Great Britain?

Great Britain?

How We Get Our Future Back

Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

We all want to know what on earth is going on. Why real wages are flatlining but taxes are rising, and public services are still collapsing. Why our children can’t afford a house and our neighbours are using foodbanks. We are all yearning for a way out of the repeated economic crises, generational divisions and political dysfunction that dominate our lives. Most of all we want our – and Britain’s – future back.

Great Britain? is a much-needed antidote to the pervading sense that Britain is going backwards rather than forwards. It is both a clear-eyed and rigorous diagnosis of the problems facing our country – a unique toxicity of huge inequality and stagnant economic growth – and a hopeful case for reclaiming a different future: by building an investment nation of good work, resilient communities and secure homes, a society in which both burdens and prosperity are shared. As Torsten Bell shows in his bold vision for the alternative, the Britain of today contains the raw materials to build a better Britain for tomorrow.

In this treasure trove of analysis, Bell argues that our era of crisis and cynicism needs neither utopia nor nostalgia, but a practical patriotism of radical incrementalism to raise the living standards of middle- and lower-income households. He expertly and passionately points us towards a Britain that we can actually build – a future worth fighting for.

©2024 Torsten Bell (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Reviews

  • No one has done more to re-inject sanity into our national policy debates – Torsten Bell writes with optimism and clarity about the things we are getting right, as well as the stuff we should be desperate to improve. Authoritative, forensic and humane – a critical voice for our troubled times.
    Emily Maitlis

About the author

Torsten Bell

Torsten Bell is Chief Executive of the Resolution Foundation, an enormously respected and influential economic research charity working to raise the living standards of households on low to middle incomes. His focus is on where economics meets the real world – on better jobs, affordable housing and a more equal country. The Resolution Foundation heavily influenced two of the biggest government interventions in recent times: the Coronavirus Job Retention ‘Furlough’ Scheme and the Energy Price Guarantee.

Prior to leading the Resolution Foundation, Torsten worked in HM Treasury, as a member of the Council of Economic Advisers during the financial crisis, and as Director of Policy for the Labour Party. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, school governor, trustee of the Child Poverty Action Group and an Honorary Professor at UCL. He has a weekly column in The Observer, and writes regularly for The Guardian and Financial Times. Great Britain? will be his first book.
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