an overwhelmingly white and predominantly male workforce in physically demanding jobs producing a quarter of the world's manufactured goods. The everyday lives of these Britons was different as well, lacking not only the modern conveniences that the author notes early in the text but even many of the basics of prewar life, basics which had been sacrificed to the exigencies of war. Kynaston notes their growing frustration with ongoing scarcity, a frustration that illustrated the gulf between their harsh realities and the idealistic dreams of government planners that is a persistent theme of the book.

Richly detailed, superbly written, and supplemented with excellent photographs, Kynaston's book is an outstanding account of postwar Britain. It offers readers an evocative account of a much different era of British history, yet one with all-too familiar concerns over youth, crime, and an emerging multiracial society. Having devoured its pages, I look forward eagerly to the next installment and the insights Kynaston will offer.

A very readable history of post war Britain , 15 Aug 2007
I read a review in The Sunday Times when the book first came out. I thought it was a suitably obscure subject and asked the library to get me a copy. In then became a bestseller and I was told that the waiting list was 54 and I was 27.

I then read better reviews and they said it was a great book. I was born in 1950 so that period of history is of interest to me as I believed it shaped the1950s and 1960s and some of the attitudes still prevail today.

The book is a great review of British life in its every aspect and the thinking of the time. We had won the war but the peace was tougher than the war for a lot of people. Rationing went on for years and the old attitudes in society did not break down quickly enough.

I did not start to take notice of what was going on in society until about 1963 and the attitudes that are set out in this book certainly prevailed for thr next twenty years. All the old threadbare cliches of privilege and what society was all about still existed.

In 1946 the National Trust had a meeting and one of their representatives said about Montacute House in somerset that the public could not of course be admitted to the house because they smelt. There was two minutes dead silence.

People did smell in 1946 if you read about their washing an living conditions.

Housing was a big priority then as now Neil Kinnock's family moved in November 1947 to a new two bed-roomed prefab on a council estate in Nant-y Bwch " It was like moving to Beverly Hills he recalled " It had a fridge, a bath, central heating and a smokeless grate... and people used to come just to look at it.

The BBC was holding up standards as always and banned in 1948 jokes about lavatories, effeminacy in men, immorality of any kind.Extreme care should be taken about certain references such as pre natal influences(e.g. his mother was frightened by a donkey and marital infidelity.

The public's views on extra marital sex were recorded. One taxi proprietor said "I may say my wife and I have dropped one or two people who weren't playing the game ,we didn't think they were worth knowing."

It is an interesting old fashioned view that you would ostracise people for immorality. You would be ploughing a lonely furrow now if you did that.

In economic terms there was lot of price fixing and when proper competition came later British industry were not up to it because they had had such cosy arrangements.

There were standards to be maintained and a lot of people saw themselves as gentleman and had a code " Shoes have laces", "motor cars are black" "jelly is not officer's food". People believed this stuff.

Price fixing was everywhere between such companies as Lyons and Wall's in ice creams. Selling was a gentleman's existence with Sheffield operating as a big cartel. Orders were reported to the respective trade and association committee and at the end the day they would tell you what prices to quote. The price fixing was incredible.

British industry was not prepared to follow the American gospel of productivity and the 3 Ss standardisation, simplification specialisation.

In education only those who passed the eleven plus were deemed fit for a decent education and people like Cliff Richard did not pass and neither did John Prescott and the author said did not get the bike and thereafter never quite forgave the world.


All these attitudes were alive and well right through my teens in the sixties and well into the seventies. Some of them are still around now sixty years later.

If you want to understand present day Britain this is the book for you and at 632 pages before you get to the notes and index it is a hefty read but well worth it.

I will be quoting it to all those who think today's problems are some how unique.


We have seen it all before.

A shame it's so one-sided, 05 Dec 2008
This is an excellent book for some factual research. Trouble is, he tends towards the Michael Moore approach and only presents one side of the argument which weakens his case.

