Great Britain?

How We Get Our Future Back

By: Torsten Bell

Narrated by: Torsten Bell

Length: 6 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's 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

Critic reviews

A roadmap to the new normal … surprisingly hopeful … required reading for the new intake … this is an incisive, upbeat vision of how a Labour government could turn things around even in difficult times (Gaby Hinsliff)

An incisive, challenging and brilliantly researched agenda to deliver what Britain needs: inclusive and sustainable growth. (Gordon Brown)

Bell is an excellent writer with a talent for putting things so clearly and crisply that they lodge easily in the brain ... Although Bell is pretty bleak about Britain’s condition, he is refreshingly optimistic about our chances of catching up with our peers (Emma Duncan)

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)

This is stellar: brilliant, incredibly pragmatic and serious about the country we are. It presents a wonderful opportunity for an incoming government. (Rory Stewart)

Spiced with wit, this is a masterful, fact-packed indictment of modern Britain after its decade of decline. But there is also hope and optimism in its practical prescription for a great social and economic restoration. (Polly Toynbee)

Torsten Bell has produced a brilliant analysis of the politics of pessimism in which the UK is currently mired and shows us how we can begin to arrest, then reverse, our dispiriting torpor. He is also that rare thing – an economist who can write for non-experts. The country must cherish him – and ask for more. (Peter Hennessy)

A dose of Torstenomics is the only thing that can give us hope (Amol Rajan)

A forensic, sometimes merciless, critique of what lies behind Britain’s headlong economic decline – and hopeful, feasible proposals for turning it around. One of the most impressive and readable books in a growing body of work that together is arguing for a radical change of direction. We can’t go on like this. (Will Hutton, author of)