Product Description

John Cole has had a ringside seat on the British public life for the past 40 years.During that time he kept notes of his conversations with politicians,but he is now free of the constraints that the need for both brevity and balance imposedwhen he was BBc Political Editor.He is now free to tell tales from inside the Cabinet Room.His cast includes every PrimeMinister since Harold Wilson,every leader of the opposition and many others besides.He also dips further into memory to record a youthful encounter with Clement Attlee,the last British Prime Minister to cross the Irish border withoput a police guard.AS IT SEEMED TO ME is full of revealing stories about our politicians from the best known political commentator of recent times.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #403196 in Books
• Published on: 1996-03-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 464 pages

Synopsis
John Cole has had a ringside seat on the British public life for the past 40 years.During that time he kept notes of his conversations with politicians,but he is now free of the constraints that the need for both brevity and balance imposedwhen he was BBc Political Editor.He is now free to tell tales from inside the Cabinet Room.His cast includes every PrimeMinister since Harold Wilson,every leader of the opposition and many others besides.He also dips further into memory to record a youthful encounter with Clement Attlee,the last British Prime Minister to cross the Irish border withoput a police guard.AS IT SEEMED TO ME is full of revealing stories about our politicians from the best known political commentator of recent times.

About the Author
John Cole was Political Editor of the BBC. Previously a newspaper journalist, he served on the Guardian and rose to be deputy editor of The Observer. He is married with four sons.

Customer Reviews

'What have you been doing since you left Harrow, Baldwin?'
The dim recollections from my youth of John Cole - the BBC'S former Political Editor [1981-1992] - were of a plain-spoken, hard-headed Ulsterman. This thoughtful book, detailing the events of mid-to-late 20th century British politics from a first person perspective, show that I was not suffering from false-memory syndrome. Cheerfully, Cole acknowledges this when he informs readers that he subscribes "to the comparative values of the man who met Stanley Baldwin, then Prime Minster, and said `What have you been doing since you left Harrow, Baldwin?'". That prickliness did not stop him from becoming firmly embedded as a journalist and broadcaster in what now referred to as the 'Westminster Village'. His insider status is demonstrated in his intimacy with senior politicians of all political persuasions. Unashamedly, he begins sentences "Harold Wilson told me...", "John [Major] joked to me...", in a fashion that will either intrigue or infuriate. The amount of time that he has spent at the centre of the political system has clearly imbued him with plenty of wisdom: "The politician who thinks of nothing else but the leadership is a fool, since only one person in most political generations of each party can have it", is an aphorism which Gordon Brown would have done well to take heed of. As the title suggests these are personal, subjective reflections. This allows him considerable latitude in his political judgements, something which he was not allowed to do in his job at the BBC because of its concerns for neutrality and impartiality. He uses it well; taking to task both the style and outcomes of the Thatcher government(s)effectively, for instance. This is a considered, informative account of a turbulent period in British politics from a clear-thinking, informed individual.

Tiring
I bought this looking for an insight into recent British political history and to some extent this does give that. On the other hand the prose is so astonishingly turgid that it almost takes days to read a chapter.. I like to think of myself as well-read and I enjoy "proper" literature but this book is like wading through treacle. I have found myself reading and re-reading a sentence several times only to realise that there really is a word missing and I'm not going mad - it actually doesn't make any sense. His anecdotes are also often rather dull; I find myself waiting for the punchline and then realising I've missed it.
I persevered and I read through it and I do feel more knowledgable now than when I started out; I'm not sure it's worth it though. I wouldn't recommend this.

This is is an amazing book -written in beautiful English
Beautiful English that makes me wish I had paid attention at School. For those of us who lost track of history after Henry VIII this is is an amazing book. Post war history through to the demise of Mrs Thatcher seen from the eyes of a journalist who was respected by all. Names like Crossland and Jenkins leap from the pages as fully three dimensional politicians. There is no need for a trendy podcast as his strong Irish accent almost reads the book to you as the pages turn. For those of us who never understood the conflict in Northern Ireland this book puts a whole new light on the deep issues that drove the province to the edge of civil war. - Essential reading even if politics is not your thing.