Biteback Publishing London (Over 1,300 results)

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Heroines and Harridans is a tale of eccentricity (generally British), some bad behaviour (occasionally American) and rather odd love lives (some corking aristocrats). It is not by chance that the relation of matters in the past are called 'History'. It is, generally, 'his story' with many men doing grand things while the women stayed home to make the soup. Heroines and Harridans gives another, highly entertaining view on life as comedian Sandi Toksvig brings her trademark wit and humour to bear on 22 portraits of as eccentric a melange of women throughout history as you are ever likely to find. All of the featured characters were terrific good fun, helped shape the world they lived in but in many cases disappeared into obscurity. Each of Toksvig's gloriously funny pen portraits is accompanied by equally striking and imaginative illustrations by artist Sandy Nightingale. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. …

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. For over forty years, Bel Mooney has been one of this country's best-loved journalists and authors, and her hugely popular Daily Mail advice column reaches six million people every week. Far from being a detached and abstract figure, Bel doesn't shy away from sharing her own life experiences of grief, forgiveness and joy with her devoted readers, making her column at once both distinctly personal and thoroughly universal in relevance.A lifeline for many, some of her wise, compassionate and unflinchingly honest words of good counsel are gathered together here for the first time. This selection includes problems, responses and some of the wide-ranging mini essays that appear in the Mail as 'And Finally'. Punctuated by some of Bel's favourite uplifting quotations, this collection also includes 'what happened next' with some of those who received Bel's wisdom - be it about love, loss, break-ups or breakdowns.A heartfelt and inspirational collection, full of valuable insights and prefixed by a wide-ranging and candid introduction reflecting on what being an advice columnist has taught her, Bel Mooney's Lifelines is a book readers will return to again and again, each time discovering something new in the process. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.…

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. WINNER OF THE 2023 PARLIAMENTARY BOOK AWARDS NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE WEEK Power is shifting. Queen Elizabeth I is dying, James waiting to become King. Everywhere, there is opportunity to ascend. But who will thrive, and who will fail, under the new King? Will it be the scholar Francis Bacon, whose brilliant mind is the envy of the royal court? Or his hated rival the attorney Edward Coke, already acclaimed as the greatest lawyer of his generation? The Winding Stair tells the gripping story of these two founders of our modern world and their battle for power, pre-eminence - and the hand of the most eligible woman in the realm. Combining humour, wit and imagination with deep research, this novel is a dazzling synthesis of history and fiction that takes the genre to new places. It is an epic tale of jealousy and intrigue in Elizabethan and Jacobean England, which, in its lowest moments, holds a darkened mirror to our own contemporary politics. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. …

Paperback. Condition: Good. The book has been read but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact and the cover is intact. Some minor wear to the spine.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Brexit is unravelling. Amid the turmoil of plots, government defeats, resignations and riots, the United Kingdom's choice to leave the European Union and make its own way in the world has left the country more fractured than ever. At the heart of the chaos is Alan, a special adviser to a government minister; Mitra, a Labour MP; Jenny, a TV news producer; and Davey, a UKIP activist. Each will struggle to keep control of their own lives as they navigate a political environment that becomes more aggressive and unpredictable by the day. This sweeping novel takes its characters from the streets of Westminster to decaying towns, from the dingiest of pool halls to the heart of No. 10, and finally brings them all together for a debate in front of a live audience during the 2019 election. That night, there is more at stake than just politics; at least one of them is in real danger. Will they all survive - and if they do, will they be able to start draining some of the poison from the political world they now inhabit? The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.…

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Carrie Johnson is not only the consort of the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson; she is also considered by some to be the second most powerful unelected woman in Britain after the Queen. Since she moved into Downing Street in July 2019, questions have been raised about her perceived influence, her apparent desire to control events, and the number of her associates who have been appointed to positions of standing in the government machine. So, are these concerns justified? In this carefully researched unauthorised biography, Michael Ashcroft charts the extraordinary ascent of Mrs Johnson, speaking to multiple sources who have been close to her and to Boris Johnson in recent years to produce a fascinating portrait of a woman who is still under the age of thirty-five. The book scrutinises Mrs Johnson's colourful family, her attempt to become a professional actress, and her early decision to work in politics. Long before she moved into No. 10, Mrs Johnson made a name for herself as a Conservative Party press aide before becoming a special adviser to two Cabinet ministers and eventually director of communications at Conservative campaign headquarters. Aside from politics, she is also the mother of two young children and campaigns in the fields of the environment and animal welfare. Carrie Johnson is without doubt a very modern prime ministerial spouse. This examination of her career and life offers the electorate the chance to assess exactly what role she plays in Boris Johnson's unpredictable administration and why that matters. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.…