If you do read this and are able to view it in the relevant context, I think you will agree that he has painted a rather realistically bleak picture of what a bad chancellor Brown was.

Oh well, what could Brown do now, eh...?!?

Vernon is a Moron?, 18 Oct 2008
I am currently studying this title and although I agree largely with Vernon's views I find his attitude to nurses incredibly patronising (and given the list of things the man hates...."pomposity", etc) rather surprising. Although the man was a Doctor so perhaps I shouldn't be so surprised at all.

As a male psychiatric nurse who has worked with some Consultant Psychiatrists who can make "interesting" decisions regarding treatment and prescribing, I have found that due to their poor skills in diagnosis and patronising communications I no longer have time to "plump pillows and take temperatures" as I am so busy explaining in a clear manner what has been said my patients.

This is why when Doctors who are coming up in the ranks of their profession rely on the nursing staff to "get them through", as we have more insight into patient care and diagnosis. This is due to the fact that we have a lot of contact with our patients and do not "drift" into a ward for 2 hours a week for "ward round".



A devastating critique, 03 May 2008
If you want to know the damage that the Moron has done to the economy of Britain, this is the book you should read. A page turner filled with factually backed accusations. The effect of Gordon Brown's actions on the finances of his country, its institutions and its Constitution are all examined and picked apart. There is little here for your comfort but much for your ammunition pouch. No wonder this book is being sold at a premium - £25 per copy as opposed to the publisher's price £9.95 each and £25 for 10! Only towards the end of the book does the momentum fall off: the writer tires of his subject, and with such a subject, this should surprise no one.

Shining a light into the darker recesses of Mr Clown's record, 28 Apr 2008
At last, an easily digestible, straightforward exposition of all that is Gordon Brown. Why, you will ask, has no-one in the media charted the cataclysmic damage caused by this dour control freak in a way that makes clear what has happened? You won't get it on the state sympathetic BBC, and you won't hear it talked about in the Westminster Village. None of the matters discussed can be genuinely rebutted because they're all true. Read it and weep.

Haven't read it but..., 19 Mar 2008
Picking up a leaflet in the FT this morning this book is £9.99 from the publisher. Do not pay £60 from the two current ditributers!!

contact them on 01271 328892.

Another Wilson easy read, 22 Nov 2008
What you would expect from A N Wilson, an easy and sometimes humorous read of happenings of "Our Times"
All history is written from a biased view (and Wilson is no exception), would you expect a protestant historian to write on the Reformation in the same vein as a catholic writer?
Wilson in all his factual books makes the reader hunger for more information on some subjects which deserve more space and in depth research, this is not a bad thing; the bibliography is very good for making further queries.
One point, why do we have to have "Notes" at the end of the book? I much prefer footnotes on each page. The constant turning to the rear of the book can be a distraction.
As far as I am concerned a good book well worth the purchasing.
What now,is there to be a book from Wilson on the "Future" ?



Poor stuff, 08 Nov 2008
Not a history book.A.N. Wilson shares with us his opinions and prejudices about life in the past fiftyfive years. He does not let matters of recorded fact stand in his way.

Since all the events described took place in my lifetime, and I have my own opinions and prejudices, plus an interest in facts, Ifound this book of interest only for the insight it gave me into the thought processes of Mr Wilson. Not a topic of any great interest to me.

A TRUE ICONOCLAST, 01 Oct 2008
This is the most absurd book of history I have ever read. Wilson is ruthlessly judgemental, sloppy with his dates, casual in his disdain for the niceties of 'proper' history, and his book is brilliant.

In his lucid, digressive style, Wilson delineates an alternately hilarious and devastating analysis of the major events - political, cultural, religious - in British life over the last sixty years. It induced in me convulsions of sadness, laughter, and anger, and I only wish other historians had the temerity - not to mention the learning - to deliver a book of this standard.



Fantastic insight into a brilliant mind, 27 Oct 2008
I won't say much, as if you are looking at buying this book you will probably have some idea of who this guy is and what he represents.

