book review london s boroughs at by tony travers : Sun, 06 Dec 2015 22:08:12 GMT -
The LSE professor has produced a learned, entertaining and affectionate history of the capital’s resilient local government system that also tells a bigger story of the city itself
My advice about this book is simple: and read it. Read all of it from front to back and then re-read whole sections or even just little bits, either for the fun of it or to help you place some contemporary London trend or event in the context of London government’s sometimes chaotic, sometimes pragmatic, often impressive recent past. The evolution of the capital can be as confusing as it is enthralling. London’s Boroughs At 50 does a terrific job of making sense of it.
Tony Travers, as anyone who pays attention to the running of the city knows, is the pre-eminent public academic in his field. He is director of British Government at the London School of Economics, co-director of and a frequent presence on TV and radio, explaining complicated issues with clarity, precision and a eye for the ironies of history.
Readmore …