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. For twenty-six long years, John Nicholson was a vegetarian. No meat, no fish, no guilt. He was a walking advert for healthy eating. Brown rice, lentils, tofu, fruit, vegetables, low fat and low cholesterol - in the battle of good food versus bad, he should have been on the winning side. But the exact opposite was true: his diet was making him ill. Really ill. Joint pain? Tick. Exhaustion? Tick. Chronic IBS and piles? Tick, tick. Not to mention the fat belly and the sky-high cholesterol. His mind may have forgotten its taste for flesh and blood but had his body? Tired of being sick, John decided to do the unthinkable: eat meat and eat lots of it. Going against all the official healthy-eating advice, he returned to an old fashioned red-blooded, full-fat, high-cholesterol diet. The results were spectacular. Twenty-four hours later, he felt better. After forty-eight hours he was fighting fit. Twelve months on, he had become a new person. His health was utterly transformed. He was first shocked, then delighted, then damn angry. The Meat Fix charts one man's journey to the top of the food chain, uncovering in the process an alternate universe of research condemning everything we think we know about healthy eating as little more than illusion, guesswork and marketing. The body is a temple - but, as John Nicholson discovered, we may have forgotten how to worship it. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.…

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. He is a most unlikely revolutionary: a middle-aged, middle-class former grammar schoolboy who honed his radicalism on the mean streets of rural Shropshire. Last summer, this little-known outsider rode a wave of popular enthusiasm to win the Labour Party leadership by a landslide, with a greater mandate than any British political leader before him. This new edition of the critically acclaimed biography brings the Jeremy Corbyn story fully up to date, setting out how this very British iconoclast managed to snatch the leadership of a party he spent forty years rebelling against and, despite rebellion from within his own ranks, managed to galvanise millions to vote for him in the 2017 general election. Engaging, clear-sighted and above all revealing, Comrade Corbyn explores the extraordinary story of the most unexpected leader in modern British politics. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.…

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Ever since Vladimir Putin came to power, his critics have been turning up dead. According to Amy Knight, one of the Wests foremost scholars of the KGB, this is no coincidence. Here, she links together dozens of deaths, exposing a far-reaching campaign of killing that is even tied to the Boston Marathon bombing. Russia is no stranger to political murder, from the Tsars and the Soviets through to the current regime, during which many journalists, activists, and political opponents have been slain. However convenient these deaths are for the Russian president, Kremlin defenders assert that there is no evidence against him. Because he controls all the murder investigations, Putin will never be seen holding a smoking gun. With new information about the most famous casessuch as Alexander Litvinenko, Boris Nemtsov, and the Salisbury poisoning victimsKnight assesses Putins role in these deaths, and asks: is there nothing we can do to stop him? The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.…

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. FULLY UPDATED PAPERBACK EDITION On 23 June 2016, in the biggest ever vote in British history, 17.4 million people chose to leave the EU. So what does the future now hold after this momentous decision? What will life be like in Britain after we end our European marriage? Will Brexit precipitate the doom and gloom that many predict? Drawing on years of experience at the cutting edge of economic, business and policy issues, plus extensive discussions with leading politicians and diplomats across the UK, Europe and the world, Clean Brexit answers these questions - and more. Economists Liam Halligan and Gerard Lyons believe great days lie ahead. Brexit is an opportunity to strike deals with the world's fastest-growing economies, boosting British trade and job prospects. Freed from the EU's regulatory stranglehold, the UK can thrive, spreading wealth throughout the whole of the country. Directly elected MPs will once again have the final say over our laws, borders, taxes and trade negotiations. Important, balanced and accessible, Clean Brexit is the ultimate guide to making a success of Britain's divorce from the EU - and a source of strength for voters elsewhere in Europe who have long demanded EU reform, but have been rebuffed. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.…

