‘Explosive and beautifully told ? these truths can set us free’ – Danny Dorling

‘This book is dynamite – shining a spotlight on the evils of neoliberalism, shattering the myth that ‘there is no alternative’, and laying the foundations for a new politics’ – Caroline Lucas

How can you fight something if you don’t know it exists?

We live under an ideology that preys on every aspect of our lives: our education and our jobs; our healthcare and our leisure; our relationships and our mental wellbeing; the planet we inhabit – the very air we breathe. So pervasive has it become that, for most people, it has no name. It seems unavoidable, like a natural law.

But trace it back to its roots, and we discover that it is neither inevitable nor immutable. It was conceived, propagated, and then concealed by the powerful few. Our task is to bring it into the light-and to build a new system that is worth fighting for.

Neoliberalism. Do you know what it is?

‘Explosive and beautifully told ? these truths can set us free’ – Danny Dorling

‘This book is dynamite – shining a spotlight on the evils of neoliberalism, shattering the myth that ‘there is no alternative’, and laying the foundations for a new politics’ – Caroline Lucas

How can you fight something if you don’t know it exists?

We live under an ideology that preys on every aspect of our lives: our education and our jobs; our healthcare and our leisure; our relationships and our mental wellbeing; the planet we inhabit – the very air we breathe. So pervasive has it become that, for most people, it has no name. It seems unavoidable, like a natural law.

But trace it back to its roots, and we discover that it is neither inevitable nor immutable. It was conceived, propagated, and then concealed by the powerful few. Our task is to bring it into the light-and to build a new system that is worth fighting for.

Neoliberalism. Do you know what it is?

‘The NHS is an institution. But it’s also a political football, kicked back and forth between politicians for the past 75 years. It’s a burden to some and a potent vote-winner for others. It’s a construct, framed in the media. It’s a set of ideas and a logo. It’s a workplace for many and the birthplace of almost all of us. It’s become a valued part of our society, it is extraordinarily special – and it’s being destroyed.’

The NHS is at crisis point. In the 75 years since it was founded on the dream of making healthcare accessible to everyone, its principles have been chipped away at and disregarded by successive political leaders. The result: an underfunded, understaffed, exhausted workforce, a decimation of patient services and the infiltration of privatisation within our public healthcare system. We are now in danger of losing what we have come to depend upon: the NHS is collapsing and a two-tier healthcare system is emerging in its place. We can stop this, but only if we do it together.

In her first book, Dr Julia Grace Patterson, founder of EveryDoctor and fierce advocate for the future of the NHS, lays bare the truth about the current state of our healthcare system and sets forth transformational ideas on how we could save it. A book built on a love of the NHS at its heart, Critical is a must-read for anyone who wants it to survive for another 75 years.

‘A landmark book… The Blue Commons is at once a brilliant synthesis, a searing analysis, and an inspiring call to action.’ – David Bollier

‘With remarkable erudition, passion and lyricism, Guy Standing commands the reader to wake up to the threat posed by rentier capitalism’s violent policies for extraction, exploitation and depletion of that which is both common to us all, but also vital to our survival: the sea and all within it.’ – Ann Pettifor

‘Shines a bright light on the economy of the oceans, directing us brilliantly towards where a sustainable future lies.’ – Danny Dorling

‘This is a powerful, visionary book – essential reading for all who yearn for a better world.’ – Jason Hickel

The sea provides more than half the oxygen we breathe, food for billions of people and livelihoods for hundreds of millions. But giant corporations are plundering the world’s oceans, aided by global finance and complicit states, following the neoliberal maxim of Blue Growth. The situation is dire: rampant exploitation and corruption now drive all aspects of the ocean economy, destroying communities, intensifying inequalities, and driving fish populations and other ocean life towards extinction.

The Blue Commons is an urgent call for change, from a campaigning economist responsible for some of the most innovative solutions to inequality of recent times. From large nations bullying smaller nations into giving up eco-friendly fishing policies to the profiteering by the Crown Estate in commandeering much of the British seabed, the scale of the global problem is synthesised here for the first time, as well as a toolkit for all of us to rise up and tackle it.

The oceans have been left out of calls for a Green New Deal but must be at the centre of the fight against climate change. How do we do it? By building a Blue Commons alternative: a transformative worldview and new set of proposals that prioritise the historic rights of local communities, the wellbeing of all people and, with it, the health of our oceans.

You think you know British Rail. But you don’t know the whole story.

From its creation after the Second World War, through its fifty-year lifetime, British Rail was an innovative powerhouse that transformed our transport system. Uniting disparate lines into a highly competent organisation – heralding ‘The Age of the Train’ – and, for a time, providing one of the fastest regular rail services in the world.

Born into post-war austerity, traumatised, impoverished and exploited by a hostile press, the state-owned railway was dismissed as a dinosaur unable to evolve, and swept away by a government hellbent on selling it off.

Now, award-winning writer Christian Wolmar provides a new perspective on national loss in a time of privatisation.

British Rail is ripe for a new history.
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Praise for Christian Wolmar

‘Wolmar is the high priest of railway studies’ Literary Review

‘The greatest expert on British trains’ Guardian

‘Our most eminent transport journalist’ Spectator

‘If the world’s railways have a laureate, it is surely Christian Wolmar’ Boston Globe

‘Christian Wolmar is in love with the railways. He writes constantly and passionately about them. He is their wisest, most detailed historian and a constant prophet of their rebirth . . . if you love the hum of the wheels and of history, then Christian Wolmar is your man‘ Observer