The Kingfisher's Wings

Glimpsing the British Constitution in the 2020s
Erscheinungsjahr 2024
ISBN: 978-1-914979-12-5
Verlag: Haus Publishing

Buch, Englisch, 220 Seiten

In The Kingfisher’s Wings contemporary historians Peter Hennessy and Andrew Blick trace the constitutional developments and tensions that have beset and shaken the UK in the decade since the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. They have been years, as Wilde's Lady Bracknell might have said, 'crowded with incident.' And these incidents have tended to be disrupters rather than bringers of stability at a time of considerable political uncertainty and upheaval.

In the second part of this short, engaging study, the authors discuss what is foreseeable about the near- and medium-term future, before proposing an array of improvements and modifications that might preserve and enhance the nature of the British constitution.

Hennessy and Blick believe that breaking the current cycle of decline before it plunges us into an even more dangerous politics of fatalism (which is one stage short of a politics of despair) is a first order question for the United Kingdom of the mid-2020s.

Whoever occupies No.10 Downing Street after the forthcoming General Election will face a range of constitutional challenges and opportunities. The authors offer a briefing on what will lie before them, and how they might respond to it.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Hennessy, Peter

Blick, Andrew

Über Autor(innen)

Peter Hennessy is one of the UK’s leading contemporary historians and is Attlee Professor of Contemporary British History at Queen Mary University of London. He is the author of definitive books on the UK’s prime ministers, constitution, civil service, and intelligence agencies. His recent works include Land of Shame and Glory.

Andrew Blick is Professor of Politics and Contemporary History, and Head of the Department of Political Economy at King's College London. He is the author of numerous books dealing with aspects of the UK constitution, including a history of the Internet and the UK Parliament. He has previously worked at No.10 Downing Street and in the UK Parliament.