Get It Together
We Deserve Better Politics
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Narrated by:
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Lisa Coleman
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By:
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Zoe Williams
About this listen
A rousing call to arms for a fairer society from the well-loved Guardian political journalist Zoe Williams.
Whether we have children or not, we all want the future to be fairer and happier, and Zoe Williams believes we need to make that happen collectively. Get It Together is a rousing call to arms for us all to play our parts in creating a more equal society. Zoe believes it's not enough to sit back and watch as our NHS slides away from us, as the young and low earners are forced out of London, as hundreds of thousands of people nationally drift into poverty, as education becomes increasingly divided, and as the wealthiest five people in Britain earn more than the poorest 20 percent.
Zoe will address key questions including: Has the NHS had its day? Has an immigrant stolen your job? Have you ever wondered why you can't afford a house? And who got us into this mess anyway? She will then offer up, in answer, a combination of fact, opinion, and debate that will be as inspiring as it is important.
Zoe Williams brings together here all the arguments that occupy the current political landscape and shows us that on all levels, it's lunacy to be anything other than left wing unless you're actually already an oligarch. She offers us the debate in a truly entertaining way - she's pacey, conversational, and funny.
©2015 Zoe Williams (P)2015 Audible, LtdA much-needed antidote to political despair
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Williams surveys with ruthless clarity the way that public money has been chucked at ideologically-fuelled projects that cost the earth and delivered zero. The way that public discourse has been turned skilfully against the idea that public ownership is bound to be 'inefficient' and 'bureaucratic' - while private sector failures and lack of dedication to the real task they were paid for makes few headlines. ('Bureaucratic' is itself a brilliant word for implying that life in public administration consists of long coffee breaks, and polite conversations about the children in the canteen). If you really want somebody to collect those taxes from Google et al, who do you think is going to do it? Little green men from Mars?
Williams is not a rightie, as you may guess, and neither am I. I am not a revolutionary socialist either. I would probably answer to social democrat if really pressed, but I liked this book. She doesn't try to persuade us of some party ideology, or against another. She just points out, with razor sharp wit, the reality of the way we live now and take it all for granted . . .
I also like very much the way she is able to spot the underlying unrealism, combined with pessimism, that governs so much political thinking. We can't do that because . . . . It won't won't work because . . . . Even when lots of less rich countries round the world can and are doing . . . .We are stuck in many hidebound ways of thinking that we need to shed, and soon - before the planet goes the same way as the referendum!
Williams' prescription is activism - not the sort that hangs about outside Jeremy Corbyn rallies waving banners and waiting for their leader to speak, but joins some organisation, and gets involved. The former is the type of 'activism' that achieves not much apart from headlines. There are local people brainstorming good ideas near you, campaigning for a better world, in some area that will suit and hold your interest for sure. Go find them. It's not whether Jeremy can deliver that we need to focus on, but on the immediate things under our nose that we can deliver. This is Williams' message, and I for one found it refreshing. Ok, your Party may deliver by 2020 (and then again it may not.) The real question is, what are we going to do meanwhile?
Clarion call to the despairing!
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It's not a story it is reality for millions
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Insightful and provoking.
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A long moan
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