Having shown a recent interest in economics and politics a work mate of mine recommended this book to me. He had already read it so loaned me his copy and I felt obliged to finish it sooner rather than later. For those who don't know, Robert Peston is a financial journalist who is employed by the BBC. During the 'financial crisis' that hit Europe in 2007/2008 he rose to prominence as the 'go-to' man to explain what was going on and how it may be solved.

Having finished the book, a few things really stood out to me. Peston is unsurprisingly a fairly staunch capitalist, he LOVES Phillip Green and he has a tendency to go into detail about things which don't really go along with the title of the book. All that said, the book is a pretty good read and there are some really interesting things which he has clearly done a lot of research into.

Some of the chapters go into detail about the very basics of what caused the meltdown. Although I am well versed in these it proves that Peston has written this book with the average person on the street in mind. The first chapter talks about how too much credit was available far too easily. Although there isn't one thing that caused the crash this is perhaps the main reason behind it. Sadly, few people were saying this prior to the crash and it fairly obvious that this was driven by greed.

Peston covers how private equity firms work, how hedge funds make their money and how the pensions system in the UK was mismanaged. He also explains how short selling works and how derivatives work. Personally I think that Michael Lewis does this much better in his book Boomerang. Lewis also covers how the financial markets around the world met in a perfect storm which is something that Peston barely touches upon.

There is a lot of information about how the government are basically in bed with big business and how many questionable things have been done, especially where cash for peerages are involved. He pulls few punches when dealing the Labour who were in power at the time. There is an element of the benefit of hindsight here but what he says is correct and defending certain decisions taken is impossible. Sadly this is something which has got worse, there seems to be a move to privatize the NHS with the people taking the decisions standing to gain financially if it does happen. This is something which really angers me but I digress.

The parts where the book falls down are strange meandering chapters which seem fairly unrelated to the topic in hand. There is a whole chapter dedicated to Phillip Green, someone who is clearly a huge idol to Peston and frankly I found it a bit sickening. There are reasons to like and admire Green and there reasons to dislike him, Peston only covers the former. He also goes into great depth about the trials and tribulations of Marks & Spencer which again seems out of place.

All things considered this was a decent enough read even if it doesn't always stick to the topic in hand. ( )

I suppose that I should have known, but this is written from the position that money equals happiness. It's the economy with special thanks to Margret Thatcher who, we weren't too sure about at the time, but did a great job (Oh yeah???)

Sorry Mr Peston, I was sure at the time and NOTHING in the neo-liberal spell after the lady has ever lead to me questioning her poisonous affect. ( )

Thought-provoking and easy-to-read book about the people who have been pulling the strings in British economy for the past three decades or so. ( )