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Heroic Failure: Brexit and the Politics of Pain

Fintan O'Toole

4.25 · Rating details · 303 ratings · 35 reviews

'There will not be much political writing in this or any other year that is carried off with such style' The Times.

In exploring the answers to the question: 'why did Britain vote leave?', Fintan O'Toole finds himself discovering how trivial journalistic lies became far from trivial national obsessions; how the pose of indifference to truth and historical fact has come to

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Kindle Edition, 240 pages

Published November 22nd 2018 by Apollo

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Dec 17, 2018 Rory Harden rated it it was amazing

If you are, say, a liberal-leaning American, and you want to know what the heck is the matter with England, then this is the book to which you should turn.

The writer is, happily and necessarily, Irish.

Here you will find the disease known as ‘Brexit’ fully described and diagnosed. The prospect of a cure, however, remains contingent and – dare one say? – nebulous, having to do with the downfall of neo-liberalism. Wish us all luck with that one.

O’Toole doesn’t have much to say about Trump, but one ...more

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Dec 09, 2018 Thomas Harte rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

What I particularly liked about this book is that firstly it was written by an Irishman who very eloquently tore asunder the misinformation and warped thinking at the heart of Brexit. It was also a book that touches on the collateral damage Brexit will cause to Ireland. It is also a book that examines Englishness and delves into the psychology of Brexit and the thinking of those behind this process. A very welcome addition to the debate.

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Feb 05, 2019 Astrid rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction

I have to admit that at times the book was hard for me to understand, as the author's target group seems to be readers from either within GB or the Commonwealth. I haven't heard about a lot of books or movies he mentioned. Nevertheless, I understood what he was bringing across and gosh, things are much clearer for me now. Nationalism and Sado-Populism (the later a word I never heard before), are two of the major roots for Brexit... and if I was living in Scotland or Norther-Ireland I would hate ...more

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Jan 04, 2019 Neil Fox rated it really liked it

Fintan O'Toole, Ireland's premier political and social commentator who wickedly satirized the ludicrous excesses of the Celtic Tiger for years and most memorably compiled his writings on that subject in 'Ship of fools', has in recent times made commentary on Brexit his forte. In 'Heroic failure' he pointedly turns his sharp intellect and razor wit onto that great topic of our times.

Heroic Failure is no political commentary or analysis of Brexit, nor is it a chronological detailing of the events Fintan O'Toole, Ireland's premier political and social commentator who wickedly satirized the ludicrous excesses of the Celtic Tiger for years and most memorably compiled his writings on that subject in 'Ship of fools', has in recent times made commentary on Brexit his forte. In 'Heroic failure' he pointedly turns his sharp intellect and razor wit onto that great topic of our times.

Heroic Failure is no political commentary or analysis of Brexit, nor is it a chronological detailing of the events that led Britain down that road, it is about the National psychology rather than the politics that led to Brexit.

O'Toole explores the mindset that gave us Brexit - a National self-pity fueled by a sense of grievance and superiority. He argues that Brexit follows the tradition of heroic failure - the last stand, the doomed expedition, the suicidal cavalry charge - of which British history is replete. The charge of the light brigade, Gordon of Khartoum, the doomed expeditions of Franklin and Scott, the Somme, Ypres and Dunkirk come from an inexplicable urge to be glorious in defeat rather than endure the humiliation of face loss from admission of being wrong, or of needing to change direction - I'd rather be jolly well lost than have to ask directions, by Jove. Britain is somehow also trapped in an obsession about its finest moment which was a great success as opposed to a failure - World War 2, because of the decades' long anticlimax that followed - economic stagnation, the loss of Empire , the ignominy of watching the economic rise of former enemies Japan and Germany. The EU is the Nazi invasion that never came.

O'Toole brilliantly examines the counter cultural aspects of Brexit - traditional upper class twittery mixes with the popular culture forces that gave us Punk, Brexit as a nihilistic anarchy, equating 'take back control' with ' Never mind the bollix, here's Brexit'. The punk rocker of English Nationalism, unable to give the 2 fingers to the United Kingdom itself with its undesirable Scots, Welch and Norther Irish, instead tells Brussels to fuck off

