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The Nanny State Made Me

A Story of Britain and How to Save it

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The Nanny State Made Me

By: Stuart Maconie
Narrated by: Stuart Maconie
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

It was the spirit of our finest hour, the backbone of our postwar greatness and it promoted some of the boldest and most brilliant schemes this isle has ever produced: it was the Welfare State, and it made you and me. But now it's under threat, and we need to save it.

In this timely and provocative audiobook, Stuart Maconie tells Britain’s Welfare State story through his own history of growing up as a northern working class boy. What was so bad about properly funded hospitals, decent working conditions and affordable houses? And what was so wrong about student grants, free eye tests and council houses? And where did it all go so wrong? Stuart looks toward Britain’s future, making an emotional case for believing in more than profit and loss and championing a just, fairer society.

©2020 Stuart Maconie (P)2020 Penguin Audio Anthropology Europe Great Britain Politics & Government Thought-Provoking Suspenseful

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Critic reviews

"He is as funny as Bryson and as wise as Orwell." (Observer)
All stars
Most relevant  
A very well written and told book, The nanny state is so urgently needed,the sooner the better

Yes bring it back

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Very interesting book, well researched and making some very good points about the way this country is run. Maconie is passionate about this subject and this is a thought provoking and intelligently written book.

Modern British History Lesson

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I felt this book personally
I was born in 1953 in Hackney London and consider myself a child of the welfare state.
The "Nanny State" made so many of us and Stuart Maconie is so right to look at the reasons that we gained so much from its wide net
The story of the decline of the welfare state is perhaps the greatest tragedy of our lives.
interestingly I graduated in 1976 from Warwick University. In the beautiful hot summer of that year we had an open day where I met up with a friend I'd met at a local jazz club in Earlsdon, Coventry.
He'd left school at 15, married early, raised a family but was able to sit with me in the cafeteria at the Student's Union building talking of his hopes for the future for his children. He was self-educated from books that he borrowed from the local library, was thinking of doing an Open University course and ran rings around me (just graduated with a Politics degree) on discussion about political philosophers!
According to Maconie 1976 was the height of the postwar benefits of the welfare state.In 1079 Mrs Thatcher arrived at 10 Downing Street and the test is a sad story of greed and selfish individualism that has dominated too many years of my life. I often wonder what became of my friend and his children on the decl9n9ng situation that followed that beautiful day.
This was a great listen and well worth anyone's time. The ending was uplifting and brought tears to my eyes.

Spot on

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A fantastic look at how woefully selfish this nation has become having fallen for all the Tory lies about privatisation being good

Never a truer sentiment

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Mr Maconie is a force for good in turbulent times...
You will spend your hours no better than with this audio book.

A superb reminder of things we may have forgot...

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Confirmed my feelings and beliefs about the post-war years in the UK. This is the first book I have ever read by Stuart Maconie but it is unlikely to be the last. Eloquent report on the moral corruption of the real "Best of British" by the imbibing of Thatcherite and Neo-Liberal toxic but intoxicating-for-some koolaid. Stuart warmly and candidly relates the blessings of the welfare and caring state on the average citizen expressing gratititudes that many of us are, so often, made to feel ashamed to feel. I enjoyed it so much that I will be going through it again as if it is a book on a syllabus I am going to be examined on, taking notes, checking references, revising, meditating, writing my own commentaries on it, discussing it with others. I cannot praise it highly enough. As a "southerner" , born and raised in West London, this book has filled me with a love of the north, the northern working-class, and social-reformers moved into action by Christian values and love for their fellow man. This book ought to be compulsory in schools, or at least required reading for our schoolchildren.. It probably will be, but sadly not in the UK.

Brilliant!

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Stuart Maconie is an utterly brilliant wordsmith
He nails every subject to the cross ......
A brilliant listen
Thank you Mr M
Am off in search of your other works now
“You poor take courage
You rich take care “
c/o Billy Bragg.........

Loved it
Lou Lloyd


It made me too !

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This is a really sad story - I do wish it was fiction. it's really important though. And a joy to listen to. Make your Tory parent/uncle/housemate/cunt listen to/read this - it might help us all.

This book should be on the national curriculum.

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As always Stuart Maconie delivers a fascinating and very personal view of the country ‘we’ grew up in and the state that nurtured our lives as children, but has been largely dismantled by successive Tory governments.

Well written, well read, by one of the UK’s leading social commentators.

Very highly recommended.

Stuart Maconie at his best

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A great book packed full of common sense, wonderful to listen to the great audio read by the author

Fantastic work

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