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. In the summer of '61 John Profumo, Minister for War, enjoyed a brief affair with Christine Keeler.Late in the afternoon of Wednesday 31 July 1963, Dr Stephen Ward was convicted at the Old Bailey on two counts alleging that he lived on the earnings of a prostitute. He was not in the dock but comatose in hospital. The previous night he had attempted suicide, because (as he said in a note) 'after Marshall's [the judge's] summing up, I've given up all hope'. He died on Saturday 3 August, without regaining consciousness. Many observers of the proceedings thought the convictions did not reflect the evidence and that the trial was unfair, and this book will show that it breached basic standards of justice. Geoffrey Robertson brings his forensic skills and a deeply felt sense of injustice to the case at the heart of the Profumo affair, the notorious scandal that brought down a government. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.…

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Tony Blair said his three priorities were Education, Education, Education. Andrew Adonis played a decisive role in turning this slogan into a reform programme. This book describes his quest to transform standards and opportunities in England's schools, and his ambition to make English education truly world class. The reinvention of the comprehensive school was the central Blair project. In 1997 a majority of comprehensives were failing or seriously underperforming, with calamitous consequences for society and the economy. Academies replaced comprehensives by a radically new form of independent state school characterised by strong leadership and an ethos of aspiration, success and social mobility. Adonis tells the story of academies, from the germ of a reform idea in the late 1990s to the national movement for educational transformation they have become today. Adonis argues that wider reform is imperative to make England's schools world-class and sets out a manifesto for change, including higher salaries and better training and selection to make teaching the nation's most prestigious profession, and further radical innovation in the creation of new and better schools to tackle school drop-out and the challenges of the future. Education, Education, Education is optimistic about the power of politics to transform society for the better, and practical about the ways to make it happen. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.…

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Despite his tenure of three of the four Great Offices of State, his popularity with the electorate and the truly revolutionary 1944 Education Act that bears his name, Richard Austen 'Rab' Butler narrowly missed out on the premiership on three separate occasions during his political career, earning him the sobriquet that has attached to his name ever since - The Best Prime Minister That Britain Never Had.Banished from the inner council of the War Cabinet for his support of appeasement, Butler used his time as Education Minister wisely to emerge as the progressive face of the post-war Tory Party, going on to spend four years at the Treasury before the gradual but relentless eclipse of his career after Anthony Eden's accession.Was Butler an over-ambitious, condescending intellectual who had antagonised enough colleagues in the course of his career to ensure he would ultimately be thwarted? Or did he simply not want the leadership enough? Could this liberal Tory, in tune with the electorate, have led the Conservatives to victory in the 1964 election?In this robust and insightful biography of the great nearly-man of British politics, bestselling author Michael Jago looks to answer whether Rab Butler really was 'The Best Prime Minister We Never Had'. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.…

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Aged fifteen and armed with a credit card stolen from his father, Jonny Oates ran away from home and boarded a plane to Addis Ababa. His plan? To single-handedly save the Ethiopian people from the devastating 1985 famine. Discovering on arrival that the demand for the assistance of unskilled fifteen-year-old English boys was limited, he learned the hard lesson that you can't change the world just by pure force of will. A rare political memoir from a figure whose life before politics is every bit as gripping as their time in the corridors of power, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden charts Oates's darkest moments as an idealistic but troubled schoolboy alone in Ethiopia, struggling with his sexuality and mental health; it traces his journey onwards - to Zimbabwe, where, aged eighteen, he becomes deputy headteacher of a rural secondary school; to South Africa in the final year of Nelson Mandela's presidency, where he works in the first post-apartheid parliament as the country seeks to shape a future from its bitterly divided past; and, ultimately, to the roller-coaster ride of Britain's first post-war coalition government, where, as Nick Clegg's chief of staff, he plays a key role in the struggle for his own country's future and learns important lessons about the difference between power and duty. Shot through with a captivating warmth and humour, this heart-stoppingly candid memoir reflects on the challenges of balancing idealism and pragmatism, reminding us that lasting change comes from working together rather than standing alone. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.…

