Book read: Who runs Britain by Robert Peston

I got this book as a present - I wasn't expecting too much, at best someone describing the financial turmoil of the last year.

I'm glad to say I was very wrong. This is a description from a British point of view of the workings of goverment and big business in the last 10 years (and a bit further, but mainly focused on the "New Labour" era).

It describes private equity in detail, the buyouts of public companies and what implications it has for Britain. It covers the rather shady political party funding and how that clouds our leaders judgement - essentially giving powerful businessmen unfair tax breaks. This is by no means a new thing, and both our main parties are guilty - but I'm glad someone has written about it, the accusation that they are bought men can then be refuted if it can be.

It covers in detail the attempted buyout of M&S by Philip Green - a deal that failed but with an interesting history. Finally it covers the implications for everyday people, the failure of pensions investment, and the complete failure of the stakeholder pension schemes.

An excellent read if you have any interest in business or the workings of the British establishment. I read it in two days and that is something I would rarely do with a book.