Post by Phil Tinline
Journalist | Author of GHOSTS OF IRON MOUNTAIN: The Hoax that Duped America and Its Sinister Legacy (A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice) and THE DEATH OF CONSENSUS (London Times Politics Book of the Year, 2022)
So cheering to read Patrick Maguire's column on this. The tendency to shy away from confronting where power lies - who has too much, and to whom it needs to be shifted - is a big part of why this country is in the mess it's in. That's why I was so keen to write my report. My only worry with the stance Patrick reports here is the word 'state'. State power has absolutely become less accountable, and much of that is about the privatisation, outsourcing, arm's-length bodies and 'temporary' regulators created since the 1980s. But - as the first two of those suggest - we need to look unaccountable private power in the face too.