I found this book touching, fascinating and terrifying. The wool really has been pulled over our eyes and many of our civil liberties taken away from us in the UK.

Read this book, it will open your eyes.

Excellent- a compelling and unique perspective on the Blair/9-11 era., 24 Aug 2008
Being the proverbial 'floating voter' I have a large and unbiased appetite when approaching the genre of 'Political diary'. Alan Clark's were deliciously frank and irreverent, John Major's autobiography (though not strictly a Diary) was noble yet suspiciously sanitized for me and the overblown Alistair Campbell opus last year frankly rather dull considering he was Britain's media Czar and spin-king. But Tony Benn is always excellent value for money. Coming from the old Coventry and Warwickshire automotive heartlands I recall an Uncle regaling me as a boy with stories of picking Mr Benn up at Coventry station and conducting a whistle-stop tour of various BL factories in the 1970s. He was hugely impressed with his concise ability to sum up the sheer morass of industrial rancour in the UK at the time. I had previously purchased the Benn tapes and was utterly engrossed in the nitty gritty 'content' and adversarial 'detail' of government. The face-to-face show downs with Wilson, Callaghan and Foot illustrate the 'profession' of the career politician better than any A Level guide to Government & Politics could. True, there are the usual 'hot-potatoes' that Tony embraces with the utopian - and almost naive- stance of an idealist. But perhaps we could do with one of two of idealists just now. The book has an epistolary feel to it with his observations, critiques and conclusions on everything from New Labour, Cameron (Blue Labour as he calls it), Bush, British celebrity culture and his day to day sketches and contemplations on life-sometimes hugely poignant and moving. I can't say that Tony has made me a card carrying Socialist, the dominant ideology of 'one-party' pragmatism we all now live under perhaps too strong for that but I certainly felt all the more richer and rewarded for the reading experience. I'd rank it in the same league as Alan Clark -though obviously for different reasons! Tony Benn remains among the very best political diarist's we have.


Totally compulsive, 31 Oct 2007
I found it difficult to stop reading this; many times I could have gone on and on if my train hadn't reached its destination or the bath water hadn't gone cold.
Benn is an interesting character and a rarity among politicians. He doesn't tow the party line, he doesn't necessarilly go along with conventional wisdoms - for that alone he should be commended. Coming from the right, I found this diary fascinating stuff. You'd struggle to buy another book that offered such a sustained, constructive, powerful attack on the policies of Tony Blair. How amusing that some of the most piercing criticism of the dreadful Blair has come from leftish sources, eg the Taking Liberties documentary or Greg Dyke's memoirs. And this is where this edition of the diaries triumphs, because, for so long, Benn has been wrong about so many things. Socialism for instance. Yet now -he's right! His criticisms of Blair are devastating, he's spot on time after time. On the subject of Europe, civil liberties and global warming (a particularly interesting passage) he's bang on too (even though he does at one point refer to Dublin as not being in the EU).
The writing style is curious: slightly arch, a little self-knowingly for public consumption, at times luvvie-like (lots of 'It was lovely!' exclamations), at times almost child-like. Benn may not have the intellect or dashing style of classic diarists like Kenneth Williams or Alan Clark, but he is never less than compelling.
It might be argued that these diaries are published too soon after they were written so cannot be edited with the knowledge we will have of these times in years to come. But they have an earthy pungency and also provide a particularly individual slant on contemporary events; it's fantastic that we can get inside the head of such a famous living political figure.
The diary also demonstrates Benn's phenomenal energy. Even at the age of 80 he's zipping round the country on an almost daily basis giving speeches and attending rallies. (I'd recommend this book for any pensioner who is feeling their life is over - Benn could give you heady inspiration.) This is a man who has suffered a great loss fairly recently and the incredible sadness of this, which pervades the book, does not stop him from pursuing his agenda.
A few final points: the index is not totally complete, eg Enoch Powell is mentioned four times in the book but only gets one reference in the back. Note how many times he quotes people as starting sentences with 'well'. And bear in mind that Benn can be arrogant and paint himself in the best possible light, being quite disengenous with his arguments. But then, he is a politician!

