This is Not Normal: The Collapse of Liberal Britain
Oct 2020 · Verso Books
Ebook
256
Pages
About this ebook
What just happened and how did we get into this mess?
Since the 2016 referendum, the UK has been in a crisis of its own making. But there are more reasons for this than Brexit alone. A wave of disruption has hit political parties, the mainstream media, public experts and all kinds of officials. Along the way, there have been dramatic and sometimes shocking events: the burning of Grenfell Tower and the Windrush scandal, the rise and fall of the Brexit Party, Boris Johnson’s Conservative purge and his resounding election victory. The state’s response to the pandemic was a further sign of how abnormal things had become.
As the ‘mainstream’ of politics and media has come under attack, the basic norms of public life have been thrown into question. Authoritarian and nationalist forces advance as liberalism recedes.
This Is Not Normal takes stock of a nation that no longer recognises itself. Davies finds the narrative sense behind apparently chaotic and irrational events, extracting their underlying logic and long-term causes. We are witnessing the combined effects of the 2008 financial crash, the failure of the British neoliberal project, the dying of Empire, and the impact of the changes that technology and communications have had on the public sphere. How the nation revives from the economic and political shocks of the lockdown remains uncertain. This is an essential book for anyone who wants to make sense of the current moment.
Since the 2016 referendum, the UK has been in a crisis of its own making. But there are more reasons for this than Brexit alone. A wave of disruption has hit political parties, the mainstream media, public experts and all kinds of officials. Along the way, there have been dramatic and sometimes shocking events: the burning of Grenfell Tower and the Windrush scandal, the rise and fall of the Brexit Party, Boris Johnson’s Conservative purge and his resounding election victory. The state’s response to the pandemic was a further sign of how abnormal things had become.
As the ‘mainstream’ of politics and media has come under attack, the basic norms of public life have been thrown into question. Authoritarian and nationalist forces advance as liberalism recedes.
This Is Not Normal takes stock of a nation that no longer recognises itself. Davies finds the narrative sense behind apparently chaotic and irrational events, extracting their underlying logic and long-term causes. We are witnessing the combined effects of the 2008 financial crash, the failure of the British neoliberal project, the dying of Empire, and the impact of the changes that technology and communications have had on the public sphere. How the nation revives from the economic and political shocks of the lockdown remains uncertain. This is an essential book for anyone who wants to make sense of the current moment.
About the author
William Davies is Professor of Political Economy at Goldsmiths, University of London, where he is Co-Director of the Political Economy Research Centre [PERC]. He is the author of The Limits of Neoliberalism, The Happiness Industry and Nervous States. He writes regularly for the Guardian, London Review of Books and the New York Times.
Rate this ebook
Tell us what you think.
Reading information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.