Continuing the punk and rebellion theme, Brexit can be seen as a revolt against the ogress of a Nanny State carefully cultivated and conjured up by the likes of Farage, Johnson, Rees Mogg and Gove. Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage carry themselves off as the man-in-the-pub, a slightly disheveled and sloppy-of-appearance ordinary bloke drinking his warm ale while munching on his prawn-flavored crisps, quick with a joke and a light up yer smoke, a common man just like you and me, the honest man in the street or pub. The opposite is of course true, as this is a cynical populist charade invented by elitist snobs who only see the common man as a vehicle for their political ambitions and couldn't give a hoot about him beyond this. One of the great political dupes of modern times is how the Conservative party, whose agenda is basically to further enrich the already wealthy, has managed to siphon off working and lower middle class voters whose interests they definitely do not represent. Jacob Rees-Mogg in his country estate with chauffeur driven cars and a Nanny who still wipes his arse for him won't be the one to suffer the economic consequences of Brexit - his investment funds safely berthed in EU-member Ireland's domain provides Brexit insurance for this. The same phenomenon can be seen in the US with how the Republican Party has attracted blue collar voters, and the explanation is the same. The right wing parties grab what should be the left-leaning economic demographic by making the hot-button social issues their own as they distract from their true economic agenda. In America it's abortion, guns, immigration and religion; in Britain it's also immigration plus interference in our traditional way of life from faceless Eurocrats, the Nazis who never invaded physically but who seek to take over by more covert perfidious means. The outcome of all this in America is Trump, in Britain it's Brexit.

Johnson & co, like Trump, never expected to actually win, and so were painfully unprepared for what came next - the leadership struggle, the exposure of their campaign lies ( all that money that was to flow back into the NHS from Brussels), the backfiring gamble of the 2017 General Election and the fiasco of the exit negotiations with the EU.

Brexit is a National disaster, a tragicomic farce and colossally unnecessary own-goal foisted on the Nation by the follies of the Conservative Party, the ultimate playing-out of old Etonian rivalry between Chum Boris and Friend David, naively swallowed by the Battle of Britain coffin-dodger brigade, little Englanders and knuckle-dragging Xenophobes and racists manipulated by the right-wing gutter press. It is quite literally a bus-wreck, as O'Toole hilariously points out in his use of the climatic scene from 'The Italian Job' as Brexit metaphor, with the gold at one end of the precariously perched bus representing the promises of Brexit whilst the hapless bank robbers whose grasping for it from the other end threaten to tilt the whole thing over the precipice are the Brexit gang. Unfortunately their actions have very much taken the Great out of Britain , and the Kingdom is now far from United. To paraphrase Scott's brave companion as he wandered out alone into the Antartic whiteout, we are going out now and we may be some time. ...more

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Dec 15, 2018 Bert Bruins rated it it was amazing

A timely book as they say. Fintan O'Toole is an Irish writer and columnist with other books to his name on Ireland and Irish identities. Here he turns his attention to the Brexit referendum and issues around English identity. To his mind anti-EU sentiment is predominantly a symptom of English (rather than British or UK) identity-insecurity that followed from the loss of empire, sharing decision making with equals within the EEC/EU, and the rise of nationalism in Wales and Scotland.

This long essa A timely book as they say. Fintan O'Toole is an Irish writer and columnist with other books to his name on Ireland and Irish identities. Here he turns his attention to the Brexit referendum and issues around English identity. To his mind anti-EU sentiment is predominantly a symptom of English (rather than British or UK) identity-insecurity that followed from the loss of empire, sharing decision making with equals within the EEC/EU, and the rise of nationalism in Wales and Scotland.

This long essay sometimes reads as psychoanalysis of a nation, like a modern day Erich Fromm writing about England rather than Germany, which no doubt will irritate some. There are plenty of lighter moments however, where O'Toole is not just pithy but also witty. Here he sees relevance in a recent TV advert for spectacles featuring John Cleese:

"Cleese gave the world an alternative image of Englishness that seems in retrospect more representative of the culture that produced Brexit: a hysterical Basil Fawlty giving a 'damn good thrashing' to his broken-down Austin 1100 Countryman Estate with the branch of a tree"

This I also found funny, yet to the point, talking about Tommy Robsinson followers:

"Victimhood has been seen to be the currency of power - women, people of colour, ethnic minorities appeal for equality by reference to their collective suffering. In this sense, the far-right is the white man's #MeToo movement. Not only am I not guilty, I am in fact the victim."

Boris Johnson, as the man who despite his history of lying and his comic flippancy,. is seen as the man who swung the referendum comes in for some special attention

Finding grievances against the EU largely fictitious, and therefore unfulfillable, O'Toole in his final words recommends dealing with English nationalism by taking it seriously, in other words thinking about the creation of an English parliament or something similar. I would add that political sciences professor David Runciman's viewpoint also deserves more attention. He has argued in recent years that the not-university-educated half of the population (the Somewheres rather than the Anywheres in David Goodhart's terms) deserve more respect (and that translates into more money and power) if we don't want to see more populist rebellions such as the Brexit vote or the elction of Trump.

