Will Hutton at Swindon Literature Festival May 14 2012

Will Hutton - Why We Need A Fair Society,  Swindon Arts Centre, Monday 14th May 2012 (Swindon Festival of Literature)

"The Next 100 days could be the most important in a generation" states Will Hutton at the beginning of his talk highlighting themes from his latest book "Them and Us - Changing Britain - Why We Need A Fair Society".

As Greece teeters on the brink of leaving the Euro, and the newly elected President Hollande of France meets with German Chancellor Angela Merkel with arguments of austerity vs growth to the forefront, it is becoming increasingly clear that the decisions being taken over the next few weeks will shape the destinies of us all for years to come.

With the global economy in a state of flux as the echoes of the credit crunch and global financial crash of 2008 continue to reverberate, in the British context Hutton proclaims the end of Toryism. There is scorn for the right wing of the Conservative Party in particular whom Hutton derides as plain wrong and nasty with it. However, Hutton offers cold comfort for traditionalists on the Left in Britain who still see a future for old style state socialism.

For Hutton the way forward lies in a new construct of "good capitalism" that recognises the co-dependency of the state and the entrepreneurial spirit needed to enable the development of an economy and society that is a match for the unfathomable challenges that will be presented to us by the incredible rate of technological advances coming in the 21st century and beyond.

It is an unsettling, and yet at the same time exhilarating, picture of our possible future that Hutton paints.  He holds out hope for a future that balances risks and rewards in a way that we can all see as just, that encourages and exploits innovation to deliver a fairer and more effective economic system.

Sex on The Moon, by Ben Ezrich

I have just reviewed a book called "Sex on The Moon" by Ben Ezrich for Linear Reflections a reviews ezine based in Canada. Ezrich also wrote the Accidental Billionaires book that was made into the film The Social Network. This reviewing thing is still fairly new to me but I am enjoying it and grateful to Naomi at Linear for giving me the opportunity to review the book. You can check it out and navigate to other Linear Reflections reviews from here...
Linear Reflections.