Customer Reviews
Laugh, but it's no joke - By: Eamonn Butler, 21 May 2008 
Terry Arthur seems to have improved on his earlier book, 95% Is Crap. This time - & I agree - he seems to think that politics is now ALL crap. He does itin such a way that you just have to laugh at the absurdities & inanities that our politicians come out with, & the way that their polices invariably have the opposite effect of what they intended. This is great stuff. You have to laugh or you'd cry...
Crap: A Guide to Politics - By: Mr. M. Heywood, 27 Apr 2008 
The clue to this book is the first word of the title. This is a truly dreadful effort. I searched hard for the promised laughs, & even with the overuse of the exclamation mark (the sign post used by the unfunny to point to their joke) I struggled to smile.
Quotes taken at random & out of context, juxtaposed against quotes supporting Mr.Arthur's argument, make it difficult to see what he was "Guiding" me to.
Mr.Arthur's solution to all ills seems to be to let Market Forces run the country for example let Charities run the Welfare state - because this worked before the welfare state was created - so that would be back to the workhouse would it?
Drug problem - no problem if it was all legalised.
His final piece of advice is - don't vote, but write a message on the ballot paper telling MP's why you are not voting & what you think of them.
Nice one Mr Arthur, now ballot papers are scanned by machines.
This is not a Guide to anything, let alone Politics & left me confused, bewildered & a little angry that I had spent money on this tacky little pamphlet.
If market forces work, as Mr. Arthur wants them to, then I hope no one else makes the mistake I did & parts with cash for this, leaving the field open for better writers & political commentators
Laugh while you weep - By: Mike Denham, 06 Dec 2007 Terry Arthur's book Crap: A Guide to Politics is an hilarious run through the rubbish spouted daily by politicians & the sinister dysfunctional legions of Big Government. It's actually an updated version of the book he wrotein the 1970s, before Mrs Thatcher & Ronnie Reagan were supposed to have rolled back the state. But sadly, as this book highlights so vividly, nothing much has changed.
Arthur has collected a vast array of quotations from politicos of all hues, on both sides of the Atlantic & further afield. He uses them wonderfully to demonstrate just what nonsense & deceit they routinely peddle. And how there's often no difference whatsoever between so-called right & left. For example, who said the following:
"The school itself must set aside infinitely more time for physical education. Not a day should passin which the young person's body is not schooled at least an hour in... sports & gymnastics."
Don't know? How about this:
"Every child should have a minimum of two hours compulsory Physical Education a week... youth sport provides the foundation of excellence."
Give up? OK, the second quote was from UK quango Sport England. The first was from Adolf Hitler.
The book is organised around twelve varieties of crap, from Newspeak Crap, to Prolific Crap. There's something for everyone, although I particularly enjoyed the chapters on Statistical & Economic crap.
But it's the quotes that bring the book so alive. Some seem innocuous enough until Arthur points out the half-truth or non sequitur lurking just under the surface. But many just smack youin the face. Like this classic from a teaching union:
"It is time to delete the word `fail' from the educational vocabulary, to be replaced with the concept of deferred success."
Orwell could not have done better.
Strongly recommended.
An incisive view of those in "power" - By: Mr. P. L. Cowley, 25 Nov 2007 This gem of a book is uniquein two respects. Firstly it exposes "crap" (direct quotations from politicians & many others)in twelve chapters arranged according to the nature of the "crap" rather than the subject matter; "crap" on education, for example is to be foundin several chapters (Newspeak Crap, Contradictory Crap, Illogical Crap, Cheeky Crap & so on). Secondly it maintains a running narrative between the quotations which makes for very easy reading as the "crap" unfolds. It is also very funny especially if you like a trenchant, irreverent, & folksy style. The author has clearly spent many years researching the book & ensured the quotes are all within the last couple of years - however the attraction of the book is the commentary between the quotes which is direct & incisive & guides the reader to the inescapable conclusion that once a person has reached a position of power & influence, truth & logic take a back seat.
Brought to Book - By: Leopold Bloom, 13 Oct 2007 This book is a wonderfully revealing examination of our political elite, & exposes the self-absorption,cynicism & arrogance that underlie our public life. Terry Arthur's method is simplein principle: politicians on the whole rely on the ephemeral nature of their trade, on the fact that voters have short memories so what they say & do today is tomorrow's fish & chip paper. Arthur, however, doesn't forget, & by the simple expedient of comparing what our leaders say with what they subsequently do he exposes the often squalid reality behind the daily political glitz.
Necessarily he has to focus on the lies, half truths, doublespeak, contradictions & plain nonsense that pass for political discoursein the 21st century & he does it with piercing logic, wit & a bluff sort of humour. What becomes clear under this microscope is that our politicians are indeed an elite, they have morein common with each other than with the people they're supposed to represent & are primarily devoted to self-preservation & self-perpetuation (as Gordon Brown plainly showed us over his election calculations-and the lies by which he attempted to delude the people he serves).
Another theme of the book is the damage we suffer from creeping statism, again by all parties. It remains an unexamined assumptionin the 'thinking' of the right as much as the left (categories that Arthur cogently argues would be better ditchedin favour of a Big Government-Small Government spectrum), which continues inexorably to erode individual freedoms while encouraging centralism, corporatism & regulation.
Despite its demotic title the book is a robust & serious comment on our current politics; it's expressed with the lightest of touches, without rancour or sanctimoniousness (plenty of that among his victims) & I recommend it highly.