I don't think the Boris Johnsons and Rees-Moggs of this world are the people to deliver such a thing though. Anybody out there who thinks they are? ...more

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Dec 23, 2018 Ascoyne rated it liked it

Shelves: 2018, nonfiction

As a remainer I just don't understand the leaver psyche at all. I've been shocked to discover close family and friends who I've considered fairly intelligent and self aware who seem to have fallen for the leave rhetoric in a big way.

The book is good in its way but only plays to the remainer echo chamber and won't impact on the leaver viewpoint. Basically the country is fairly evenly split between the two viewpoints and from my point of view not even basic logic gets through to the adamant leaver ...more

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Jan 06, 2019 Carlos Martinez rated it really liked it

A well-written and insightful look at the social psychology of Brexit, and the politics underlying it. O'Toole argues that Brexit is in essence a neoliberal project, designed to free the ultra-rich from regulation, taxation and accountability. Since this isn't a project that people would ordinarily vote for, its proponents have tapped into some of the most vulnerable parts of the national psyche, in particular empire nostalgia, racism and xenophobia.

Repetitive at times, and some parts resonate m ...more

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Dec 13, 2018 Cameron Climie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: academic-non-fiction, history

An incredibly well-written, thorough and diverse dive into the many currents of political psychology that underpin Brexit. O'Toole comes at Brexit from a variety of different angles - the resurgence of English nationalism since devolution, the role the EU has played as a substitute for actual invaders since the Second World War, the role of food in driving popular euroscepticism. A number of key figures in the Brexit movement - particularly Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg - come out looking ev ...more

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Jan 01, 2019 Will rated it really liked it

An eloquent and eminently readable assessment of Brexit as the English Revolution. Using the British predilection for heroic failure - the Charge of the Light Brigade and Scott of the Antarctic - O'Toole sees Brexit as an exercise in hubris and self-pity from a people still reeling from a sense that they lost the peace in the aftermath of the Second World War and became a minor part of an EU dominated by erstwhile enemies and losers. Brexit becomes an exercise in regaining their rightful place i ...more

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Dec 08, 2018 Conrad Barwa rated it it was amazing

Shelves: brexit, britain-immigration, britain-race-studies, british-politics, democracy, international-relations, journalism

One of the best books available on Brexit written by one of the most prescient journalists covering the subject. An essential read no matter where you fall on the issue.

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Dec 08, 2018 Matt Pack rated it it was amazing

This was book #67 of 2018 - it was fantastic. Fintan O'Toole is great.

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Jan 26, 2019 Domhnall rated it it was amazing

Shelves: politics

Fintan O’Toole is a terrific journalist with the Irish Times and has a long record of penetrating and biting reporting. I became a fan on reading his account of the 2008 financial crash- “Ship of Fools” – and this exploration of the background to Brexit is no less insightful. He places the Brexit debate unequivocally in the context of the continuing progress of extreme neoliberalism: “It is not possible simultaneously to ask people to trust the state and to tell them that the state has no busine ...more

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Nov 29, 2018 rosemary mccay rated it it was amazing

Very good.

Well written, and very entertaining, overview of aspects underlying the Brexit vote. Especially enjoyed the analysis regarding the hundred years war and the English psyche.

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Dec 03, 2018 Rory rated it it was ok

Kinda rambles and is undirected. O'Toole has written many excellent OpEds about Brexit, but this form doesn't work.

The whole book can be summarised as "The English never got over winning the Second World War"

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Feb 05, 2019 Peter Ellwood rated it liked it

A thoroughly stimulating essay, which seeks to unpick, the English character traits that caused the madness of Brexit, together with a long moan of pain about the fact of Brexit itself. Finton O’Toole has that rare knack of making you think about yourself more deeply (at least, if you’re English). Time and again, I found myself thinking I’d like to sit opposite him over dinner – it would make for such an interesting conversation.

In some ways it’s a game of two halves, as I found the first half A thoroughly stimulating essay, which seeks to unpick, the English character traits that caused the madness of Brexit, together with a long moan of pain about the fact of Brexit itself. Finton O’Toole has that rare knack of making you think about yourself more deeply (at least, if you’re English). Time and again, I found myself thinking I’d like to sit opposite him over dinner – it would make for such an interesting conversation.

