3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Accessible and informative, February 5, 2004
This review is from: British Politics: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) (Paperback)
This book in an excellent insight into the British political system, which is a truly fascinating topic. Written by Tony Wright, who is a reformist Labour MP, it is nevertheless a fairly imparital account of the governmental system and political tradition and culture of the UK. It is concise yet not patronisingly introductory as some such book might be, and the whole series, of which there are a huge number, is highly reccomended. After reading this I felt like I understood much more about the system, which is observed wittily but always academically. The chapter entitled 'Arguing' is particularly good. I shall be purchasing further books in this series as they are a great way of getting to grips with a relatively new subject and together have a great power to expand your knowledge and mind into new areas.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
an excellent introduction, despite overlooking the power of media, December 28, 2005
This review is from: British Politics: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) (Paperback)
Tony Wright is a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Labour party, and this puts him in a good position to introduce British politics to the uninitiated. He writes from experience as well as from academic knowledge, and gives many interesting anecdotes from his own experience.
His position as an MP, however, also means that he has a few axes to grind, and keeps coming back to a small set of themes:
-Strong government is good, but needs better accountability (from Parliament, specifically).
-Parliament is a weak institution.
-The "first-past-the-post" election system does not reflect the true opinion of the electorate.
-The business of government has become the business of being re-elected.
As you read, you may get sick of seeing these same themes repeated again and again. However, they are important issues for discussion.
While giving excellent coverage of power from a political perspective, he virtually ignores the power of the media over politics, except to comment "Instead of the media feeding off Parliament, as was once the case, it is now more common for Parliament to feed off the media." This could use elaboration in order to properly explain the state of modern British politics.
I was recently listening to a discussion on BBC radio 4 about the centers of political power, commentators discussed the increasing concentration of power in the executive (as Wright does). Then one commentator said that the real power is now in the media, and the rest of them agreed unanimously. They had all been thinking in terms of official political positions, but the reality is that power does not always, or even primarily, lie in official places. However, Wright only deals with the politicians' part of this, which is to spin everything.
Writing about spin and soundbites, Wright states, "Presentation is all. Spin blots out substance. Soundbites substitute for arguments. Repitition replaces originality." Said the kettle to the pot... I guess he misses the irony of writing about soundbites using a series of short, repetitive, sentences. In any case, he scarcely mentions why it is that politicians have gone in for spin: the media.
One more cavil is that there are a couple of typographic errors, which is really unacceptable from such a respected press as the OUP.
Other than missing out on the power of the media, this is a good summary of the political situation in Britian today, and of how it got there. If you need a readable overview of the British political system and it's workings, this little book will serve your purposes well.
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