There's clarity and hope for a better future; portrayed through a clear increase in Public Spending not to be done for the short term but for the long term, as he holds the belief that we should scrap the strong need for PFI schemes fired through under Blair and replace them with the government doing it itself. This would improve monetary spending as the taxpayer would no longer have to spend such great amounts on NHS building and other ludicrous and unaffordable schemes (which have detrimental effects on the countries capacity to be autonomous). At the same time, the proffer would have enabled the government to match the amount of people coming to Britain with the available housing, transport, and public services capacity. Such a scheme may have actually prevented Brexit as it would have helped create a nation in which there is stability and equality of employment and housing. This massive onslaught of work — two books and the podcast launch as well as his regular job — has led to “a completely mad and frenetic time” for Peston. His “Jewish New Year resolution”, he says, is “that next year I’m not taking on any big projects, I’m just going to concentrate on family and the people I love”. Things again turn personal for Gil when his on/off long time lover Marilyn is found dead in an apparent suicide – Marilyn was a director the Bank of England and had been involved with a potential Bank of England bail out and Gil is convinced that something untoward has happened to her. I found this interesting, and I definitely appreciated the more personal input from Peston compared to his understandably more neutral tone on TV. But I'm still not quite sure what this book was actually about, beyond 'modern politics', and his conclusion didn't have much impact. I finished the book with a sense that here is an economist breaking out of the standard economic theories and reaching for other ways of framing and understanding the situation which the British and particularly the English now find themselves in, culturally and psychologically.

The Whistleblower by Robert Peston | Goodreads

Once she’s in the post, she starts to discover details about Jean-Luc’s death that disturb her. Addled by the drugs she’s taking to deal with her anxieties and grief, unable to sleep in the permanent night, she wonders who she can trust. “Something is very wrong here, I realise. No… worse. Someone is very wrong here.” I’m reading George Orwell’s essays and I do think he has an understanding of England that is really profound. Also, Anna Karenina. It’s an amazing book, I don’t know why I waited so long. He has a final, gnomic message summing up his feelings about Yom Kippur: “Guilt follows me around like a stray dog, though I can never name the dog or the guilt. Atoning is liberation for me — and the dog.” In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding. Unlike many authors Peston also suggests solutions to put UK 2017 on a better footing and reduce the damaging inequality to be found in our country then and now. He makes a compelling case for why the Government should and must borrow to fund infrastructure improvements that would improve life for those people in regions where living standards have stagnated and even deteriorated over the last 15 years. Regional investment banks, the boosting of the education system, a wealth levy and a regulatory body to protect employees and individuals from exploitation by employers. All good gritty and detailed proposals.The core of this book is the departure of the UK from the EU following the referendum of 2016. The author sets out his personal view that this is a grave error but, unlike many, seeks to analyse and understand the reasons for the majority vote in favour of leaving that was delivered that fevered June day.

The Whistleblower by Robert Peston | Waterstones The Whistleblower by Robert Peston | Waterstones

Haughton has chosen a fantastically atmospheric setting for her first crime novel and although her protagonist makes a series of dubious choices, it’s a chilling race to the finish to discover whodunnit. 1979 The analysis of what caused Brexit and indeed why many cozy London political journalists didn't see it coming was I think the best part of this book and Peston is refreshingly honest in his inclusion of himself in that group. WTF acts as a reasonably insightful book on the potentialities we have in our ever-changing world. It focuses mainly on an Anglo-American point of view with the influx of identity politics such as Trump, but also Britain and the Brexit vote the country is following through with. Enabling the reader to understand the variety of different reasons these matters occurred (mainly through the campaigns use of the internet). The grave issue I find with the book's proposals is that climate change, and the risks incurred, are not once set out. I already liked Gil when I first met him in The Whistleblower, and or relationship blossoms through this book too. I also like Peston's style of writing. How he writes very intelligent, detailed, stories but manages to get the crux across in layman's terms without patronising the reader. Thought-provoking, for sure. I didn't know how I was going to find this read, still not certain actually. The questions presented by Robert Peston will make you feel a little numb, especially if like me you've lived these last six years intermingling an emotional homelife with children with constant upset from reminders about what is going on in the world politically.There are numerous characters within the story, and Preston has kept up a rapid pace and keeps the reader on the edge of their seat. Due to his experiences as a political journalist, Preston has added a sense of authenticity to his novel. This was an excellent read , Robert Peston's easy manner of writing making the chapters flow easily and fluidly. The flaw in the book is the penultimate chapter where he attempts to suggest solutions to the UK’s problems. I think this is a follow on from his previous book on how we fix this mess, which was okay for that book but here, confined within one short chapter, it’s just too superficial and out of place. The preceding chapters showed Peston as a fine analyst, which he is, but as a policy wonk he is just like the man in the pub.

Robert Peston books and biography | Waterstones

Giving a name to the podcast was easy in Peston’s mind. “I felt very strongly it should be The Rest is Money because money is something everyone can relate to —and it allows us to talk about anything in the broad space of finance and business. In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people. This book does come with one significant caveat - throughout this book and, unhelpfully in my opinion, Peston makes the case from a purely UK perspective he doesn't ignore the issues of Scotland or Northern Ireland but he unfortunately does regard them as issues that can be fixed if only we can resolve the issue with Westminster and Brexit. He therefore avoids one of the main issues affecting our democracy which is that Westminster is broken and needs fundamental reform!Yes – you don’t get rich as a journalist, you’ve got to do it because you love it, and I’ve always loved it. I’m still addicted to trying to understand the world. You get to meet interesting people and have interesting conversations. You have to like people. Some people who don’t like people do become journalists, and I often wonder why.”