The Road to Somewhere: The New Tribes Shaping British Politics

(Paperback)

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Description

A groundbreaking and timely explanation of the social and political change sweeping the world Many Remainers reported waking up the day after the Brexit vote feeling as if they were living in a foreign country. In fact, they were merely experiencing the same feeling that many British people have felt every day for years. Fifty years ago, people in leafy North London and people in working-class Northern towns could vote for a Labour party that broadly encompassed all of their interests. Today their priorities are poles apart. In this groundbreaking and timely book, Goodhart shows us how people have come to be divided into two camps- the 'Anywheres', who have 'achieved' identities, derived from their careers and education, and 'Somewheres', who get their identity from a sense of place and from the people around them, and who feel a sense of loss due to mass immigration and rapid social change. In a world increasingly divided by Brexit and Trump, Goodhart shows how Anywheres must come to understand and respect Somewhere values to stand a fighting chance against the rise of populism.

Reviews

Goodhart offers an impeccably sensible and decent exposition of how the political elites have failed their societies ... The book makes compelling reading both for voters and those who want to get elected by them -- Max Hastings * The Sunday Times *
[Goodhart] has written a book that is thoughtful, well argued and dangerously moderate. It may even be an incitement to independent thinking * The Times *
[A] provocative take on the UK's new tribal divisions ... And it broadly works ... The Road to Somewhere has the feel of a book whose timing ... is pitch-perfect -- Andrew Marr * New Statesman *
Goodhart's exploration of this underlying divide -- and the question of what might be done -- is not only timely but also offers an accessible, evidence-based and direct account of how these conflicts are reshaping the political world around us -- Matthew Goodwin * Financial Times *
Goodhart has clarity of argument and courage. He has been making these points for a decade and urging the mainstream to engage with them. He does not do fads * Observer *
Whatever other objections Goodhart's new book might provoke, few could call it irrelevant or untimely ... he returns to this most vexed terrain, picking his way through nettles and thorns that might deter thinner-skinned writers -- Jonathan Freedland * The Guardian *
[Goodhart] has written what may turn out to be the most sympathetic and insightful book about Britain's discontented masses -- Toby Young * The Spectator *
Mr Goodhart's book seems likely to inform the debate on what post-Brexit Britain should look like * The Economist *
This meticulously researched book ... enables us to imagine Brexit as a moment that could just prove to be the start of a national renewal * Prospect *
Challenging and illuminating -- Will Hutton
David Goodhart offers the best and most complete explanation I've seen for why things seem to be coming apart in so many countries at the same time -- Jonathan Haidt, author of 'The Righteous Mind'

Author Bio

David Goodhart is the founding editor of Prospect magazine and one of the most distinctive voices on British politics today. He is currently head of the Demography, Immigration and Integration Unit at the think tank Policy Exchange, and was previously director of the centre-left think tank Demos. His last book 'The British Dream- Successes and Failures of Post-War Immigration' (2013) was runner-up for the Orwell Prize in 2014 and was a finalist for Political Book of the Year in the Paddy Power Political Book Awards. David voted remain in the EU referendum and has been a mainly inactive member of the Labour Party since he was a student.