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As a passionate Londoner, Ken Livingstone has seen London change
dramatically over the last 60 years. From playing on bomb sites in
an era where St Pauls was the tallest building in the city, to 2019
where the gleaming towers of the Shard and Walkie Talkie dominate
the skyline, thanks to new building rules introduced by his
administration. With a witty and worldly eye he takes a look at his
home town; the people, places and the politics that have shaped the
landscape. On this personal journey he shares his views on every
aspect of the city from his favourite restaurants and most loved
buildings to anecdotes on fellow politicians and the triumphs, and
disasters, encountered running the largest metropolis in Europe.
A frank, gripping, moving - and controversial - autobiography from
one of the most idiosyncratic and effective politicians of the last
fifty years. His political convictions, his distance from New
Labour, and his direct, plain-speaking style and personality have
allowed him to survive longer than any of his contemporaries as a
man of principle and influence. From his eccentric South London
working class childhood to running one of the biggest cities in the
world, Livingstone is one of the very few politicians to have
scored a major victory over the Thatcher Government and has
championed issues as diverse as the environment, gay rights and
anti-racism. Written in Livingstone's unmistakable voice, by turns
angrily sincere about social injustice, wickedly droll and gossipy,
and surprisingly wistful about people he has known and loved, this
is a hugely important and remarkable book from one of the very few
respected politicians at work today.
Ken Livingstone is a product of the political changes that have
already taken place in the Labour Party. As Leader of the Greater
London Council he has provided a voice and a vision for tens of
thousands of party activists and Labour supporters, in the process
implementing a set of measures that indicate the possibilities of a
real alternative to Thatcherism. His determined opposition on the
Falklands War, subsidised public transport, Ireland, the 1984
miners strike, sexual liberation and racism has made him a far more
effective spokesperson for Labour than the shadow luminaries who
occupy the front benches in the House of Commons. In these
fascinating conversations with Tariq Ali, the Marxist writer and
activist debarred from the Labour Party by Kinnock/Hattersley, the
two men discuss the future of Labour and socialist politics in
Britain. What emerges is a picture of Livingstone as a formidable
socialist politician and an adroit tactician, who displays a
refreshing ability to discard the stale and battered formulae of
traditional Labourism. Socialism is defended with humour, warmth
and passion in a discussion that ranges from the merits of
proportional representation to the delights of herbaceous borders
in London's parks. In a polemical introductory essay, 'Labourism
and the Pink Professors', Tariq Ali contests the views of Bernard
Crick and Eric Hobsbawm, which have become the 'common sense' of
the consensual Establishment in the Labour Party and the liberal
media.
In Being Red, Ken Livingstone serves up an account of the Labour
Party and its future, at a pivotal moment in its history. Having
worked most of his life within the party in various leading roles;
as the head of the Greater London Council, as Member of Parliament
and as Mayor of London, Livingstone is able to offer insights into
the internal workings of the party, and the rise and fall (and
potential rise again) of its radical socialist ethos. Discussing
his battle with Boris Johnson, the fight against privatisation and
pollution as well as his analysis of Jeremy Corbyn’s arguably
radical leadership and its implications for the future, Livingstone
displays his trademark honesty and humour, refusing to shy away
from controversy or debate. Published in partnership with the Left
Book Club.
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