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A Quiet Word: Lobbying, Crony Capitalism and Broken Politics in Britain

A Quiet Word: Lobbying, Crony Capitalism and Broken Politics in Britain

by Andy Rowell (Author), Andy Rowell (Author), Tamasin Cave (Author)

  • Used

    Hardcover 2014

    $5.11
Synopsis

When protesters pitched their tents at St Paul's Cathedral in October 2011, as they did in Wall Street and cities around the world, they demanded one thing: to be heard. The financial sector they oppose needs no such recourse to banner-waving in order to get the ear of government. It peddles its influence quietly, behind closed doors with friends and former colleagues in government, whom it looks after with fine dining, direct funding and promises of jobs in retirement. The corporate takeover of democracy is not a paranoid nightmare of conspiracy theorists - it affects us all at every level of our lives. The food we eat, the medicine we use, the wars fought in our name, the temperature of our planet, how we spend our money, and how our money is spent for us by those who control the public purse. Britain's influence industry is worth GBP2billion, employs upwards of 15,000 people and operates out of public sight. It is accountable to no one. The protestors - 'the 99 per cent' - reflect a society that increasingly feels it has little or no control over how our lives are shaped. The government has ceased to listen. To us, at least. They listen to the hidden persuaders of the influence industry. They listen to the one per cent.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
 Pages: 400
 Publisher: Bodley Head
Published: 06 Mar 2014
ISBN 10: 1847922325
ISBN 13: 9781847922328
Book Overview: An explosive and revelatory account about the British lobbying industry and how it affects us all at every level of our lives.

Media Reviews
Fascinating... [Cave and Rowell] lay bare the tricks of the trade, from astroturfing (whipping up what looks like grassroots protest against new regulatory threats, but is in fact a front for industry interests) to using thinktanks as wonk whores that can push helpful ideas -- Gaby Hinsliff Guardian Indispensable -- George Monbiot Guardian Demonstrates beyond doubt how lobbyists distort democracy and ensure that elite opinion crowds out public views New Statesman A chillingly accurate description of how presentation and spin trumps substantive argument in the upper echelons of power... A Quiet Word is important and, generally, right -- Mark Leftly Independent on Sunday A timely account of how voters are conceding power to a silent industry -- JP O'Malley Mail on Sunday
Author Bio
Tamasin Cave is a writer, campaigner and commentator. She is a director of Spinwatch, which investigates corporate PR and lobbying, as well as government spin. Since 2007, she has also led the campaign for transparency regulations for lobbyists. Andy Rowell is an award-winning journalist and author. As a founder-director of Spinwatch, he has been writing about the industry for over twenty years, particularly as it relates to environmental and health issues. He is also a part-time senior research fellow at the University of Bath.