'Funny, whipsmart and devastating. Sanity on steroids for our unhinged times' – Emily Maitlis
'Fantastic. Excellent. Exquisite' – The Secret Barrister
Why does nothing work in Britain?
It's harder than ever to get a GP appointment. Burglaries go unpunished. Rivers are overrun with sewage. Real wages have been stagnant for years, even as the cost of housing rises inexorably. Why is everything going wrong at the same time?
It's easy to point the finger at dysfunctional or even corrupt politicians. But in reality it's more complicated. Politicians can make things better or worse, but all work within our state institutions. And ours are broken.
In Failed State, Sam Freedman, one of Britain's leading policy experts, offers a devastating analysis of where we've gone wrong. Speaking to politicians of all stripes, civil servants and workers on the frontline, this book bursts with insight on the real problems that are so often hidden from the front pages. The result is a witty, landmark book that paves the way for a fairer and more prosperous Britain.
'Concise, wise and clear, we can only hope that every member of the new government will read and digest this book' – David Aaronovitch
'Brilliantly timed and frighteningly true. We should listen to what Freedman has to say' – Anthony Seldon Sam Freedman is a senior fellow at the Institute for Government and a senior adviser to Ark Schools. He has spent his career working in different policy-focused roles around Westminster, including as an adviser to the leader of the opposition and three years at the Department for Education as a senior policy adviser. He writes about policy and politics for numerous outlets including the Financial Times, Sunday Times, Guardian and New Statesman. With his father Lawrence Freedman he runs 'Comment is Freed', Britain's most popular politics substack. He also has a following of over 140,000 on Twitter. Failed State is his first book. In Failed State, one of Britain's leading policy experts, Sam Freedman, explores the dysfunction at the heart of the British state.
