Book description
Comedian Mark Steel has spent most of his life a committed, signed-up
member of the Socialist Workers Party. The Labour Party coming to power
in 1997 could have been the start of a new political dawn for Mark and
for Britain. But instead, big business and war-mongering thrived under
New Labour, and in many ways the working class seemed to become more
marginalised. Petty bickering and in-fighting racked the SWP, numbers
dwindled horribly, socialism became a dirty word and Mark Steel began to
think the unthinkable . . . do I really want to belong to this rabble anymore?
At the same time, entering his forties, Mark's personal life began
to disintegrate. Spending many sleepless nights on the sofa, watching
inane cable TV into the early hours of the morning, Mark asked himself
the question, 'What is Going On?' In a book that goes right to the
heart of Britain and the problems it suffers today, Mark wonders why
over a million people marching in London couldn't stop the war in
Iraq, why supermarkets are killing the small town centres of Britain
and why George Galloway went on Celebrity Big Brother destroying any
political credibility he may have had in the blink of a cat's eye.
Bitingly funny, poignant, sharply observed and very much of the
moment, this is Mark Steel at his brilliantly intelligent best.
'I picked up this book thinking I'd get some history
lessons and, obviously, a couple of jokes - but it is so much more
than that. Mark Steel has written a story which marries the personal
and political and has lessons for all of us who care about
socialism'
Tribune 18/7
'Affably angry…his book - which
documents his dawning awareness that, in the age of New Labour,
socialism is a busted flush - bubbles over with amused
fury'
Telegraph 9/8
'Perceptive and engaging… Mark is, for
example, eloquent about the immense power of the media and their
culture of celebrity to deflect and to incorporate' Socialist Review
Sept '08
'Steel situates his personal angst beneath the
civic confusion of the mass of disgruntled voters who have discovered
that they're helpless to change anything'
Guardian 9/8
'Steel steers a finely judged course between the maudlin and the
flippant, and the result is both funny and touching… [A] sense of
being in a world where the old verities are crumbling makes Steel
sadder and wiser, but far more likable, and no less
witty'
Independent on Sunday 3/8
'There is no getting away
from Steel's talent as a comedian so brace yourself for embarrassing
outburst of laughter if you read this on the train… This is Steel at
his best'
Sunday Express 24/8
'What's Going On? proves
[Steel] is much more than just a grumpy old man'
Independent 27/3
Mark Steel is a writer, presenter and comedian. His TV and radio
series include The Mark Steel Solution, The Mark Steel Revolution and
The Mark Steel Lectures. He writes a weekly column for the Independent
newspaper and is a regular on Radio 4's Loose Ends and The News Quiz.
He lives in London.