Unputdownably good, 31 Oct 2007
There are so few politicians who say what they think. Tony Benn is one of those who does and he does it so entertainingly. Ruth Winstone's editing is brilliant and completely invisible and the diaries themelves range from the touching and human to the crotchety. I'm not sure I'd want to live with TB for a week. But they are hilarious too, featuring his encounters with the kind of strange people he seems to attract, whether it's George Galloway or any number of nutcases on the bus. A tremendous read: makes you think, laugh and cry. Very easy to pick up and really hard to put down.

Nice anthology of anecdotes about the Queen, 12 May 2008
Nice anthology of curiosities and anecdotes about the Queen and her family, very readable and funny. You'll learn about the beloved corgies, food and drink, cars and driving habits, horses and the Windsors' Christmas.
There are also some hilarious drawings at the beginning of each chapter. I loved the ones showing the Queen with her corgies, so funny!

Comprehensive but strangely uninspiring account, 07 May 2008
No-one could fault the time and effort that have gone into producing this extensive work but the sheer volume of facts, figures and comments might well prove mind-numbing to the average reader and certainly led to me - who can just remember the period in question - losing interest and scanning through pages looking for the essence amongst innumerable details. A great resource for a student of the times but not for those seeking a general account of these important years.

A Very Enjoyable Trip Through Late 40s Britain, 16 Dec 2007
This compilation of two books covering the period 1945 - 51 and intended to be the first two parts of a work that will progress to 1979, is very enjoyable and sweeps the reader along at a great pace. The daunting 632 pages thus become quite manageable. Kynaston covers the actions of the major movers and shakers in the government and in sport, architecture, industry and the unions, and the literary world. These action are contrasted with the feelings and attitudes of the people on the receiving end as judged by diarists and the results of the Mass Observation exercise that was still in place. Kynaston handles this wealth of material with great skill and moves through all these areas with great aplomb such that the narrative never becomes boring or a disjointed list of different topics.
Minor criticisms of this otherwise excellent book from someone who lived through the period might include a little too much space given to racial attitudes and a failure to really capture the feeling and appearance of bombed cities. There is also a failure to capture the atmosphere of a hospital of the time which was, of course, completely different to today, or the fear of unwanted pregnancy. There is also a tendency to anticipate new building that only really became significant after 1951. Nevertheless, these are relatively minor quibbles and I commend this book as a great read to all those interested in UK domestic history of the late 1940s, and look forward to further instalments.

Wonderful instructive and entertaining history, 09 Dec 2007
I was aged ten in 1945 and experienced this period of British history and found this brilliant in its accurate depiction of everyday life, account of the political scene and the birth of the welfare state. Read it and understand where a lot of those chickens (good and bad) now roosting on this sceptred isle came from.

An outstanding study of a changing nation, 21 Oct 2007
David Kynaston begins his book, the first of a planned multi-volume survey of Britain, on a high note by chronicling the celebrations of V-E Day. It is a joyous starting point for his ambitious goal, which is to chart the evolution of the nation from the end of the Second World War to the election of Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government in 1979. It is an era that began with the commitment to nationalizing industries and creating the modern welfare state and ended with a government winning power with a promise to undo many of these programs, and Kynaston plans to show how the country developed over this period. This he does by focusing on the people who lived in those times, drawing from the early work of Mass-Observation, contemporary press accounts and the private writings of diarists to provide a sprawling portrait of Britain in the late 1940s.

What particularly stands out is how much different the nation was back then. The Britain that emerges from these pages is a nation driven by an industrial economy, with an overwhelmingly white and predominantly male workforce in physically demanding jobs producing a quarter of the world's manufactured goods. The everyday lives of these Britons was different as well, lacking not only the modern conveniences that the author notes early in the text but even many of the basics of prewar life, basics which had been sacrificed to the exigencies of war. Kynaston notes their growing frustration with ongoing scarcity, a frustration that illustrated the gulf between their harsh realities and the idealistic dreams of government planners that is a persistent theme of the book.