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Yes Minister is one of the most popular and critically successful British sit-coms of all time, partly due to its fascinatingly accurate observations of the eternal sparring between Paul Eddington's naive senior minister, Jim Hacker, and Nigel Hawthorne's infernally cunning Permanent Secretary, Sir Humphrey Appleby. Originally broadcast in three series from 1980 to 1984, Yes Minister won an unprecedented three BAFTA awards in a row, as well as an enduring appeal that has lived far beyond the series or its sequel Yes Prime Minister. Tracing the careers of Hacker, Sir Humphrey and his loyal sidekick Bernard, this amusing and brilliantly illustrated book will appeal to everyone who remembers the series with affection and can't resist watching the repeats. Containing obituaries of the three leading characters, written specially by Sir Anthony Jay, and the sketch written by Bernard Ingham for Margaret Thatcher to perform with Paul Eddington and Nigel Hawthorne, the book contains many surprises as well as reflections on the series and its importance by politicians and journalists of the day. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.…

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. The English like their lions rough, not smooth. This is the story of the rise and fall and rise again of Wayne Rooney, a boy from the mean streets of broken Britain - few streets meaner than Croxteth in Liverpool - lifted out of poverty by his footballing genius to play for Manchester United and England. On the pitch (most of the time) a hero. Off it, the centrepiece, with his wife Coleen, of perhaps the most vacuous media soap opera of modern times. Wayne Rooney was a tabloid angel who became a demon overnight when it was alleged he'd been having sex with a PVC-clad grannie called the Auld Slapper. (There's no serious evidence that ever happened, but on Planet Rooney the truth is stranger than the headlines.) He shrugged off the abuse and carried on scoring goals. Lots of them. He can be bad-tempered and he can use bad language, but there's no doubting his passion for the beautiful game. Rough, working class, surrounded by an unlikely crew - including a controversial agent, a crooked lawyer, tarts and gangsters - ROONEY'S GOLD looks at the characters who have been attracted to the fabulous money Rooney gets for kicking a ball around a field. Some of them have tainted his gold. Some of them will not enjoy reading this book. One of them - his agent Paul Stretford, fined and banned for nine months by the Football Association - did his best to stop it. Others have tried to do their best by Rooney. John Sweeney's book is certainly no hagiography. Irreverent, hilarious and surprising, ROONEY'S GOLD is a warts-and-all biography of England's most famous sportsman and the iniquities of some of those who have sought their pound of flesh. It's an attack on how Big Money taxes our passion for football and an attack on celebrity culture. But it is, above all, the story of a boy who, despite all the forces pulling him down, rose up to become a hero. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.…

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. 67 People I'd Like to Slap is one man's journey through the labyrinthine world of human angst and annoyance. The comedy writer, broadcaster and journalist Ian Collins lists, exposes and mocks that irritating contingent of the human race whose job, it seems, is to make life just a tad more infuriating than it needs to be.From psychics to exotic pet owners, Brits using chopsticks and over-35s at music festivals, through to middle-class protesters, elderly people in small cars and the billion cringe-crimes that are committed on social media every day (plus a healthy dose of well-known names too), Collins's often brutal but hilarious search into the pit of human idiocy leaves few stones unturned. He also addresses some of life's most serious questions:* Is Jeremy Clarkson part of a completely different gene pool?* What happens when you upset every Beyonce fan on the planet?* Why is Andrew Marr's sofa an affront to intelligent thinking?* How could a nice guy like Benedict Cumberbatch annoy anyone?* Has social media shrunk our brains?* What happens to a sense of shame when men visit the gym?Part polemic and part diary, Collins spent a year documenting all those areas (and people) that could bug the hell out of the calmest of souls. Armed only with a sensible pen, notepad and a standard High Street blood pressure monitor, he sets out to create the ultimate list.In the author's words, 67 People I'd Like to Slap is the non-negotiable oracle of all things bamboozling when it comes to human behaviour - the definitive guide that no sane person could ever argue against. Or could you.? The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.…

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Longlisted for the FT and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award 2015. In September 2008, HBOS, with assets larger than Britain's GDP, was on the edge of bankruptcy. Its collapse would have created the biggest economic crisis since the 1930s and a major political disaster for the Labour government. With the help and support of Gordon Brown, HBOS was rescued by Lloyds TSB, one of the country's strongest banks, in circumstances that have since become the stuff of City legend. In the highly acclaimed Black Horse Ride, veteran financial journalist Ivan Fallon brings together the accounts of all the power players involved in this dramatic saga for the first time, including the key roles played by the Governor of the Bank of England, the Prime Minister and the Treasury. Through a compelling cast of prominent bankers, politicians and investors, Fallon reveals what really occurred in the aftermath of the crash of Lehman Brothers, perhaps the worst single day in banking history. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.…

