Polly Toynbee – författare

'A passionately reasoned and compelling account of the avoidable cruelties still embedded in the underside of British life - by a writer who has literally worn the clothes, lived in the flats and done the jobs of the poor. Every member of the cabinet should be required to read it, apologise and then act'. - Will Hutton. A frank and breathtaking book, this is journalist and broadcaster Polly Toynbee's account of her courageous intention to live and work on the minimum wage. The 'decent living' wage set by the Council of Europe is set at GBP7.39. The minimum wage in Britain is currently GBP4.10 per hour. And often, people are working for less, their voices unheard, their faces unnoticed. The low-paid are caught in an economic double bind that victimises them and shames the rest of us. Toynbee took whatever jobs she could find, often offered for less than the official minimum wage.Living on an estate in Clapham, she started from scratch and found that if she were truly unemployed, she would not even be able to afford a new job, and that faced with starvation, it's impossible not to sink into debt.In this powerful and compelling book, Polly Toynbee journeys to the inside of Britain today and uncovers that world which is invisible to most. This is a damning portrait of social justice in Britain.

Labour's second term is drawing to a close. What have they really achieved in the last four years? Did Iraq overshadow all? Did public services improve after all? Were the targets reached, the promises met? In Better or Worse? Toynbee and Walker do a thorough audit of hospitals, schools, trains, climate change, the constitution and the countryside and find the hard facts. The verdict? Blair II delivered. Figures show that Britain is safer, better educated, better off all round. But people don't believe it and the polls reveal this growing public mistrust. This is Labour's most profound failure. What caused this rift between perception and reality? Was it Blair's political style or the growing irresponsibility of the press? Incisive, comprehensive and fair, Better or Worse? gets away from the personalities and the spin to reveal the true political picture of Blair's Britain now. This is an essential analysis of the Labour Party's performance during the last four years.

The ten years from 2010 have been devastating. A decade of austerity and paralysis nurtured contempt for leaders, institutions and fellow citizens and fertilised the ground for a rebellious Brexit. It has been a decade characterised by national tragedies from Grenfell to Windrush, and food banks to the property crisis.But, as Adam Smith said, 'there's a great deal of ruin in a nation'. No truthful portrait of an era can be monochrome. Bright spots included the rise of renewable energy, lower crime rates, legalisation of same-sex marriage and the creative industries continuing to punch well above their weight in spite of cuts.In The Lost Decade, Polly Toynbee and David Walker offer the definitive survey of this most tumultuous of periods in British history and look to what lies ahead for us. This is the anatomy of a dark decade, bringing hope for better to come.

'The kind of brilliantly written polemic that Toynbee's many fans have come to know and love...a terrific book' Stephen Bush, Financial TimesLabour have won their most decisive victory in decades. But what damage has been done to the country and how do Labour fix it?Political change has arrived. But the new Westminster government's inheritance looks grim. We're all in it together, the Tories used to claim, but they left behind sharper social divisions and vastly greater inequality with widening gaps in class, wealth and income. Collapsing public services at home, coupled with threats from a scorching earth and war in Europe, have left our country with gaping unfulfilled commitments.The Only Way is Up gives us a ready reckoner on how to repair the damage and set the UK on the path to sustainable growth. Combining the latest data with expert analysis across health, children's services, the economy, environment, policing and defence, Polly Toynbee and David Walker tell the story of what went wrong during the Tories' wild ride and what must now be remedied.