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| Who Runs Britain?: and Who's to Blame for the Economic Mess We're in | 
 enlarge | Author: Robert Peston
Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: £7.99
Buy New: £3.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (5 reviews)
Sales Rank: 249
Media: Paperback
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5 x 1.1
ISBN: 0340839449
EAN: 9780340839447
ASIN: 0340839449
Publication Date: October 30, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 worth it December 28, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I got the impression that Peston was urged to put out a book quickly, so he used a lot of his old archive material (Green, M and S etc). But it's worth it as there are some good chapters on hedge funds, and a reminder that our banks were actually borrowing to buy all that toxic waste, which somehow drove home the stupidity of it all.
Not as good as his scoops!
 The Credit Crunch: who dunnit?: a good read December 27, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
To predict the future it is necessary to understand the past and Robert Peston's book is a valuable, well written and easy to read way to do this. It is the recent background to the business elite of a Britain that now faces an unprecedented financial mess
It gives colourful insight into the big personalities ( Philip Green, Stuart Rose, Allan Leighton ) the big financial organizations ( hedge funds private equity firms, and globalised investment banks) and the big politics which provide the backdrop to the dance of excess and greed that led us into the current melt down.
Much of the material is not new but it is very well told. It's a journalist's book rather than that of an historian. In truth it is really a number of different short books pulled together between one set of covers. It is a series of stand alone stories: Arcadia Group, Marks & Spencer's, Royal Mail, a who's who of hedge funds and private equity and the background to the sale of honours.
Peston has had a ringside seat for the past few years and this book allows us to share his privileged access. Most of the individual stories are fascinating, well written and related by a deeply well connected and knowledge insider. Although, to be honest, the chapter on pensions is rather hard going and only for real enthusiasts like Lord Turner who gets numerous mentions.
The title is a little misleading and echo perhaps of the seminal "Anatomy of Britain". by Anthony Sampson. "Credit Crunch: The Suspects" might have been a better alternative.
And finally in one sense the book is a mystery story. Does Peston like Gordon Brown and the Labour party or not? He seems unsure himself but at least it keeps the reader guessing.
All in all an adornment to any book shelf.
A clear explanation of why the financial crisis has happened December 23, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I liked this book a lot because it does not treat the reader like an idiot
What is also good is that he evidently has talked to the people involved and so it includes a huge amount of personal views from some of the main protagonists. His explanation of the greed of the finacial wizards, the wrong headed approach of the government and the effects on you and I is very clear - the only problem after reading this is that the depths of the problems in the financial sector look a lot worse and its clear that we as individuals will pay for this collective failure.
I did not give it five stars because of a style issue is that certain things were repeated a number of times so that it read a bit like a collection of essays but overall if you want to understand why we have the problems in the financial sector and now the real world economy then I can recommend this. Think of the plus when someone asks you what a Structured Investment Vehicle (SIV) is - and thanks to this you will know. You'll be bemused was to why it was ever thought a good idea, but you will know what it was and why valuing them became such a problem.
And finally it comprehensively shows the failings of the Prime Minister when he was chancellor - he may not have caused all the problems but the policies he pursued have made the problem worse for us all - and our grandchildren as well. Read this and I suspect that you will not see him as 'Super Gordon' after this.
Damm good read - making financial economics interesting !
Good, but too much detail December 5, 2008
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
On the whole I have found this book to be an interesting insight into the working of the city and the type of people who make the decisions there. However, there are large protions of the book that go into too much detail, and even though I consider myself reasonably competent on the subject, i found the detail to be tedious and ended up skipping over paragraphs. The book is now also dated due to the fast moving events of the last year.
Who thinks they run Britain November 30, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Ths book does give comprehensive information on the UK financial world but even as an informed "layman", much of the finer detail was too dense to be understood! And it already appears dated.
In view of continuing unravelling of global finance subsequent to this book being published, the long studies of the retailers Stuart Rose and Philip Green, and other erstwhile luminaries of the City, verge on the emollient, using too much tediously self-congratulatory quoting from the subjects, and not enough rigorous analysis by the author.
I am not sure the intention of this was to be such an indictement of early 21st century greed,vanity and disconnection with reality
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