 | |
| Author | Peter Hitchens |
|---|---|
| Subject | British politics |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Publisher | Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd. |
Publication date | 11 May 2009 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Pages | 236 |
| ISBN | 978-1-84706-405-9 |
| OCLC | 288986269 |
| LC Class | JN238 .H58 2009 |
| Preceded by | A Brief History of Crime |
| Followed by | The Rage Against God |
The Broken Compass: How British Politics Lost its Way is the fourth book by British writer Peter Hitchens, published in May 2009. Polemical and partly autobiographical, the book contends that the British political right and left no longer hold firm, adversarial beliefs, but vie for position in the centre, while at the same time overseeing a general decline in British society.
Hitchens depicts the right in particular as a confused and spent political force that has supposedly been subsumed by the centre-left, particularly Fabian social democracy. As a result of these factors, he suggests that "there is no longer any debate between the political parties about issues that have divided thinkers down the ages, and divide the population even now".[1] Hitchens concludes that, since the compass is broken, the time has come in British politics for the re-establishment of a proper adversarial system and for principles to be rediscovered.
In the media, The Broken Compass received mostly negative reviews from left-leaning outlets and some other newspapers, and was largely ignored by the conservative press. It was reissued as The Cameron Delusion in March 2010, two months before David Cameron became the British Prime Minister.
- ^ Hitchens 2009, p. 168