Search results for ""author matthew d'ancona""

For Ginny, the new house represents a new start: a room of her own where she can research her book on the psychology of fairytales and recover from a bitter divorce. The last thing she's looking for is romance.But her young neighbour breaks down her defences. Sean cooks her delicious meals and rescues her from a drunken attack by her ex-husband. His only eccentricity is the locked room in his house that he forbids her to enter. It can't contain anything sinister, can it?Ginny can't resist finding out. But when she opens the door, she is propelled into a horror story, rather than a fairytale.

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'D'Ancona makes his case well... The book is well written and thoughtful' -- The Times'A heartfelt attempt to renew liberal ideals for the coming decades... How sorely our public debate needs others to express themselves similarly.' -- Henry Mance, Financial Times'An urgent and exhilarating account of how populism, prejudice & polarisation have corrupted objective truth and public discourse. D'Ancona's sparkling prose provides an explanation of how we got here and, crucially, how we might get out.' -- James O'Brien'A book so rich in thought, wisdom and persuasion I find myself sharing the ideas within it with everyone I meet... In the much-mourned absence of Christopher Hitchens, d'Ancona is fast becoming the voice of enlightenment for our bewildered age.' -- Emily Maitlis'A tonic for our times that blows open any complacency following Trump's defeat that the demise of populism and nativism is inevitable. In beautifully written prose, D'Ancona puts forward hopeful ideas and timely inspiration for a progressive politics to replace it.' -- David Lammy'A brilliant, lucid, fearless tract, just what the historical moment ordered.' -- Andrew O'Hagan'D'Ancona's regular practical suggestions help to take it beyond mere theory and into the real world... Decision-makers would do well to read it.' -- Charlotte Henry, TLS***This is a call to arms. The old tools of political analysis are obsolete - they have rusted and are no longer fit for purpose. We've grown lazy, wedded to the assumption that, after ruptures such as Brexit, the pandemic, and the rise of the populist Right, things will eventually go 'back to normal'.Award-winning political writer Matthew d'Ancona invites you to think afresh: to seek new ways of challenging political extremism, bombastic populism and democratic torpor on both Left and Right. In this ground-breaking book, he proposes a new way of understanding our era and plots a way forward. With rigorous analysis, he argues that we need to understand the world in a new way, with a framework built from the three I's: Identity, Ignorance and Innovation.

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London can be as pitiless as it is bountiful. No one knows that better than Mia Taylor. From a gilded life of privilege to a shabby alternative health centre in London's East End in the space of weeks. The violent tragedy that propels Mia east also pitches her unwittingly into a bigger history, a modern legend of migration and change.Mia's new life brings her into contact both with a kaleidoscope of characters who inhabit the extraordinary city of London and the burning issues that will mould its future. Politics and racism, corruption and betrayal, poverty and decadence, all smoulder side by side as the capital blazes into the new millennium.Out of the ashes emerges Mia: a troubled, questing woman who hopes to find herself by going east.

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Welcome to the Post-Truth era— a time in which the art of the lie is shaking the very foundations of democracy and the world as we know it. The Brexit vote; Donald Trump’s victory; the rejection of climate change science; the vilification of immigrants; all have been based on the power to evoke feelings and not facts. So what does it all mean and how can we champion truth in in a time of lies and ‘alternative facts’?In this eye-opening and timely book, Post-Truth is distinguished from a long tradition of political lies, exaggeration and spin. What is new is not the mendacity of politicians but the public’s response to it and the ability of new technologies and social media to manipulate, polarise and entrench opinion. Where trust has evaporated, conspiracy theories thrive, the authority of the media wilt and emotions matter more than facts . Now, one of the UK’s most respected political journalists, Matthew d’Ancona investigates how we got here, why quiet resignation is not an option and how we can and must fight back.

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