Richly detailed, superbly written, and supplemented with excellent photographs, Kynaston's book is an outstanding account of postwar Britain. It offers readers an evocative account of a much different era of British history, yet one with all-too familiar concerns over youth, crime, and an emerging multiracial society. Having devoured its pages, I look forward eagerly to the next installment and the insights Kynaston will offer.

A very readable history of post war Britain , 15 Aug 2007
I read a review in The Sunday Times when the book first came out. I thought it was a suitably obscure subject and asked the library to get me a copy. In then became a bestseller and I was told that the waiting list was 54 and I was 27.

I then read better reviews and they said it was a great book. I was born in 1950 so that period of history is of interest to me as I believed it shaped the1950s and 1960s and some of the attitudes still prevail today.

The book is a great review of British life in its every aspect and the thinking of the time. We had won the war but the peace was tougher than the war for a lot of people. Rationing went on for years and the old attitudes in society did not break down quickly enough.

I did not start to take notice of what was going on in society until about 1963 and the attitudes that are set out in this book certainly prevailed for thr next twenty years. All the old threadbare cliches of privilege and what society was all about still existed.

In 1946 the National Trust had a meeting and one of their representatives said about Montacute House in somerset that the public could not of course be admitted to the house because they smelt. There was two minutes dead silence.

People did smell in 1946 if you read about their washing an living conditions.

Housing was a big priority then as now Neil Kinnock's family moved in November 1947 to a new two bed-roomed prefab on a council estate in Nant-y Bwch " It was like moving to Beverly Hills he recalled " It had a fridge, a bath, central heating and a smokeless grate... and people used to come just to look at it.

The BBC was holding up standards as always and banned in 1948 jokes about lavatories, effeminacy in men, immorality of any kind.Extreme care should be taken about certain references such as pre natal influences(e.g. his mother was frightened by a donkey and marital infidelity.

The public's views on extra marital sex were recorded. One taxi proprietor said "I may say my wife and I have dropped one or two people who weren't playing the game ,we didn't think they were worth knowing."

It is an interesting old fashioned view that you would ostracise people for immorality. You would be ploughing a lonely furrow now if you did that.

In economic terms there was lot of price fixing and when proper competition came later British industry were not up to it because they had had such cosy arrangements.

There were standards to be maintained and a lot of people saw themselves as gentleman and had a code " Shoes have laces", "motor cars are black" "jelly is not officer's food". People believed this stuff.

Price fixing was everywhere between such companies as Lyons and Wall's in ice creams. Selling was a gentleman's existence with Sheffield operating as a big cartel. Orders were reported to the respective trade and association committee and at the end the day they would tell you what prices to quote. The price fixing was incredible.

British industry was not prepared to follow the American gospel of productivity and the 3 Ss standardisation, simplification specialisation.

In education only those who passed the eleven plus were deemed fit for a decent education and people like Cliff Richard did not pass and neither did John Prescott and the author said did not get the bike and thereafter never quite forgave the world.


All these attitudes were alive and well right through my teens in the sixties and well into the seventies. Some of them are still around now sixty years later.

If you want to understand present day Britain this is the book for you and at 632 pages before you get to the notes and index it is a hefty read but well worth it.

I will be quoting it to all those who think today's problems are some how unique.


We have seen it all before.

A shame it's so one-sided, 05 Dec 2008
This is an excellent book for some factual research. Trouble is, he tends towards the Michael Moore approach and only presents one side of the argument which weakens his case.

If you do read this and are able to view it in the relevant context, I think you will agree that he has painted a rather realistically bleak picture of what a bad chancellor Brown was.

Oh well, what could Brown do now, eh...?!?

