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£14.99
The sequel nobody wants. After a decade of the Tories, could it get any worse? Spoiler – it does. Towards the end of 2021, Britain had been frogmarched into an escalating series of surreal calamities. Brexit was a disaster, the NHS was in crisis, the government was bathed head-to-toe in impropriety, senior Tories were still acting as though the public purse was their personal feed-trough, and the air crackled with anger about PartyGate. ‘Four Chancellors and a Funeral’ delivers more of Russell Jones’s signature scathing wit, combining a detailed historical record of 2021 and 2022, with acerbic commentary, all of it leavened by jokes at the seemingly endless maelstrom of failures, nincompoops, and hypocrisies.
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£18.99
Across the globe, democracy is in crisis – in the UK alone, it has been rocked by Brexit, the pandemic and successive attempts by governments to bypass legal norms. But how did this happen, and where might we go from here? Jonathan Sumption cuts through the political noise with acute analysis of the state of democracy today – from the vulnerabilities of international law to the deepening suppression of democracy activism in Hong Kong, and from the complexities of human rights legislation to the defence of freedom of speech. Timely, incisive and wholly original, ‘The Challenges of Democracy’ applies the brilliance of ‘the cleverest man in Britain’ to the most urgent and far-reaching political issue of our day.
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£10.99
An exploration of the most consequential events in modern British history, from seasoned political commentator and broadcaster Steve Richards.
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£7.99
Since the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, the constititional position of Northern Ireland within the Union has endured an unusual level of attention. Lisa Claire Whitten has written a concise history of Northern Ireland through its pivotal moments: the 1920-72 Unionist-led governments, the following 30 years of bitter conflicts, the 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, and the 2016 referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU. Considering each of the moment in the broader setting of UK constititional norms and narratives, she addresses the exceptional constitutional characteristics of Northern Ireland and ways in which these have often resulted in a ‘blindspot’ analysis of the Union. This short book also considers the implications of Brexit and the constitutional impacts and shifts it has brought to Northern Ireland and discuss the possible constitutional repercussions.
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£10.99
Structured to follow the arc of a life in politics – from childhood aspirations and first attempts at getting elected, to navigating the back benches, ascending the greasy pole, dealing with detractors, facing crises, and finally escaping – this unique collection weaves together the wittiest, wisest and most acerbic political quotations from the last 2,000 years.
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£25.00
The British monarchy has been through turbulent times of late. Rocked by scandal and strife, and without it seems a clear plan for the future following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, we have been left wondering: what happens next? Nothing seems certain. Will the monarchy survive with its continuing echoes of an Imperial past? Will young people – disenchanted with the political status quo – find the ritual and practice of the monarchy quite so mesmerising as previous generations have done? What might a republican Britain look like? Ed Owens argues that the monarchy must embrace reform and transform itself radically. No more private jets while preaching about the importance of the environment; no more secrecy obscuring royal influence in high places; and no more hangers on enjoying grace-and-favour homes. A major slimming down is essential. And it’s time the family archives were opened.
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£14.99
The extraordinary turmoil we have seen in British politics in the last few years has set records. We have had the fastest turnover of prime ministers in our history and more MPs suspended from the House than ever. No wonder people are asking whether ‘parliamentary standards’ is a contradiction in terms. As Chair of the Committees on Standards and Privileges, Chris Bryant has been in the thick of the battle over standards in parliament. Cronyism, nepotism, conflicts of interest, misconduct and lying: politicians are engaging in these activities more frequently and more publicly than ever before. ‘Code of Conduct’ looks at every angle of parliamentary conduct, charting the history of how we got here.
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£10.99
A testimony of how our government has undermined our democratic principles from a barrister who took the Prime Minister to court
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£20.00
Opening with the reign of King Alfred, during which the foundations of the nation were laid, this book introduces the monarchs who have ruled through personal and political strife, triumph, war and peacetime. This is the story of modern civilization.
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£16.99
A testimony of how our government has undermined our democratic principles from a barrister who took the Prime Minister to court
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£9.99
As democracy shows signs of decay, how do we not only arrest its decline but build something better – a state which is democratic in the fullest sense?
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£25.00
Disasters are by their very nature hard to predict. Pandemics, like earthquakes, wildfires, financial crises and wars, are not normally distributed; there is no cycle of history to help us anticipate the next catastrophe. But when disaster strikes, we ought to be better prepared than the Romans were when Vesuvius erupted or medieval Italians when the Black Death struck. We have science on our side, after all. Yet the responses of a number of developed countries to a new pathogen from China were badly bungled. Why? The facile answer is to blame poor leadership. While populist rulers have performed poorly in the face of the pandemic, more profund problems have been exposed by COVID-19. Only when we understand the central challenge posed by disaster in history can we see that this was also a failure of an administrative state and of economic elites that had grown myopic over much longer than just a few years.
