A Boy in Trouble
Robert Carey, aged eight
Part 2 of a short story series about the young Robert Carey - and in case you don't already have it, you can get part 1 as well, A Pest of a Boy.
Robert Carey, aged eight
Part 2 of a short story series about the young Robert Carey - and in case you don't already have it, you can get part 1 as well, A Pest of a Boy.
It doesn\’t often happen that a politician\’s memoirs actually rivet my attention to such an extent that I lose track of time. But this happened today with Alistair Darling\’s book \”Back from the Brink.\” No, really, it did. Honest.
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Even more amazing, he\’s dealing at length and in detail with the massive financial crisis of 2007/2008, including the mammoth banking bail-out for which we are currently paying in blood, sweat and bullshit. I have read a lot of books about this major event which took place largely in the imaginary world of high finance, but which has since spilled out painfully all over the real world.
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Darling\’s explanations are clear without being patronising and mostly generous to the people he worked with. Good heavens, he\’s even nice about Bush! He\’s also fascinating and occasionally waspish when dealing with the problems between him and Prime Minister Gordon Brown who sounds a total nightmare to work for.
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I started reading it casually, expecting to crash to a halt in swamps of tedious egotism – but no. There I sat for four hours, completely hooked. Extraordinary.