In some ways it’s a game of two halves, as I found the first half and its examination of where our national neuroses sprang from a little more persuasive than the second, with its almost unbridled dislike of Brexit, and its totally unbridled dislike of Boris Johnson and his fellow snake-oil salesmen But his sympathetic outsider’s views hit the nail right on the head all the same.

I recognised myself as soon as his opening chapter. I devoted an entire career to the notion that Britain (by which I suppose I mostly mean ’England’, with a bit of ‘Scotland’ attached at the edges) had something to offer the world, in terms of its democracy, tolerance, its contribution to global knowledge etc etc: the list writes itself. From FOT’s Irish perspective, that is – naturally enough – in part evidence of a smug and self-satisfied English superiority complex. The delicious thing is that both his point of view and mine are right.

Again, as he says, Britain’s attitude to the Second World War is an intriguing one. Why do the British, mostly born after WWII ended, still tend to reach so often for WWII images and analogies? Why is Hitler never too far away from being quoted in any discussion of wickedness?

I won’t analyse his arguments point by point – it would spoil the fun – but suffice it to say I’m not sure FOT ultimately ‘gets’ what it’s like to be English. In his enthusiasm to start from the perspective of a nation weaned on ‘heroic failure’ I think he starts from the wrong place.

Time and again I found myself nodding at the examples and analogies he sets out to show that we English love to inflict pain on ourselves, and the book is worth reading for them alone – from Len Deighton to Enoch Powell. But at the end of the day I’m not convinced he joined the dots up in quite the right order. Yes, it’s true that English history over the last two hundred years bristles with ‘heroes’ whose fortitude was forged in adversity – the Charge of the Light Brigade, Scott’s ‘I may be gone for some time’, Dunkirk, and so on – but I find it quite a stretch to leap from that clear strand of Englishness to his core argument, that these are all examples of heroic self-pity, and that we secretly cling to failure. After all, heroism is bound to occur most frequently in adversity: but adversity doesn’t necessarily bring failure.

I felt that FOT’s basic thesis starts from the wrong place. As I say, he selects a number of factors in England’s past, with great verve and flair, and argues that these have led directly to the Brexit fever phenomenon.

But the English are manifestly not a homogenous people – the Brexit-Remain confrontation wouldn’t exist if we were - and it surely blurs the point for him to list all these interesting national traits as the causes solely of Brexit. The roots of Remain lie in those self-same factors too. It’s – so to speak – an intellectual version of the old Irish joke (“Which way is Dublin?” “Well, if I was going to Dublin I wouldn’t start from here..”): if I was brave enough to try and explain Brexit, I wouldn’t start from there.

In a way FOT seeks to address three distinct themes in just 200 pages: a quick analysis of the roots of the English national character, an account of how they led to Brexit, and a moan of pain at how silly Brexit and its protagonists are. What he has to say on all three subjects is fascinating and absorbing. But at the end of the day I don’t think they quite interlock. It’s a fun read - but I’d like to see him updating/rewriting it once Brexit has actually happened and the true extent of the devastation is apparent.

...more

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Feb 07, 2019 Macy Mckay rated it really liked it

Shelves: keep-to-read-again

Given the title, this is a book for the converted. Or approximately half the UK and 100% of the Irish population. Bought because we seemed to have reached peak stupidity on the day when the UK parliament voted to both register their opposition to a hard Brexit and, then on the same day, voted against the one measure which would ensure a hard Brexit was avoided.
I heard Fintan O’Toole on a podcast, and was immediately struck by how different the endless arguments here in the UK sound to our neighb Given the title, this is a book for the converted. Or approximately half the UK and 100% of the Irish population. Bought because we seemed to have reached peak stupidity on the day when the UK parliament voted to both register their opposition to a hard Brexit and, then on the same day, voted against the one measure which would ensure a hard Brexit was avoided.
I heard Fintan O’Toole on a podcast, and was immediately struck by how different the endless arguments here in the UK sound to our neighbours. The Irish are the UK’s closest neighbours, with the most of any European country to lose as a result of this disastrous decision. In the circumstances O’Toole is pretty kind to the English.
This isn’t a book giving detailed evidence of the causes of the problem, the economic and social causes of the Brexit vote. There’s no detail on the lies and populist arguments in the media,, nor is there any detailed analysis of the likely effects on the UK and Ireland. Instead O’Toole looks at how the Brexit campaign played into the post-colonial psyche of the English. A nation, who having been colonised half the world, can, now only see the world in terms of the colonised and colonisers. So if Britain was no longer a colonial power England must be colonised in turn by the EU. This was the first time I’d seen Farage’s “Independence Day” claim following the referendum as being an echo of the “independence days” celebrated throughout the commonwealth.
O’Toole shows how, the fabricated stories and polemic generated by the likes of Johnson and Rees Mogg fed into the pool of self pity growing in England, as the country continued to fare less well than is neighbours despite “winning” the war. A war which is still the focus of so much emotion in the UK, whilst its European neighbours have moved on through the building of the EU.

