Publisher Synopsis

Every thinking person knows that a great change is needed in our country. Will Hutton’s passionate book shows how the right and left have gone wrong over the course of the last century – and how we can remake a better Britain. Britain’s inability to invest in itself is at the heart of our problems. Two great traditions – ethical socialism and progressive liberalism – can be brought together to offer a different way forward. Hutton describes the views of their major thinkers, and their common vision of what he calls the ‘We Society’ – combining the ‘We’ and the ‘I’. Both strands of thought believe in the duty to treat people fairly in a capitalist system that, without guiderails, spirals into inequality, monopoly and exploitation. This failure to uphold the ‘We Society’ has betrayed Britain. Capitalism must be repurposed to work for the common good. And our degraded democracy, the necessary means for such change, must be reformed.

Hutton’s proposals are inspiring and rooted in values held by the overwhelming majority of us. Above all, they are achievable.