Vernon is a Moron?, 18 Oct 2008
I am currently studying this title and although I agree largely with Vernon's views I find his attitude to nurses incredibly patronising (and given the list of things the man hates...."pomposity", etc) rather surprising. Although the man was a Doctor so perhaps I shouldn't be so surprised at all.

As a male psychiatric nurse who has worked with some Consultant Psychiatrists who can make "interesting" decisions regarding treatment and prescribing, I have found that due to their poor skills in diagnosis and patronising communications I no longer have time to "plump pillows and take temperatures" as I am so busy explaining in a clear manner what has been said my patients.

This is why when Doctors who are coming up in the ranks of their profession rely on the nursing staff to "get them through", as we have more insight into patient care and diagnosis. This is due to the fact that we have a lot of contact with our patients and do not "drift" into a ward for 2 hours a week for "ward round".



A devastating critique, 03 May 2008
If you want to know the damage that the Moron has done to the economy of Britain, this is the book you should read. A page turner filled with factually backed accusations. The effect of Gordon Brown's actions on the finances of his country, its institutions and its Constitution are all examined and picked apart. There is little here for your comfort but much for your ammunition pouch. No wonder this book is being sold at a premium - £25 per copy as opposed to the publisher's price £9.95 each and £25 for 10! Only towards the end of the book does the momentum fall off: the writer tires of his subject, and with such a subject, this should surprise no one.

Shining a light into the darker recesses of Mr Clown's record, 28 Apr 2008
At last, an easily digestible, straightforward exposition of all that is Gordon Brown. Why, you will ask, has no-one in the media charted the cataclysmic damage caused by this dour control freak in a way that makes clear what has happened? You won't get it on the state sympathetic BBC, and you won't hear it talked about in the Westminster Village. None of the matters discussed can be genuinely rebutted because they're all true. Read it and weep.

Haven't read it but..., 19 Mar 2008
Picking up a leaflet in the FT this morning this book is £9.99 from the publisher. Do not pay £60 from the two current ditributers!!

contact them on 01271 328892.

Another Wilson easy read, 22 Nov 2008
What you would expect from A N Wilson, an easy and sometimes humorous read of happenings of "Our Times"
All history is written from a biased view (and Wilson is no exception), would you expect a protestant historian to write on the Reformation in the same vein as a catholic writer?
Wilson in all his factual books makes the reader hunger for more information on some subjects which deserve more space and in depth research, this is not a bad thing; the bibliography is very good for making further queries.
One point, why do we have to have "Notes" at the end of the book? I much prefer footnotes on each page. The constant turning to the rear of the book can be a distraction.
As far as I am concerned a good book well worth the purchasing.
What now,is there to be a book from Wilson on the "Future" ?



Poor stuff, 08 Nov 2008
Not a history book.A.N. Wilson shares with us his opinions and prejudices about life in the past fiftyfive years. He does not let matters of recorded fact stand in his way.

Since all the events described took place in my lifetime, and I have my own opinions and prejudices, plus an interest in facts, Ifound this book of interest only for the insight it gave me into the thought processes of Mr Wilson. Not a topic of any great interest to me.

A TRUE ICONOCLAST, 01 Oct 2008
This is the most absurd book of history I have ever read. Wilson is ruthlessly judgemental, sloppy with his dates, casual in his disdain for the niceties of 'proper' history, and his book is brilliant.

In his lucid, digressive style, Wilson delineates an alternately hilarious and devastating analysis of the major events - political, cultural, religious - in British life over the last sixty years. It induced in me convulsions of sadness, laughter, and anger, and I only wish other historians had the temerity - not to mention the learning - to deliver a book of this standard.



Fantastic insight into a brilliant mind, 27 Oct 2008
I won't say much, as if you are looking at buying this book you will probably have some idea of who this guy is and what he represents.

I found this book touching, fascinating and terrifying. The wool really has been pulled over our eyes and many of our civil liberties taken away from us in the UK.

