The Day Britain Died

by Andrew Marr

Post-imperial, post-colonial and now post-millennial, Britain is definitely not what it was. As a new century opens, even Scotland and Wales, not so very long ago indissoluble components of the "Inner Empire", are flexing their devolutionary muscles and looking about for new opportunities and relationships. The artificial nation-states of 19th century real-politik seem less and less viable in an age of blurred boundaries and regional alliances. What does this mean for the United Kingdom? What, ultimately, does it mean for England? Does the future lie with Europe or with the USA? Where do we turn? In The Day Britain Died political journalist (and expatriate Scot) Andrew Marr explores this unprecedented national identity crisis and offers a vision of a possible resolution.It's a wide-ranging, incisively-written and often witty treatise. Marr wrote The Day Britain Died to accompany a television series, travelling the country to interview people at all points on the political and ideological spectrum, from romantic Little-Englander ruralists, to businessmen relishing their opportunities in the new global service industries, to Eurosceptics, to Bangladeshi entrepreneurs, to Green theorists and politicians. The views expressed on national identity and the future are varied, energetic and often surprising, but cannot disguise a sense that, in contrast to its neighbours, England as a nation is running on empty. Andrew Marr places this against the background of a subtle, considered discussion of the historical and political forces that shaped Britain and determined its relations with Europe, the USA and the rest of the world. He concludes with a powerfully-argued case for a revitalised British federation of interdependent states, backed up with a strong written constitution (and Alan Bennett as president--this may or may not be a joke). The issues this book raises are difficult and divisive, yet affect the lives of everyone living in the place still called Britain.--Robin Davidson

Genres: History

228 pages, Paperback

First published January 17, 2000

About the author

Andrew Marr is a Scottish journalist. He is a graduate of Cambridge University and has had a long career in political journalism, working for the Scotsman, The Independent, The Economist, the Express and the Observer. From 2000 to 2005 he was the BBC's Political Editor. His broadcasting includes series on contemporary thinkers for BBC 2 and Radio 4, political documentaries for Channel 4 and BBC Panorama, and Radio 4's Start The Week'.

Reviews

[Chris Fellows · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting document from a political environment I know little about which already seems a very long time ago.(Marr reports enthusiastically that *20%* of Britons have access to the internet). The inexorability of European Union has passed, the 'Celtic Tiger' does not look like quite such an attractive role model, and I have the vague impression that regional nationalism in the United Kingdom has passed its peak for now. Overall the things the book is worrying about seem the things you would worry about in a safer, more comfortable world. (But I am not in Scotland, or England, or Wales, or Northern Ireland; I am safely and comfortably off on the other side of the world...)

The style of the writing is very engaging and dragged me along at a rate of knots, and the interviews with all sorts of interesting people with all sorts of divergent views were reported in a sympathetic, non-polemical way.

I recommend this book for anyone who wants to wallow briefly in nostalgia for the innocent age at the turn of the Millennium.