When I started this blog I intended to write about some of
the books I’ve been reading and perhaps, how the writing has affected my
perceptions of the world. It’s been a few months and I have not written
anything about my reading yet, so this is a bit of a catch up. Damian McBrides book is the best book on UK government that I have read, so no apologies for starting with it.
Damian McBride - Power Trip.
McBride was Gordon Brown’s press secretary, or if you prefer
spin doctor or if you are David Cameron, Gordon’s attack dog. His book follows
his life as a Civil Service Fast Stream entrant, working in Customs & Excise
becoming an acknowledged expert on all matters VAT, through to the Treasury and eventually moving from a non political
role in the Civil Service, to a political role working for the Labour
government as an indispensible aide to Gordon Brown. It’s all here, from a set
of instructions on how to do the job, how to present your boss to the press,
how to kill bad news and occasionally how to kill off threats to Gordon. Loved
the insights into the MI5 vetting procedure and how Customs & Excise hide
their drug smuggling informants.
Two things emerge, firstly what a truly wonderful sense of
humour he has, and secondly how insightful he is on what went wrong and on the
mistakes people make. It is also interesting to note how much fun Gordon Brown
had behind closed doors away from that public front. He is very honest about
the drinking which fuelled his 16 hour, seven days a week life. At the end when
he was being sacked he was asked how much holiday he had left to take. He
replied 136 days, having only taken 5 days in over 7 years. And that’s the crux
of the problem, he was burned out but too indispensible to be replaced.
For a new way to look at the two Eds including a hillarious
object lesson from Ed Balls on how to break bad news to Gordon Brown, and for
some classic examples of David Cameron’s crassness this book is a terrific
read. It really is very entertaining and informative. It also explains Ed
Milliband’s aversion to spin or getting close to the press as others call it.
McBride is an unrepentant fan of Gordon Brown. His book is
very funny and reveals a very human side of Brown.
Michael Lewis – Flash Boys.
Reads rather like an adventure story. It’s well written and
generally easy to understand. For the last 6 years of my working life, I worked
on trading systems and this book really helped me to understand how our product
was viewed by customers. While we were tracking delays of 0.25 of a second in
our pricing systems, the flash boys were obsessing over fractions of a nano
second.
I remember the new IEX market which caused a late rebuild of
a software release arousing my interest. For the next couple of months there
were no trades against IEX and I ceased my interest. Well now I know what it
was about and the interesting characters behind it. IEX currently has over 1%
of the market in US equity trading.
Michael Lewis is now a regular interviewee on TV and radio.
He has the ability to make complex things understandable and in my experience
an awful lot of people cannot do that. Today he has an interview with Kamal
Ahmed on the BBC website under the heading “The market is rigged”. If you
dabble in shares and wonder how the bankers do it, this is a frightening guide
to a corrupt system rigged in the electronic traders favour.
Terry Stoate – Iain Duncan Smith, My Part in his Downfall.
His is a bit of a rambling account of life on the dole in
Cameron’s Britain. While it is hard to develop too much sympathy for Terry who
expects the state to support him while we writes his book, it is a very
interesting reveal on the games the Jobcentre play to simply throw people off
the unemployment register (and out onto the streets). I used to work in an old
style unemployment benefit office and I know how people play the system. I can
understand the motivation of the civil servants who have government backing to
fight back against the people who have no intention of working, but as is often
the case it is the innocents who get targeted. Those playing the system are
experienced enough to be difficult to target. By trying to target the
unemployable scroungers, a lot of innocent people suffer. I’m really not sure
it is worth the effort. Unemployable scroungers are not good candidates for the
workforce, employers do not want them. Others who are unemployed and good
candidates for employment need help, yet the bullying that IDS has put in place
is targeting them. We are making victim’s of the wrong people.
Terry – love the title, but the book is an occasionally
amusing ramble which ultimately disappoints.
Ha-Joon Chang - 23 Things They Don’t Tell You about Capitalism.
A really good and worthwhile book. Ha-Joon Chang is a very
bright guy who packs a lot of facts and analysis into his subject. He is not
anti-market, but he is anti rigged market. His analysis is packed with facts
and figures but is very readable.
Anyone who claims that the free market is efficient should
read this book. There is no such thing as a free market, they are all rigged.
We have to make sure they are rigged in Society’s favour.
Chang states that the economic catastrophe that was the
market crash of 2008, was brought about by the free market ideology and in 23
chapters he goes on to prove it. Not only is his case compelling but he shows
us the ways in which we can make capitalism work better.
This book should be required reading for every politician,
or even every sixth form pupil. (Do they have sixth forms anymore?) Come on
guys, read this and get angry.
Bruce Catton & James M. McPherson – American Heritage History of the Civil War.
Like many people, I watch the odd film which uses the
American civil war as its backdrop. Lately I’ve watched the Daniel Day-Lewis
version of Lincoln, before that I read Gore Vidal’s biographical novel of
Lincoln. I also watched Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter which took itself a bit
seriously – a one joke film. I know a bit about the famous battles and war
characters, Lee and Jackson, but I had no overall framework to put the stories
into.
Perhaps American kids learn all this stuff while we are
reciting the names of Kings and Queens. Anyway I found this for the Kindle at a
modest price and its a short, very readable book. It’s also from a respected and
authoritative writer. It was written 65 years ago but with an easy going prose
which makes it a joy to read.
I like Gore Vidal’s novel, Lincoln, but this one is much
shorter and easier to read.
Tim Harford – The Undercover Economist Strikes Back.
This is a fairly innocent little book on how to run the
economy. It written from the perspective of an advisor to you, the new
chancellor. It goes through the decisions you’ll be faced with and tells you
the pro’s and con’s while skilfully avoiding any answers. It’s a bit like a
session with a Solicitor, don’t expect a yes/no answer.
I rattled through it, but found I knew most of the economics stuff
anyway. Occasionally some of the stats were interesting but in general I’d
recommend BBC’s podcasts of “More or Less” which are generally funnier and just
as informative.