O’Toole does not spend any time analysing the arguments for Brexit. He is quite matter of fact about this being a “thoroughly bad cause”, led by spivs chancers and liars. What O’Toole is excellent on is pulling apart the threads of the emotional arguments for it. “Sovereignty”, for example, is shown to be a cause espoused by the English kings in the 14th century, as justification for the invasion of France, which in turn led to the hundred years war. A war which, as O’Toole describes it, was “one of the great criminal follies of European history; repeated English invasions of France that unleashed on innocent civilian mass murder, mass rape… and an orgy of destruction”. Far from being about independence, sovereignty was, in fact, the failed pursuit of a mad idea rooted in the elite’s concerns to save face.
The analogies are made even clearer when O’Toole reviews the work of Rees Mogg’s father who fantasised about a rich wealthy elite being above the law of nations.

Interesting that every time I felt Mr O’Toole’s rhetoric was becoming too overblown, there was yet another twist in the tale, rumours of Mrs May going to Europe in a spitfire, plans for the evacuation of the queen, which reminded me; no one could overstate the farce which is Brexit.
...more

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Jan 09, 2019 Garan rated it it was amazing

An urgent, eye-opening and powerful piece of work. Read it to see deeper context for Brexit and want to gouge your eyes out. It's depressing, sobering, scathing and darkly comic, which, I feel, is an appropriate lens with which to view Brexit. And, like the best Irish darkly comic tales (I'm thinking of The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien one of my favourite books), it becomes horror towards the end. To call it a remoaner text is just blatantly wrong; it doesn't plead to stay in the EU, simply ...more

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Jan 15, 2019 Peter Ryan rated it it was ok

This is an entertaining read, as the previous reviewers have said, but too many elements of the book don't ring true.
Fintan O'Toole bases a fair amount of the analysis upon what he perceives as "self-pity" on behalf of the English that 'we' didn't get our just desserts after winning WW2. I was born in late 1950s London, it was grindingly poor, as was most of the UK then, but I have never encountered that argument. I believe that this is simply untrue.
What is true is that many English have an as ...more

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Dec 28, 2018 Hanna Hofer rated it it was amazing

Mit einer poetisch schönen Stimme, die so gar nicht zu dem Psychodrama Brexit passt, beschreibt O'Toole die Seele eines Landes, das den Zweiten Weltkrieg gewonnen, aber die Schlacht mit sich selbst und seiner Identität verloren hat.
Ich habe Ende der neunziger Jahre in England gelebt; ich verstand die Tabloids nicht, ihren beinahe greifbaren Hass auf die EU und wunderte mich, warum sich die Engländer benahmen, als wenn sie Österreich wären, wenn sie doch Deutschland hätten sein können.
Dieses Buc ...more

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Jan 25, 2019 Kara rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2019

Essential reading for us in the UK as we struggle to understand what it was in our society that resulted in 52% of voters in our 2016 referendum voting for something that diminishes us, makes us poorer and divides us from our nearest neighbours. Fintan O'Toole lyrically and convincingly describes the background to this rise in English nationalism. In the final chapter he presents the analogy of the sore tooth, that Brexit is the English nationalist voting to kick against the elite and the EU exp ...more

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Dec 29, 2018 Iarfhlaith O'Scannaill rated it it was amazing

Phenomenal!

I came across this book when Ken Early interviewed the author on his excellent political podcast on the Second Captains network. A critique of Brexit but more importantly an earnest exploration into the mindset that allows what The Irish Times called “a bewildering act of self-harm” in its editorial the day after the leave vote won. Nothing that has happened since would suggest that this is inaccurate.

It is written with humour but clear and critical accuracy -
in some cases I felt it ...more

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Jan 31, 2019 Olivia_IC rated it it was amazing

This is a very readable book setting out Irish journalist Fintan O'Toole's theory about why the English (rather than the British) would vote for Brexit. His theory is persuasive (although a bit laboured at points) and his references to recent popular culture are entertaining.

