London's Boroughs at 50

(Hardback)

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Description

2015 sees the fiftieth anniversary of the London boroughs, the thirty-two subdivisions of Greater London laid out to facilitate public services. Professor Tony Travers provides some explanatory history as to why London's government is so fragmented, along with a section on each borough. London's Boroughs at 50 includes an analysis of how London has changed from 1965 to 2015, going from 'swinging' London to 'global' London. Along the way, it looks at some of the personalities who have led London's boroughs or had an impact upon them, including Ted Knight, Ken Livingstone, Dame Shirley Porter and, of course, Boris Johnson.

Reviews

"My advice about this book is simple: buy it today and read it. Read all of it from front to back and then re-read whole sections or even just little bits, either for the fun of it or to help you place some contemporary London trend or event in the context of London government's sometimes chaotic, sometimes pragmatic, often impressive recent past. The evolution of the capital can be as confusing as it is enthralling. London's Boroughs At 50 does a terrific job of making sense of it."- The Guardian; "A lively survey of local government."- Evening Standard

Author Bio

Tony Travers is director of British Government at the London School of Economics and co-director of LSE London. His key research interests include local and regional government and public service reform. He is the author of a number of books about London and British sub-national government, including The Politics of London: Governing the Ungovernable City.