This Time No Mistakes

Every thinking person knows that a great change is needed in our country.

Will Hutton’s passionate book shows how the right and left have gone wrong over the course of the last century – and how we can remake a better Britain. Britain’s inability to invest in itself is at the heart of our problems.

The malevolent thread linking the grievous errors of the last forty-five years is the attempt to create the utopia of free markets and a minimal state. The terrible consequences scar our country today. We need an alternative economic and political philosophy, especially if we are to ward off a nihilist populism.

Two great traditions – ethical socialism and progressive liberalism – can be brought together to offer a different way forward. Hutton describes the views of their major thinkers, and their common vision of what he calls the ‘We Society’ – combining the ‘We’ and the ‘I’. The two strands of thought both believe in the duty to treat people fairly in a capitalist system that, without guiderails, spirals into inequality, monopoly and exploitation.

Out of this shared worldview came the great reforming Liberal government of 1906–14, supported by Labour MPs who’d been elected in industrial areas with Liberal backing. This alliance, Hutton argues, was the great opportunity of modern British history. It was destroyed by the First World War.

In 1945 a Labour government, informed by great Liberal intellectuals like Keynes and Beveridge, showed once again what can be achieved when the two progressive strands fuse. Since then, our deeply unfair electoral system has allowed Conservatives to dominate government and commit a long series of great, avoidable errors. The Labour Party, fatally divided between socialist purity and timid pragmatism, must rediscover the ingredients that made for the success of the great reforming governments of the twentieth century.

This failure to uphold the ‘We Society’ has betrayed Britain. Capitalism must be repurposed to work for the common good. And our degraded democracy, the necessary means for such change, must be reformed.

Hutton’s proposals are inspiring and rooted in values held by the overwhelming majority of us. Above all, they are achievable.

Here is a magisterial account of the past, present and let's hope, the future of progressive politics in Britain. With fluency and profound understanding, the depth of Will Hutton's passionate commitment to a more egalitarian society shines through every page. ― Polly Toynbee

Will Hutton has done it again. at a time of crisis and change here is a compelling account of how we got here and what needs to be done to move on.brilliantly evoked context combined with a credible but exciting and coherent vision for the future. A must read for all those who seek to make sense of the UK's plight.and who dare to hope. ― Steve Richards, author of The Prime Ministers

Passionately argued, full of facts and insight, Will Hutton brilliantly diagnoses the British Disease of the 2020s and offers a convincing cure. A must read for anyone who thinks the UK can be better and do better than the mess we are in. ― Gavin Esler, author of Britain Is Better Than This

This is Will Hutton's best book since The State We're In. Given the state we're in, it is by far his most important. ― Andy Haldane

PRAISE FOR WILL HUTTON:

'His optimism is unquenchable, his excitement exhilarating and his creativity awesome' ― Observer

OTHER REVIEWS:

'Passionately sane, rich in ideas, The State We're In breathes human sense back into economics and eloquently embodies the spirit of a new optimism' Ian McEwan

'When the British left is so bereft of vision and so tentative about the modest ideas it does have, Hutton comes as a breath of fresh air' Guardian

'A commendable effort: ambitious, passionate, imaginative, decent and thoughtful... Read the book: be inspired; be provoked; be annoyed' Financial Times