Read this book, it will open your eyes.

Excellent- a compelling and unique perspective on the Blair/9-11 era., 24 Aug 2008
Being the proverbial 'floating voter' I have a large and unbiased appetite when approaching the genre of 'Political diary'. Alan Clark's were deliciously frank and irreverent, John Major's autobiography (though not strictly a Diary) was noble yet suspiciously sanitized for me and the overblown Alistair Campbell opus last year frankly rather dull considering he was Britain's media Czar and spin-king. But Tony Benn is always excellent value for money. Coming from the old Coventry and Warwickshire automotive heartlands I recall an Uncle regaling me as a boy with stories of picking Mr Benn up at Coventry station and conducting a whistle-stop tour of various BL factories in the 1970s. He was hugely impressed with his concise ability to sum up the sheer morass of industrial rancour in the UK at the time. I had previously purchased the Benn tapes and was utterly engrossed in the nitty gritty 'content' and adversarial 'detail' of government. The face-to-face show downs with Wilson, Callaghan and Foot illustrate the 'profession' of the career politician better than any A Level guide to Government & Politics could. True, there are the usual 'hot-potatoes' that Tony embraces with the utopian - and almost naive- stance of an idealist. But perhaps we could do with one of two of idealists just now. The book has an epistolary feel to it with his observations, critiques and conclusions on everything from New Labour, Cameron (Blue Labour as he calls it), Bush, British celebrity culture and his day to day sketches and contemplations on life-sometimes hugely poignant and moving. I can't say that Tony has made me a card carrying Socialist, the dominant ideology of 'one-party' pragmatism we all now live under perhaps too strong for that but I certainly felt all the more richer and rewarded for the reading experience. I'd rank it in the same league as Alan Clark -though obviously for different reasons! Tony Benn remains among the very best political diarist's we have.


Totally compulsive, 31 Oct 2007
I found it difficult to stop reading this; many times I could have gone on and on if my train hadn't reached its destination or the bath water hadn't gone cold.
Benn is an interesting character and a rarity among politicians. He doesn't tow the party line, he doesn't necessarilly go along with conventional wisdoms - for that alone he should be commended. Coming from the right, I found this diary fascinating stuff. You'd struggle to buy another book that offered such a sustained, constructive, powerful attack on the policies of Tony Blair. How amusing that some of the most piercing criticism of the dreadful Blair has come from leftish sources, eg the Taking Liberties documentary or Greg Dyke's memoirs. And this is where this edition of the diaries triumphs, because, for so long, Benn has been wrong about so many things. Socialism for instance. Yet now -he's right! His criticisms of Blair are devastating, he's spot on time after time. On the subject of Europe, civil liberties and global warming (a particularly interesting passage) he's bang on too (even though he does at one point refer to Dublin as not being in the EU).
The writing style is curious: slightly arch, a little self-knowingly for public consumption, at times luvvie-like (lots of 'It was lovely!' exclamations), at times almost child-like. Benn may not have the intellect or dashing style of classic diarists like Kenneth Williams or Alan Clark, but he is never less than compelling.
It might be argued that these diaries are published too soon after they were written so cannot be edited with the knowledge we will have of these times in years to come. But they have an earthy pungency and also provide a particularly individual slant on contemporary events; it's fantastic that we can get inside the head of such a famous living political figure.
The diary also demonstrates Benn's phenomenal energy. Even at the age of 80 he's zipping round the country on an almost daily basis giving speeches and attending rallies. (I'd recommend this book for any pensioner who is feeling their life is over - Benn could give you heady inspiration.) This is a man who has suffered a great loss fairly recently and the incredible sadness of this, which pervades the book, does not stop him from pursuing his agenda.
A few final points: the index is not totally complete, eg Enoch Powell is mentioned four times in the book but only gets one reference in the back. Note how many times he quotes people as starting sentences with 'well'. And bear in mind that Benn can be arrogant and paint himself in the best possible light, being quite disengenous with his arguments. But then, he is a politician!