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. It was a blustery late spring day in 1954 and a young Oxford medical student flung himself over the line in a mile race. There was an agonising pause, and then the timekeeper announced the record: three minutes, fifty-nine point four seconds. But no one heard anything after that first word - 'three'. One of the most iconic barriers of sport had been broken, and Roger Bannister had become the first man to run a mile in under four minutes. To this day, more men have conquered Mount Everest than have achieved what the slender, unassuming student managed that afternoon. Sixty years on and the letters still arrive on Roger Bannister's doormat, letters testifying to the enduring appeal of the four-minute mile and the example it set for the generation of budding athletes who were inspired to attempt the impossible. In this frank memoir, Sir Roger tells the full story of the talent and dedication that made him not just one of the most celebrated athletes of the last century, but also a distinguished doctor, neurologist and one of the nation's best-loved public figures. With characteristically trenchant views on drugs in sport, the nature of modern athletics and record-breaking, the extraordinary explosion in running as a leisure activity, and the Olympic legacy, this rare and brilliant autobiography gives a fascinating insight into the life of a man who has lived life to the fullest. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.…

Paperback. Condition: Good. Fizzing with the one-liners and surreal humour for which Milton Jones is famous, this is an authentic, hilarious story of the life of a stand-up comedian . A star of everywhere except his own home, it's hard for Jerome Stevens to balance the demands of touring with family life. The circuit is a cynical world of extremes where money talks, agents slither and audiences throw mince pies. We meet Jerome as he tries to make people laugh for a living. We follow him from the blind terror of a first open spot, to facing an audience of trained killers in the Falklands, from the trauma of live television, to being chased out of Wales by an angry mob of brewery staff. Violent bouncers, paranoid celebrities and comedy producers without a sense of humour all compete to milk the cash-cow that is comedy, each desperately trying to grab at what they think are the udders of laughter. But throughout it all, the hero's biggest critic remains his own seven-year old son. Oh, and all this is recounted while being in prison in China. This hilarious account could only be written by somebody who's been there, with many of the extraordinary characters in the book being an amalgam of the personalities and characters and oddballs found found on the comedy circuit. The book has been read but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact and the cover is intact. Some minor wear to the spine.…

Paperback. Condition: Good. When Captain Ridley's shooting partyA" arrived at Bletchley Park in 1939 no-one would have guessed that by 1945 the guests would number nearly 10,000 and that collectively they would have contributed decisively to the Allied war effort. Their role? To decode the Enigma cypher used by the Germans for high-level communications. It is an astonishing story. A melting pot of Oxbridge dons maverick oddballs and more regular citizens worked night and day at Station X, as Bletchley Park was known, to derive intelligence information from German coded messages. Bear in mind that an Enigma machine had a possible 159 million million million different settings and the magnitude of the challenge becomes apparent. That they succeeded, despite military scepticism, supplying information that led to the sinking of the Bismarck, Montgomery's victory in North Africa and the D-Day landings, is testament to an indomitable spirit that wrenched British intelligence into the modern age, as the Second World War segued into the Cold War. Michael Smith constructs his absorbing narrative around the reminiscences of those who worked and played at Bletchley Park, and their stories add a very human colour to their cerebral activity. The code breakers of Station X did not win the war but they undoubtedly shortened it, and the lives saved on both sides stand as their greatest achievement. The book has been read but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact and the cover is intact. Some minor wear to the spine.…

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Swamped beneath the tide of fake news, wars on woke and social media storms lies democracy. Jo Phillips and David Seymour guide the reader through the workings of government and Parliament and make a passionate case for the power of democracy. Their argument is that young people should take back control of the future, hold politicians to account and get involved. In the last decade we've had a Brexit referendum, the Covid pandemic, war in Ukraine and Gaza, increasing fears over the climate emergency, a new monarch and since 2010, six Prime Ministers. Britain's influence in the world has been diminished, freedom to protest peacefully has been curtailed, the cost of further education is a concern, the health service is in crisis and the likelihood of owning your own home or even finding somewhere to rent is becoming less and less. If younger people turned out to vote in the same numbers that older people do, this country would be a very different place. Apathy is the enemy, not the answer. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.…