I found myself nodding in agreement to large parts of the book and I'd definitely recommend it as worth a read if you're looking for a compelling explanation of some of the psychology and history (in an anecdotal way) which ...more

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Jan 27, 2019 Martin Mostek rated it really liked it

Lefty Irish hack writes about Brexit? Travesty, blasphemy? Well, no. He certainly focuses on right wing Brexiters, their ideologies, their antics and but he does so in attempt to understand and explain - and criticize too. Maybe he is psychologising too much, yet mentalities play so great role in this whole fiasco. Whatever one think about psychosexual element of his argument (employing both Shades of Gray and Patrick Melrose) insight into role of mixed self-pity and self-aggrandizement, contrad ...more

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Jan 19, 2019 Clár Chonghaile rated it it was amazing

Really enjoyed this book, and it made a nice change to be laughing when contemplating Brexit rather than cursing and shaking my fist at the television. Witty insights into the British/English character, some clever associations and a clear-sighted analysis of how we got to where we are. Never thought I'd see Brexit and Fifty Shades of Grey mentioned on the same page. Particularly appreciated the final chapter on the growth of English nationalism. Wish we'd all been so clear-sighted two years ago ...more

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Feb 18, 2019 Jean-paul Audouy rated it really liked it

Of prawn cocktail flavoured crisps and sadopopulism. Hilarious and spot on, it is as much a study of the mythical but shattered English identity as of Brexit. Rees-Mogg and Johnson are exposed as the liars and buffoons that they are. It reads as a farce even if you know it won’t end well for those locked forever in the red dungeon of pain which will paradoxically be an unshackled England.

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Jan 31, 2019 Sara Wilbourne rated it it was amazing

What is left to be said. Fintan O’Toole nails the travesty of Brexit and the toxic mindsets that fuelled the debate. Read this and you get a window on why veracity so easily leaves the room when it comes to the subject of the EU and England. Because let’s be clear - this is an English problem and has been for a very very long time.

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Jan 27, 2019 Steve Angelkov rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: political-economics, little-england, read-in-2019

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 15, 2019 Tom Kirwan rated it it was amazing

fascinating analysis of the English mentality! They had to invent Brussels as a sadistic dominant male in order to validate their nationalist impulses.
Much else besides; it is not a British exit but an abortive English exit!

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Feb 10, 2019 Kenny rated it really liked it

O’Toole is a great writer and the verve with which he carries this off is quite something. At the same time, and with no small amount of irony, it’s also quite a painful read as he lays bare the excruciating reality of the absurd situation in which we find ourselves.

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Jan 01, 2019 John Bleasdale rated it it was amazing

Not boring still terrifying

I've been watching the debacle of brexit from afar with a mixture of boredom, confusion and dread. This book is clear and sane as well as entertaining. Finlan is an arresting writer with a keen eye for a telling detail.

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About Fintan O'Toole

Fintan O'Toole

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Fintan O'Toole is a columnist, assistant editor and drama critic for The Irish Times. O'Toole was born in Dublin and was partly educated at University College Dublin. He has written for the Irish Times since 1988 and was drama critic for the New York Daily News from 1997 to 2001. He is a literary critic, historical writer and political commentator, with generally left-wing views. He was and contin ...more

Books by Fintan O'Toole

Ship of Fools: How Stupidity and Corruption Sank the Celtic Tiger

Shakespeare is Hard, But So is Life: A Radical Guide to Shakespearian Tragedy

Enough is Enough: How to Build a New Republic

White Savage: William Johnson and the Invention of America

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“Her decision to do so – when she had a working majority in Parliament – was not pure vanity. It was the inevitable result of the völkisch rhetoric she had adopted when she told her first Tory Party conference as leader that ‘if you believe you’re a citizen of the world, you’re a citizen of nowhere’, openly evoking the far-right (and Stalinist) trope of ‘rootless cosmopolitans’ who did not deserve citizenship.” — 0 likes

“Why, then, were there no photographs of Margaret Thatcher and Helmut Kohl holding hands at the Brandenburg Gate to match the pictures of Kohl and François Mitterrand at Verdun in 1984? Because Thatcher literally carried in her handbag maps showing German expansion under the Nazis.4 This was a mental cartography that English conservatism could not transcend – the map of a Europe that may no longer exist in reality but within which its imagination remains imprisoned. ‘Europe,’ Barnett writes, ‘moved on from the Second World War and Britain didn’t.’ One might go so far as to say that England never got over winning the war.” — 0 likes

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