Values, Voice and Virtue: The New British Politics
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*THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER*
*A Financial Times 2023 book to watch*
‘Forceful … The fundamental thrust of Goodwin’s argument is right … a new centre ground of British politics is being formed – even if both parties have yet to fully comprehend it’ The Times
What has caused the recent seismic changes in British politics, including Brexit and a series of populist revolts against the elite? Why did so many people want to overturn the status quo? Where have the Left gone wrong? And what deeper trends are driving these changes?
British politics is coming apart. A country once known for its stability has recently experienced a series of shocking upheavals. Matthew Goodwin, acclaimed political scientist and co-author of National Populism, shows that the reason is not economic hardship, personalities or dark money. It is a far wider political realignment that will be with us for years to come. An increasingly liberalised, globalised ruling class has lost touch with millions, who found their values ignored, their voices unheard and their virtue denied. Now, this new alliance of voters is set to determine Britain’s fate.
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Additional information
| Publisher | Penguin (30 Mar. 2023) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 272 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 0141999098 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0141999098 |
| Dimensions | 12.7 x 1.52 x 19.69 cm |
by fido_dozes
You’d think I was the receptive target audience for this book. I’d been going on about the cosmopolitan liberal elite throughout the 2010s before I heard journalists piling on the wagon. However I am dissatisfied with this book. It was a terrible read. Why? Because it is so mindlessly repetitious. I don’t mean across chapters, I mean even within them. Within this 200 odd page book it feels like there is a concise 40 page thesis trying to get out. The whole thing is so bereft of style and self-awareness. Or… is it?
I could only reason this book was written deliberately badly but extensively referenced in order to preserve an academic career in the very same woke university system it criticises. Now, this is not unusual. Leftist philosophers have been plotting the downfall of capitalist society that paid their wages and pushed professorships their way for decades; hypocrisy is nothing new.
The whole thing writes like a parody of the quote about sticking to a simple idea and repeating it, which is commonly attributed to the spectre of Adolf. Is that what the author had in mind?
This book reads like the author has no idea how to keep draft notes and a document map in order to avoid repeating himself, which I find very strange for a certified academic.
Or maybe the author just found a quick way to monetise a thesis and truly is terrible writer.
You could get the central idea in a page or two. Academia became leftist identity politics a long time ago- though he does not cite academic figures or ideas in detail, so forget about interesting critical dissections. Nearly all politicians come from a university background and have become captured by liberal globalism which suits big business, but this is contrary to the conservative social attitudes of the working class and senior elements of the population, hence Brexit, the collapse of the Red Wall and so on.
The reader really interested in an intellectual wrestle with the grounding of university-grade leftism would do better to read Roger Scruton’s “Fools, Frauds and Firebrands: Thinkers of the New Left”. At times baffling, yes, but never so repetitious and boring as this.
by Andrew Man
Not having live in the UK for over thirty years, this book gave a rare account of the decline of Britain both before and after Brexit. Despite gaining some independence from the EU, the cultural changes of the woke left has ensured that most Brexit benefits have been squandered or thrown away?
As other readers have found there is a lot of repetition of changed Values, Voice and little to recommend of Virtue. In addition, some of Goodwin’s ideas may have changed public opinion since the October 7th attack – but then a week is a long time in politics.
by GARY MARTIN
Fantastic book. It simply puts all the things that you know are going wrong in this country and puts them in order, why they are happening, and who is responsible. It answers lots of questions. Great read.
by Cape Town critic
Don’t get me wrong there are so interesting facts and figures that warrant further investigation. Indeed the working hypothesis re. A new elite is something I have a large degree of sympathy with.
BUT
to see recent political history and trends in a rather linear fashion and marked along a rather convenient line of educational background is far too simplistic. Yes, yes the author pads it out with supporting anecdote and geographic example, but all to drag back to the liberal leanings of the educated elite…..Will not do. Its a good start, but the missing minority/middle conveniently marginalised by the author are far more prevalent, vocal and dare one suggest influential than he cares to admit.
And in case you don’t get it Oxbridge and Russell Grp are the breeding ground for this new elite……its mentioned once or twice!!!
Convenient as an alumni of said den of intrigue I and most of my longstanding friends, I would suggest, would neither identify as traditionists nor part of the elite…..
Food for thought?
by Mossyo
Interesting read. 4 stars as it does get a little repetitive and the author completely ignores Generation X – those of us born between 1965-1980. He frequently refers to Boomers and Millennials, and occasionally Zoomers, but we Xers don’t warrant a mention. We were the first generation to grow up in multicultural schools, housing estates, and enter the workplace alongside the children of the 1950s/60s wave of immigration – I’m one of those children myself – so it’s odd that he’s chosen to ignore us, or just plain forgotten about us. Perhaps it’s because we don’t make as much noise as the other groups (stoicism is our defining trait).