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. When Captain Ridley's shooting partyA" arrived at Bletchley Park in 1939 no-one would have guessed that by 1945 the guests would number nearly 10,000 and that collectively they would have contributed decisively to the Allied war effort. Their role? To decode the Enigma cypher used by the Germans for high-level communications. It is an astonishing story. A melting pot of Oxbridge dons maverick oddballs and more regular citizens worked night and day at Station X, as Bletchley Park was known, to derive intelligence information from German coded messages. Bear in mind that an Enigma machine had a possible 159 million million million different settings and the magnitude of the challenge becomes apparent. That they succeeded, despite military scepticism, supplying information that led to the sinking of the Bismarck, Montgomery's victory in North Africa and the D-Day landings, is testament to an indomitable spirit that wrenched British intelligence into the modern age, as the Second World War segued into the Cold War. Michael Smith constructs his absorbing narrative around the reminiscences of those who worked and played at Bletchley Park, and their stories add a very human colour to their cerebral activity. The code breakers of Station X did not win the war but they undoubtedly shortened it, and the lives saved on both sides stand as their greatest achievement. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.…

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. With a foreword by Isabel Hardman HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED.how people feel about sleeping with the political enemy? .whether gambling markets are best at predicting political outcomes? .who Santa Claus would vote for? Then look no further. More Sex, Lies and the Ballot Box brings us another collection of concise chapters penned by leading political experts and delving into the fascinating field of electoral politics. Following on from the success of its bestselling predecessor, this illuminating book shines a light on how we vote in Britain and around the world. You'll learn about the shifting landscape of party politics and the perceptions and misconceptions that shape our opinions of our politicians and of each other. You'll learn about the factors informing voter habits - from class, race and gender to the internet and the weather. You'll also learn which political party has the most sexually satisfied supporters. Forget mind-numbing numbers and difficult demographics. This sharp and frequently hilarious volume is fizzing with accessible facts and figures that are more than just conversation starters - they're unexpected insights into the human condition. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.…

Paperback. Condition: Good. There are few characters in history about whom opinion has been more divided than the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, and his wife the Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna. On one hand, they are venerated as saints, innocent victims of Bolshevik assassins, and on the other they are impugned as the unwitting harbingers of revolution and imperial collapse, blamed for all the ills that befell the Russian people in the 20th century. Theirs was also a tragic love story; for whatever else can be said of them, there can be no doubt that Alix and Nicky adored one another. Soon after their engagement, Alix wrote in her fiance's diary: "Ever true and ever loving, faithful, pure and strong as death" - words which met their fulfilment twenty-four years later in a blood-spattered cellar in Ekaterinburg. Through the letters and diaries written by the couple and by those around them, Virginia Rounding presents an intimate, penetrating, and fresh portrayal of these two complex figures and of their passion - their love and their suffering. She explores the nature and possible causes of the Empress's ill health, and examines in depth the enigmatic triangular relationship between Nicky, Alix and their 'favourite,' Ania Vyrubova, protegee of the infamous Rasputin, extracting the meaning from words left unsaid, from hints and innuendoes. The story of Alix and Nicky, of their four daughters known collectively as 'OTMA' and of their haemophiliac little boy Alexei, is endlessly fascinating, and Rounding makes these characters come alive, presenting them in all their human dimensions and expertly leading the reader into their vanished world. The book has been read but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact and the cover is intact. Some minor wear to the spine.…

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. After a period following the Iraq War, when the reputation of Britain's spooks has hit an all-time low, John le Carre's intellectual hero George Smiley has come to be seen as the perfect spy, a man who would never allow secret intelligence to be misused for political purposes. Le Carre revealed shortly before the Iraq War that the model for Smiley was the author and MI5 officer John Bingham, the 7th Baron Clanmorris. Michael Jago's brilliant account of Bingham's life is not just the story of a perfect spy, it is also of a writer whose thrillers transcended the genre, exploring the emotions behind the darkest human behaviour. As an intelligence officer the bespectacled Bingham had a deep influence on Le Carre, then a junior colleague in MI5. Like Smiley, Bingham was an expert interrogator. His understanding of the human psyche, demonstrated so brilliantly in his seventeen novels, persuaded his subjects to give up the intelligence they were holding deep inside. He took part in many of MI5's greatest wartime and Cold War operations, from the Double Cross operation that ensured the success of D-Day, through the tracking of Soviet spies in Cold War Britain to the monitoring of Lord Lucan and others planning a right-wing coup in the 1970s. As le Carre said, 'Nobody who knew John and the work he was doing could have missed the description of Smiley in my first novel.'. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.…

