Product Description

Chris McCafferty is the Labour candidate for the Calder Valley. The incumbent conservative MP is Sir Donald Thompson. She works at the Well Woman Clinic, he wants to eat beef and hang people. In the 1997 General Election, it is seats like this one that either herald a "New Labour Britain" or produce more of the same. The author follows these two very different politicians in the lead-up to the election in a markedly divided borough - from the remote, broke Todmorden, to Brighouse with its brass band and blue-rinse Tories. In the upper valley, red posters decorate the windows of every house, yet behind are places where "if you put a blue ribbon on a pig they'd vote for it". He gauges the mood of the voters; do they vote with their wallets? Do they think voting makes any difference?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1020349 in Books
• Published on: 1998-01-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

About the Author
Pete Davies is the author of ALL PLAYED OUT, STORM COUNTRY, I LOST MY HEART TO THE BELLES and two novels, THE LAST ELECTION and DOLLARVILLE. Author writes for the GUARDIAN and the INDEPENDENT.

Customer Reviews

Exciting even though you know the result
When I first saw this book I thought I wouldn't read it; the last British General Election (the subject of this book) seems like a long time ago now, and most "popular politics" books I've read in the past have been disappointing. But I'm so glad I changed my mind! Davies is no tyro - he'd written five books before, two of them novels, and he brings all of that experience to bear on this story of ten months in the life of one English parliamentary constituency, Calder Valley in Yorkshire.

Several things go into making this such a good read: 1. Davies obviously planned the book very carefully, something which immediately gains the reader's respect. The choice of Calder Valley (out of 650 possible places) in particular was spot-on. 2. Davies doesn't hide the fact that he's a socialist and therefore not an impartial observer. This is good because it gives an emotional energy to the text and an edge to the reporting. 3. Although this is a subjective account Davies's approach is human and sympathetic: he responds to the people rather than to their politics. Although he finds one or two of the characters exasperating he rarely resorts to sarcasm. 4. The novelistic style Davies adopts means that full attention is given to character and plot development, and to description of the area, and the book appeals because it is so clearly about people first and about politics second. 5. Davies used a dictaphone to record his characters' outpourings and his transcriptions of these are not only believable but give an insight into the way Yorkshire people think and speak. 6. Davies is a thoughtful, intelligent, and good writer. There is never a dull moment.

I would hold this book up as a model for anyone putting their mind to writing a work of popular non-fiction. And with an American election just gone and a British one looming, the political and social aspects are still relevant. And finally, Christine McCafferty ("a well-built woman of fifty with straight, short blonde hair, an attentive, piercing blue gaze and an unashamedly loud laugh; a talkative, friendly, basically ordinary person who wanted this England to change") is as good a hero as you'll find anywhere.