posted 17th March 2024
Britain is broke. Local councils all round the country are going bankrupt. Prisons are overflowing, so much so that judges were at one point advised to stop locking convicted criminals up because there was no more room for them. The NHS is close to collapse. Doctors, teachers, civil servants and train drivers are striking because they are not paid enough.
So where did all the money go? And how are we to fix these problems? How do we - how should we - pay for vital services such as local government, law and order, the NHS, schools and public transport? These are questions debaters, and all responsible citizens, need to think about, hard. To put it very simply: if we want better public services, we will need to pay more tax. But then we'll have less money to spend on ourselves. If we want to pay less tax and keep more money for ourselves, we will need to accept (even) worse public services.
That is, as I said, putting it very simply. There is in fact much more to understand. We will need some help if we are going to have a properly informed debate about how to pay for what we need. There is no better guide for debaters who want to understand the British economy than Paul Johnson's book Follow the Money. He takes us through taxes, benefits, pensions, the NHS and schools, explaining how they work in an accessible, witty way. You will find many a killer fact here, and along the way you will acquire a clearer understanding of a whole range of economic issues. You will also learn why gingerbread men with chocolate belts cost more than ones without (it's nothing to do with the price of chocolate) and why rabbits are cheaper than cats (maybe skip this bit if you have a pet bunny).
Follow the Money is highly recommended for all debaters. Pack it for every debating com
