This addition to the publisher's 'Modern Governments' series is essentially a textbook for students, but it can be recommended to the general reader also as a well-informed and well-written guide to the constitution, the apparatus of government, Parliament, the political parties and the pressure groups. The expert on particular aspects of the subject would not look to a work of this kind in order to add to his knowledge: but he won't find his expertise offended. The only half-criticism which I have on a point in my own field of expertise concerns the statement: 'Some estimates would put the share of government in spending at about 60 per cent of GNP.' It was the Treasury itself which at one time gave currency to this misconceived figure, but for the past few years the Government's White Papers have adopted a corrected basis more in line with, though still a little wider than, the definitions used by the OECD. On this basis, public expenditure last year was 42 per cent of GDP at market prices. This point does not, however, materially affect the description of the size and growth of the public sector.

LRB 22 May 1980 | PDF Download