Owen Jones

Spectator, Daily Telegraph, New Statesman, Guardian, Observer, Independent Books of the Year 2014 In The Establishment Owen Jones, author of the international bestseller Chavs, offers a biting critique of the British Establishment and a passionate plea for democracyBehind our democracy lurks a powerful but unaccountable network of people who wield massive power and reap huge profits in the process. In exposing this shadowy and complex system that dominates our lives, Owen Jones sets out on a journey into the heart of our Establishment, from the lobbies of Westminster to the newsrooms, boardrooms and trading rooms of Fleet Street and the City. Exposing the revolving doors that link these worlds, and the vested interests that bind them together, Jones shows how, in claiming to work on our behalf, the people at the top are doing precisely the opposite. In fact, they represent the biggest threat to our democracy today - and it is time they were challenged.[Praise for Owen Jones's Chavs] 'A passionate and well-documented denunciation of the upper-class contempt for the proles that has recently become so visible in the British class system' - Eric Hobsbawm, Guardian Books of 2011 'As with all the best polemics, a luminous anger backlights his prose' - Economist 'A bold attempt to rewind political orthodoxies; to reintroduce class as a political variable ... It moves in and out of postwar British history with great agility, weaving together complex questions of class, culture and identity with a lightness of touch. Jones torches the political class to great effect' - Jon Cruddas, IndependentOwen Jones was born in Sheffield, grew up in Stockport, and studied history at Oxford. His first book, the international bestseller Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class, was long-listed for the Guardian First Book Award and chosen as one of The New York Times top 10 non-fiction books of 2011. In 2013 he received the Young Writer of the Year prize at the Political Book Award. He is a columnist for the Guardian and a frequent broadcaster.

And How They Get Away with It

The Establishment

Gavin

Begins very well:

  

  
'The Establishment' is a term that is often loosely used to mean "people with power whom I object to".


But this awareness didn't immunise him to self-service: instead of writing a book about just "the people with power", or "people who abuse their power", he focusses on one sort: the many cronies and neoliberals that cling to the country's upper reaches. The Jonesian Establishment consists of: fiscally conservative think tanks (but not powerful fiscally liberal ones); Old Boy MPs (but not originally working-class ones, however much they use the same revolving doors); the news media (but not himself, with 500,000 followers); the police; all corporate bosses; anything to do with the City. 

This is only a problem because of his choice of term, which implies that his description covers all the powerful in Britain. (A big omission, for instance, are the unions. Unite and Unison have extremely frequent meetings with the most powerful politicians in the country - quite rightly - and have an incredibly strong role in selecting some of those people - quite dubiously. They sometimes use this power against the public interest, e.g. GMB propping up Trident. But they are not Establishment to Jones.*) 

He is thinking clearly, and that's half the work in finding the truth, which is half the work in changing the world. But, above the level of reporting individual events, he is just not empirically reliable: he notes that the Sun has 3m readers and just assumes that this means they are all-powerful in elections. Actually the (British, C21st) media has little effect on election outcomes - they produce only 1-2% swings.**

A more general problem: Jones has a fundamentally moral conception of society's problems: "the poor primarily suffer because of the greed or cowardice or ignorance of our rulers. Nationalisations and the £20 minimum wage would have no real downside." This is as opposed to the engineering conception, which sees the constraints, tradeoffs, and tries to design solutions with these in mind.

Still, my sympathies are with people who get attacked on both sides of a war, as Jones often does - for being both naively idealistic about economics and democracy, and insufficiently radical and obedient to the party line. He bears some millstones, like his totally unanalysed use of the Left/Right divide (he prefaces every single bloody interview with bloody anyone with a binary tag, one way or the other).

Anyway this is fine as very recent political history. (If you were paying attention to politics during the Noughties, then you maybe won't learn much new here, but it's a great primer for the foreign or young.) I was angry afterward, so clearly he is effective at his chosen task; god knows if political anger is what we need though. (I read a lot of non-data-driven nonfiction, god knows why. Maybe so my anger can be relevant at least, or in preparation for pseuds' dinner parties.) 



* (I also wish he'd stop capitalising the damn word all the time.)

** A belief in the brain-washing power of the media - to change voting behaviour, to instil sexism, to desensitize us to violence - is one of the defining quirks of the modern hard left, despite there being decent counter-evidence against each effect. Percipi est esse.

Mary Baldwin

A really interesting audit of the UK system; is probably the best way to describe this book. It's pretty dry, so unless you have prior interest in politics or establishment-ism you mind find it a bit dry. It does a great job of explaining that the establishment is not about individuals or even about certain groups like the median or law enforcement, but about the combined effect of their interactions. 

You need to pay attention when you're reading, there's some good quotes and good stats. I'll no doubt pick it up again.

Behind our democracy lurks a powerful but unaccountable network of people who wield massive power and reap huge profits in the process. In exposing this shadowy and complex system that dominates our lives, Owen Jones sets out on a journey into the heart of our Establishment, from the lobbies of Westminster to the newsrooms, boardrooms and trading rooms of Fleet Street and the City. Exposing the revolving doors that link these worlds, and the vested interests that bind them together, Jones shows how, in claiming to work on our behalf, the people at the top are doing precisely the opposite. In fact, they represent the biggest threat to our democracy today - and it is time they were challenged.

Georgia Carr

VIVE LA RÉVOLUTION or whatever. :P

This is awe-inspiring, motivational and thoroughly worth reading. Owen Jones explains his points in detail, with relevant examples and an understanding of why it happens, even if that understanding is not his own viewpoint. The argument is not balanced but I agree with nearly everything he says and if I'm honest, I don't see how anyone could possibly disagree. The conclusion suggests ways we can change through collective action, which interestingly reads similarly to Russell Brand's "Revolution" endpoint. 

I'll be buying copies for all my friends interested in politics for sure.

Hidde

Very depressing, but worthwile. Excellent overview of current state of affairs and recent history and of what's wrong. Good ideas for change.

Jessica

THE PHENOMENAL BESTSELLER 'Fantastic, timely, eye-opening' Armando Iannucci, New Statesman, Books of the Year 'Captures a collective sense of anger and awakening' Matt Haig, Observer, Books of the Year Behind our democracy lurks a powerful but unaccountable network of people who wield massive power and reap huge profits in the process. In exposing this shadowy and complex system that dominates our lives, Owen Jones sets out on a journey into the heart of our Establishment, from the lobbies of Westminster to the newsrooms, boardrooms and trading rooms of Fleet Street and the City. Exposing the revolving doors that link these worlds, and the vested interests that bind them together, Jones shows how, in claiming to work on our behalf, the people at the top are doing precisely the opposite. In fact, they represent the biggest threat to our democracy today - and it is time they were challenged. 'A book of revelations ... The Establishment have stitched it up - stitched you up - and they know it' Danny Dorling, Times Higher Education Supplement 'A dissection of the profoundly and sickeningly corrupt state that is present-day Britain. He is a fine writer, and this is a truly necessary book' Philip Pullman 'Owen Jones is a phenomenon of our times' David Kynaston, The Times Literary Supplement 'You will be enlightened and angry' Irvine Welsh

The Establishment And How They Get Away with It

Reviews