Great Britain?

Great Britain?

How We Get Our Future Back

Summary

A thrilling examination of our state of chaos and a hopeful manifesto for a different future, by one of our most influential and profound thinkers on the British economy.

'This is stellar: brilliant, incredibly pragmatic and serious about the country we are' RORY STEWART
'Authoritative, forensic and humane – a critical voice for our troubled times' EMILY MAITLIS

Things have not been going great for Britain. Wages are flatlining, taxes are rising, and public services are collapsing. Our children can’t afford to buy houses, our parents aren’t receiving the social care they need and our neighbours are reliant on foodbanks. We are all yearning for a way out of the financial crises, generational wars and political dysfunction that dominate our lives. Most of all we want our future – and Britain’s – back.

Torsten Bell, Chief Executive of the Resolution Foundation, offers both a clear-eyed diagnosis of the problems facing our country – a uniquely toxic combination of huge inequality and stagnant economic growth – and a hopeful, bold vision for the alternative. He passionately points us towards a Britain that we can actually build – a future worth fighting for.

'Incisive ... what Britain needs' GORDON BROWN
‘Finally – an exciting, positive agenda’ MINOUCHE SHAFIK
'Torsten Bell is that rare thing – an economist who can write for non-experts. The country must cherish him' PETER HENNESSY
'Spiced with wit, this is a masterful, fact-packed ... prescription for a great social and economic restoration' POLLY TOYNBEE

Great Britain? is a treasure trove of enlightening and original analysis, and a much-needed antidote to the pervading sense that the country’s decline is inevitable or irreversible.

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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