Values, Voice and Virtue

Reviews

This book is a valuable read for understanding better the cause of our recent democratic upheavals. Goodwin is angry on behalf of the white working class. He wants a political programme that offers them more protection from the gales of international economic competition and from the erosion of their socially conservative values. A single missile laser-targeted at a careless, feckless ruling elite who have ignored the wants and wills of the vast majority of voters ... The fundamental thrust of Goodwin's argument is right. ... a new centre ground of British politics is being formed - even if both parties have yet to fully comprehend it. Goodwin's central thesis is that the rise of the radical right, the Brexit referendum and Johnson's general election victory of 2019 are expressions of a deeper realignment in UK politics that pits the marginalised white working class, socially conservative older voters and the 'non-graduate majority' against a new elite of university-educated progressives. Hot property... [from] an insightful author and a trendsetting 'entrepreneurial academic', combining his scholarly work with writing punchy op-eds and making his case on TV and radio. Well-written and cogently argued ... [Goodwin] understands the broad forces that spurred the surprising changes and tumult in the politics of the West, and he writes about them without villainizing or heroizing ... a crucial one to read. A much-needed corrective. It gives voice to those whose values are scarcely heard or represented by the media ... impassioned and convincing. The most consistent chronicler of events that have upturned the UK several times ... there is much to recommend it as an antidote against the madness of our times. Expand reviews