Product Description

Simon Hoggart's fans know him as the wittiest of all the commentators on Parliament and its key figures, and for thousands of people his daily column in the "Guardian" is the kick-start they need in the morning. "The Hand of History" brings together his finest writing to create a portrait of the man at the centre of the last decade in British politics - and the rivals, enemies and friends around him. In it, you'll find the high drama, the low farce, the soap opera and the situation comedy that happens at Westminster every day. Read about Blair the Maharishi, Prescott the enemy of the English language, Brown the bruiser, Michael Fabricant the wig-wearer, and the magnificent figure of Sir Peter Tapsell, whose words are not written up in Hansard but cast in bronze. And read about the security alert that led to the confiscation of the mint imperials. Altogether, "The Hand of History" is an unmissable account of Tony Blair's weird, baffling, sometimes inexplicable, and almost always hilarious decade in power.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #284989 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-14
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

Review
"'Simon Hoggart is the P. G. Wodehouse of Westminster.' P. J. O'Rourke"

About the Author
Simon Hoggart writes a weekly diary for the Guardian, for which he also writes a daily parliamentary sketch. He also writes about wine and TV for the Spectator.

Customer Reviews

Very Very Witty Indeed - and without the cynicism
This book is a collection of the best of the Parliamentary Sketches that Simon Hoggart wrotes for the Guardian newspaper spanning the period from Tony Blair's inaugauration as Prime Minister in 1997 up March 2007 (28th March to be precise).

Mr Hoggart is very funny without being cynical or taking unnecessary cheap shots which some of the other 'satirists' and 'columnists' can tend to fall in to. Some genuinely 'laugh out loud' (or at least 'snicker out softly') moments and some of the Prescott 'moments' had me actually going to Hansard online to see if he REALLY did say what was written down! He did!

Those people at Hansard should be awarded some kind of prize!

if you don't already know Simon Hoggart's work, I can recommend this if you like you parliamentary satire, short (and oh so very sweet) and to the point but funny at the same time.

Oh and by the way, this isn't just about Labour, oh no. All the parties get the same treatment.

Good stuff!

Witty, Observant, Warm, and essential reading.
I really enjoyed this book on so many levels. You get to see how government works in practice, (not a pretty sight), observations on the magnificent Michael Fabricant's Wig (I recommend a Google image search!), Tony Blair's uncanny ability to say impressive sounding sentences that are completely without meaning on closer examination, and John Prescott's running battles with the English Language.
But this is not a cruel book - Simon Hoggart clearly takes great delight in the more eccentric characters who govern us, including more than a few laugh out loud observations "The difference between Ken Livingstone and a doodlebug is that with Ken you should duck when the whining noise starts."
The individual pieces are short, so it is an ideal book to keep in your homes, err, reading room.
I was familiar with SH's political writing before this book, but I thnk I will be seeking out more.

hilarious and wise
This is much more than a collection of sketches - it's a proper book as the selection of pieces and the commentary joining them adds up to a brilliant political history of the last decade. It is laugh out loud funny and absolutely without bias. I would recommend it to anyone who wondered what the Blair years were all about; it's much better history than Alistair Campbell!