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. 'Through thick and thin, never separate. Stick together, guard each other, and live for one another.' As Hitler's war intensified, the Ovitz family would have good reason to stand by their mother's mantra. Descending from the cattle train into the death camp of Auschwitz, all twelve emerged in 1945 as survivors - the largest family to survive intact. What saved them? Ironically, the fact that they were sought out by the 'Angel of Death' himself - Dr Joseph Mengele. For seven of the Ovitzes were dwarfs - and not just any dwarfs, but a beloved and highly successful vaudeville act known as the Lilliput Troupe. Together, they were the only all-dwarf ensemble with a full show of their own in the history of entertainment. The Ovitzes intrigued Mengele, and amongst the thousands on whom he performed his loathsome experiments, they became his prize 'patients': 'You're something special, not like the rest of them.' It was this disturbing affection that saved their lives. After being plunged into the darkest moments in modern history, this remarkable troupe emerged with spirits undimmed, and went on to light up Europe and Israel, which offered them a new home, with their unique performances. Giants reveals their moving and inspirational story. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.…

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. The 2015 election result was a disaster for progressives in British politics, delivering a majority Conservative government at Westminster. And the outlook for the next election is not auspicious either, particularly amid the aftershocks of the momentous 2016 EU referendum result and with possible boundary changes in the offing. There is a growing recognition, however, that cross-party cooperation among the progressives could reinvigorate politics and inspire a credible alternative to the Conservatives. Those who want a good society can and must work together - and, by doing so, they can deliver better answers and more inclusive government. With contributions from a broad range of left and centre-left voices - including Sian Berry, Mhairi Black, Frances O'Grady, Tim Farron, Peter Hain, Carys Afoko, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Zoe Williams and Neal Lawson - The Alternative sets out a base of core values around which progressives can unite, proposes a number of big policy ideas that embody those values and, crucially, explores an urgently needed new form of politics to achieve them. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.…

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. There are few characters in history about whom opinion has been more divided than the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, and his wife the Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna. On one hand, they are venerated as saints, innocent victims of Bolshevik assassins, and on the other they are impugned as the unwitting harbingers of revolution and imperial collapse, blamed for all the ills that befell the Russian people in the 20th century. Theirs was also a tragic love story; for whatever else can be said of them, there can be no doubt that Alix and Nicky adored one another. Soon after their engagement, Alix wrote in her fiance's diary: "Ever true and ever loving, faithful, pure and strong as death" - words which met their fulfilment twenty-four years later in a blood-spattered cellar in Ekaterinburg. Through the letters and diaries written by the couple and by those around them, Virginia Rounding presents an intimate, penetrating, and fresh portrayal of these two complex figures and of their passion - their love and their suffering. She explores the nature and possible causes of the Empress's ill health, and examines in depth the enigmatic triangular relationship between Nicky, Alix and their 'favourite,' Ania Vyrubova, protegee of the infamous Rasputin, extracting the meaning from words left unsaid, from hints and innuendoes. The story of Alix and Nicky, of their four daughters known collectively as 'OTMA' and of their haemophiliac little boy Alexei, is endlessly fascinating, and Rounding makes these characters come alive, presenting them in all their human dimensions and expertly leading the reader into their vanished world. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.…

Paperback. Condition: Good. Jacob Rees-Mogg is one of the most prominent and controversial figures in contemporary British politics. He is a man who divides opinion in his own party, in Parliament and across the country. An arch-Brexiteer with significant business interests and a large personal fortune, he has long been a vocal critic of the European Union and of Prime Minister Theresa Mays attempts to negotiate a Brexit deal. As chairman of the powerful anti-EU organisation the European Research Group, he has also been a thorn in the side of those seeking to dilute Brexit. While many people mock him for his impeccable manners and traditional attitudes he has been dubbed `the Honourable Member for the eighteenth century an equally great number applaud him for his apparent conviction politics. Undoubtedly, Rees-Mogg stands out among the current crop of MPs and his growing influence cannot be ignored. In this wide-ranging unauthorised biography of the Conservative Member of Parliament for North East Somerset, Michael Ashcroft, bestselling author of Call Me Dave: The Unauthorised Biography of David Cameron, turns his attention to one of the most intriguing politicians of our time. The book has been read but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact and the cover is intact. Some minor wear to the spine.…