This is an incisive, well informed, and balanced polemic on the sad state of British governance. Overcentralised, with ephemeral media impact being much more important than policies, we see a short term political philosophy and no clear strategic goals for many years now. Its compulsive and easy reading with impressive insider knowledge, and a commendable lack of partisanship. Annd, not only analysis, but practical suggestions as to how each broken component could be changed.

This is a very useful insider survey of what has gone wrong with governance in the UK. The analysis is generally acute, well-informed (the author is somewhat of an insider himself) and very well written. It is perhaps especially useful at making clear the incentives that help explain the behaviour of certain political actors and systems that might not be so obvious from the outside. In particular, the changes in the emphasis on communication over policy which gathered pace in the 1980s, were turbo-charged in the mid-1990s and then came to dominate from the 2000s onwards are explained fairly, without too much unhelpful quixotic or moralistic commentary. The author's ability to explain from both the political and the media's point-of-view is useful.

More emphasis is given in the book to explanation than suggesting solutions, although these latter aren't ignored. Tactically the solutions generally seem to this reader workable and sensible. I suppose that the weakest section for me was the lack of real explanation of why, given the history and the incentives, he should suppose that without reworking the incentive structure in a meaningful way, then anything could possibly change by effectively, political willpower in the face of those incentives. 'Better policy' would have to be rewarded and 'eye-catching initiatives' would have to be punished, as would politicians (and their activist and journalist outriders) who used the media to attack other politicians, especially on the grounds of 'not taking responsibility' (because otherwise the objects of the attack would have an incentive to fight the media war just to neutralize the attacks). None of this is really tackled, so one has some sympthathy with Cummings' alternate strategy (reinforce the centre of politics even more) in which the incentives at least line up better.

This excellent book is the best I have read in describing the state of the U.K. government at this time (November 2024), the author, Sam Freedman, has a sense of humour but pulls no punches in his opinions regarding the political situation in Great Britain. Basically, he suggests that government policy is now much too centrally-based, with much of the decision making over the past 50 years having been gradually taken away from local government; so that now, Downing Street and The Treasury have much more work than they can reasonably deal with. And, this problem is compounded by the negative influence of today's media, which demands instant, short-term, snap decisions from the government; resulting in often rushed and botched policies and wasted resources. This is Sam Freedman's first book, and it's the best assessment of the current political scene (more or less 'organised chaos') that I've read so far. One can only hope that it won't be the last book we get from Mr. Freedman, as it's certainly one I would heartily recommend to anyone looking for a clear-sighted and informative view of the state of the political crisis facing Britain today.

A. Well-written and enjoyable read really gets to the heart of the problems we face in our modern world.how we got here and doesn't over complicate the subject matter. I will hold this book in high esteem for a long time to come as it really delves into the failings of government through through decentralised policies, central control and an overbearing need to drive process and procedure with a lack of any real accountability, if you read this book you will clearly see most of what government does today is posturing to the media and the news cycle without any clear idea of how to make substantial change to the benefit of our growing population

It’s an interesting book based on interviews and comment from credible sources. My only frustration is that it lacks broader statistical context, such as how effective local councils are etc. such points are covered through comment but would benefit from hard data as very few experts in such areas are truest neutral in their motives. It’s still an interesting read.

A good analysis of the problems in our study. However the author, with obvious left wing credentials, places too much confidence in the ability and probity of public sector managers. For example, the HS2 farce owes as much to the incompetence of transport ministry officials as stupid decisions by ministers (Adonis, Cameron and Johnson; I’m looking at you). The author has several quotes about the civil service being generalists and having not placed any emphasis on having in house specialist capability (far too much reliance is placed upon consultants who have their own agendas and aren’t really that good).

A compelling examination of the way the UK state fails to function.

Ever wondered why our politicians achieve so little? Well no one in Government has time to do any forward planning - they are all too busy 'fire fighting' and feeding the media machine. Secretaries of State spend barely any time in post before moving on. The civil service is dominated with generalists. No one actually understands which policies work and which are a waste of time.

There is too little delegation. Too much of government is centralised in Westminster, and within Westminster it is too centralised in No. 10 and the Treasury. Consequently they are both mostly overwhelmed. Private companies brought in to run many public services frequently fail to do an adequate job and yet get more contracts because there is no longer any in-house capability to turn to.

In combination with the excellent examination of tax and spending in Paul Johnson's 'Follow the Money', this book makes me realise more and more that we need radial reform in our government, and yet the chances are we will get the same old short term approach and continue to slip down the international rankings. It's deeply depressing.

Freedman doesn’t mess about in this important book. Straight to the problems regarding why our gov is pretty awful at doing, well, practically anything, save for feeding the media a story.

He touches on privatisation (which we’re all likely familiar with, and the consequences thereof), but he tells us quite a bit about outsourcing to services companies (G4S, Atos, Serco, Capita) just about anything the gov can’t seemingly be bothered with - from the probation service to job centres to maintaining our early warning radar station in the event of a nuclear attack (yes, really).

It wouldn’t be so bad if these companies had track records of delivering the goods, but companies repeatedly fail, and removing and replacing them is costing the taxpayer a hell of a lot of money.

He also touches on the gov’s seeming obsession with keeping decisions and power centralised, leading to it being overwhelmed and not very good at making many long-term decisions.

Freedman offers some interesting solutions regarding devolution of decision making (think Andy Burnham, but with more power and for more cities) but I fear, as sharp and clear-thinking as Freedman is, his words won’t be heeded, and the UK gov will carry on as normal.

Well worth a read. The seeming inefficiencies in gov angered me as a taxpayer, but there’s at least a glimmer of hope in Freedman’s world view.

Viele Interessante Ansätze aus Grossbritannien... was schief läuft und so weiter. Sollten auch deutsche Politiker lesen