Unputdownably good, 31 Oct 2007
There are so few politicians who say what they think. Tony Benn is one of those who does and he does it so entertainingly. Ruth Winstone's editing is brilliant and completely invisible and the diaries themelves range from the touching and human to the crotchety. I'm not sure I'd want to live with TB for a week. But they are hilarious too, featuring his encounters with the kind of strange people he seems to attract, whether it's George Galloway or any number of nutcases on the bus. A tremendous read: makes you think, laugh and cry. Very easy to pick up and really hard to put down.

Nice anthology of anecdotes about the Queen, 12 May 2008
Nice anthology of curiosities and anecdotes about the Queen and her family, very readable and funny. You'll learn about the beloved corgies, food and drink, cars and driving habits, horses and the Windsors' Christmas.
There are also some hilarious drawings at the beginning of each chapter. I loved the ones showing the Queen with her corgies, so funny!

More about Royalty than Riding, 25 Aug 2008
This book glossed over Zara's eventing career, preferring to focus on her relationships with the rest of the royal family and how this has shaped her life.
To be honest there is probably less than a chapter's worth about her riding and fantastic partnership with Toytown which is a real shame.
A good read if you want to know the in's & out's of a royal childhood but disappointing if you are looking for details of Zara's life in the eventing world.

Comprehensive but strangely uninspiring account, 07 May 2008
No-one could fault the time and effort that have gone into producing this extensive work but the sheer volume of facts, figures and comments might well prove mind-numbing to the average reader and certainly led to me - who can just remember the period in question - losing interest and scanning through pages looking for the essence amongst innumerable details. A great resource for a student of the times but not for those seeking a general account of these important years.

A Very Enjoyable Trip Through Late 40s Britain, 16 Dec 2007
This compilation of two books covering the period 1945 - 51 and intended to be the first two parts of a work that will progress to 1979, is very enjoyable and sweeps the reader along at a great pace. The daunting 632 pages thus become quite manageable. Kynaston covers the actions of the major movers and shakers in the government and in sport, architecture, industry and the unions, and the literary world. These action are contrasted with the feelings and attitudes of the people on the receiving end as judged by diarists and the results of the Mass Observation exercise that was still in place. Kynaston handles this wealth of material with great skill and moves through all these areas with great aplomb such that the narrative never becomes boring or a disjointed list of different topics.
Minor criticisms of this otherwise excellent book from someone who lived through the period might include a little too much space given to racial attitudes and a failure to really capture the feeling and appearance of bombed cities. There is also a failure to capture the atmosphere of a hospital of the time which was, of course, completely different to today, or the fear of unwanted pregnancy. There is also a tendency to anticipate new building that only really became significant after 1951. Nevertheless, these are relatively minor quibbles and I commend this book as a great read to all those interested in UK domestic history of the late 1940s, and look forward to further instalments.

Wonderful instructive and entertaining history, 09 Dec 2007
I was aged ten in 1945 and experienced this period of British history and found this brilliant in its accurate depiction of everyday life, account of the political scene and the birth of the welfare state. Read it and understand where a lot of those chickens (good and bad) now roosting on this sceptred isle came from.

An outstanding study of a changing nation, 21 Oct 2007
David Kynaston begins his book, the first of a planned multi-volume survey of Britain, on a high note by chronicling the celebrations of V-E Day. It is a joyous starting point for his ambitious goal, which is to chart the evolution of the nation from the end of the Second World War to the election of Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government in 1979. It is an era that began with the commitment to nationalizing industries and creating the modern welfare state and ended with a government winning power with a promise to undo many of these programs, and Kynaston plans to show how the country developed over this period. This he does by focusing on the people who lived in those times, drawing from the early work of Mass-Observation, contemporary press accounts and the private writings of diarists to provide a sprawling portrait of Britain in the late 1940s.

What particularly stands out is how much different the nation was back then. The Britain that emerges from