20. Tango 190 by PC David Rathband
This is PC David Rathband’s own, very personal account of his wounding by gunman Raoul Moat in the summer of 2010. PC Rathband, police call sign Tango 190, was blinded when Moat shot him in the face at point blank range as he sat in his patrol car on 4th July 2010. Twenty-four hours earlier Moat had shot his ex-partner and killed her lover in Gateshead. The shootings sparked the largest police manhunt in British history and became one of the biggest and most controversial news stories of 2010. This book is Rathband’s personal account of the attack and the events surrounding it. It is also the story of his physical recuperation and the gradual and courageous rebuilding of his life, with the help of his family, in the wake of terrible injuries sustained in the line of duty.
19. Hate: My Life in the British Far Right by Matthew Collins
When it seemed that Matthew Collins was just another white face from a council estate, the violence and racism of the far-right offered him an alluring escape from the mediocrity of school, work and boredom. In 1980s Britain, the belligerent sentiments of a few hundred lonely white men went almost unnoticed. Ignored, marginalised, and fuelled by alcohol and violence, they built a party that would go on to hold seats in council chambers across England and in the European Parliament. Hidden behind those large Union Jack flags were individuals – Collins included – seemingly prepared to bomb and kill to make their violent dreams a reality. But what do you do when you realise that the burning hatred, vehement patriotism and thirst for confrontation that haunts you stems from your own insecurities and isolation? You switch sides.
18. When One Door Closes by Peter Sissons
From one newsroom to the next he has relayed the details of every momentous event of the last forty-five years. A Liverpool boy, rubbing shoulders with John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison at school, Sissons became the most trusted face of objective news. When One Door Closes is the surprisingly funny, dramatic and often poignant story of Britain’s most distinguished newsreader. An Iranian Fatwa hanging over him, shot through both legs during the Nigerian Civil War and hitting the headlines himself when poached by the BBC, Sissons has some fascinating stories to tell. He has sparked debate and controversy – not least thanks to a media maelstrom over his choice of tie while announcing the death of the Queen Mother. Now retired from broadcasting, he can finally lift the lid on his thoughts about the state of the British media, global affairs and what he really thinks of the BBC.
17. One in the Eye for Harold by Phil Mason
The problem with history is that much of what you learn in school simply isn’t true! For instance, King Harold was NOT shot in the eye with an arrow at the Battle of Hastings, Neanderthals were not as dumb as you’d think, Britain had an Indian curry restaurant years before it had fish-and-chip shops and the American ‘Wild West’ really wasn’t that wild. In many ways the history we casually accept as truth is full of mistakes. One in the Eye for Harold is a riotous romp through the centuries with revelations about the untruth of large swathes of history. It shows us how fictions have coloured our views of religion, politics, war and society – and shows us how some of our most solidly held beliefs are entirely false. In One in the Eye for Harold Phil Mason – author of Napoleon’s Haemorrhoids – catalogues how myth and error have shaped our view of the past, and how the history our teachers handed down is often far from the mark. It is full of remarkable insights that entertain gloriously as they challenge the conventional view of history.
16. 22 Days in May by David Laws
This is the first detailed Lib Dem insider account of the negotiations which led to the formation of the Lib Dem/Conservative Coalition Government in May 2010, along with an account of the early days of the Government. David Laws was one of the key Lib Dem MPs who negotiated the Coalition deal, and the book includes his in-depth, behind the scenes, account of the talks with the Conservative and Labour teams after the General Election, as well as the debates within his own party about how the Lib Dems should respond to the challenges and threats of a hung parliament. The Lib Dem decision to go into Coalition with the Conservatives has changed the face of British politics, and this book sets out the inside story of how this momentous decision came to be made.
15. The Secrets of Station X by Michael Smith
When “Captain Ridley’s shooting party” arrived at Bletchley Park in 1939 no one would have guessed that by 1945 the guests would number nearly 10,000 and that collectively they would have contributed decisively to the Allied war effort. Their role? To decode the Enigma cypher used by the Germans for high-level communications. It is an astonishing story. A melting pot of Oxbridge dons maverick oddballs and more regular citizens worked night and day at Station X, as Bletchley Park was known, to derive intelligence information from German coded messages. Michael Smith constructs his absorbing narrative around the reminiscences of those who worked and played at Bletchley Park. The code breakers of Station X did not win the war but they undoubtedly shortened it, and the lives saved on both sides stand as their greatest achievement.
14. The Purple Book, edited by Robert Philpott.
Leading Labour figures re-examine traditional Labour ideas to come up with fresh policies for the party’s revival. The Purple Book calls for the Labour Party to rediscover the non-statist strand of its history and thought and develop a progressive agenda with the redistribution of power to individuals and local communities at its heart. This agenda stretches beyond the state and public services, to the economy and the workplace. With contributions from some of leading lights of the New Labour movement The Purple Book identifies four strands of renewal for the party, positing a new role of the state, new models of capitalism and growth, and new ways to build a fairer society and stronger communities. It calls for policies that meet the challenges of restoring growth to the British economy, increasing the number of high-value jobs, addressing the stagnation in real incomes for working families, ensuring value for money and accountability in public services and keeping the tax burden as low as possible.
13. Prime Minister Boris, edited by Iain Dale and Duncan Brack
The grand passage of political history is steered by a combination of events great and small. Assessing how matters might have turned out under different circumstances is one of the most intriguing – and entertaining – historical exercises. This book imagines such tantalising political questions and scenarios as what if Lloyd George had joined Kitchener on that fateful boat to Russia in 1917? What if Nixon had beaten JFK in 1960? What if Margaret Thatcher had won the 1990 leadership election? What if Arnold Schwarzenegger had been able to run for President? What if Pope Benedict had been assassinated during his visit to the UK in 2010? What if Gordon Brown had called an election in October 2007? And, of course, what if Boris Johnson were to become Prime Minister in 2016?
12. Dave & Nick: The Year of the Honeymoon by Ann Treneman
It all began, as great love stories must, in a rose garden. David Cameron and Nick Clegg strode out into their new sun-dappled world. Bees buzzed. Birds sang. We all realised this wasn’t a press conference but a wedding. The newlyweds were bursting with the politics of love, of coalition, of happiness. They said it couldn’t last – and it didn’t. Resignations. Rows. Tuition fees. U-turns. Tears and trauma and broken crockery. Ann Treneman, the sketchwriter for The Times newspaper, hilariously chronicles an extraordinary year of love and war and politics in Britain. Here’s the laugh out loud story of the courtship, the wedding, the honeymoon, the marriage, the passion and the power, the mayhem and the madness.
11. Let Them Eat Carbon by Matthew Sinclair
Climate change is big business and ordinary people are paying a heavy price for the attempts politicians make to control greenhouse gas emissions. Climate change policies push up electricity bills, make it more expensive to drive to work or fly on holiday, put manufacturing workers out of a job and sometimes make food more expensive. In Let Them Eat Carbon Matthew Sinclair looks at the myths perpetuated by the burgeoning climate change industry, examines the individual policies and the potentially disastrous targets being put into place by ambitious politicians, and posits a sensible alternative climate change and environment policy that will not waste unimaginable amounts of money.
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