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Reckless
Reckless
May 19, 2024 6:25 PM

Author:Philip Augar

Reckless

In 1997 it seemed that things in the City could only get better. For ten years everything went according to plan. Buoyed by a strong pound and cheered on by an excitable media, the bankers became the heroes of the age. And then in the summer of 2007 everything began to collapse. Barely a year later the City was in tatters.

Greed, guile and excess - this definitive insider's account charts an intoxicated decade and cogently reveals just how, and why, the City got it so badly wrong.

Reviews

Reveals the systemic and destructive way that British finance works... Understands both the people and the processes... His best book yet

—— Will Hutton , Guardian

A meticulously researched history of the City under New Labour. This is a good and eloquently written book...refreshingly non-judgemental

—— Literary Review

On the money. The City's staggering fall from grace is neatly summed up by a former investment banker

—— Sunday Times

A compelling story of how the City came to be regarded as the jewel in Britain's economic crown... yet was fundamnetally flawed...and became a byword for greed and complacency

—— Financial Times

Clear about the causes, Augar is also clear about the solutions

—— Evening Standard

Excellent

—— Jonathan Davis , Financial Times

Niggling away in his opening chapters is a question I believe will produce unforgiving verdicts from future historians: how could a Labour government let this happen?

—— Nick Cohen , Thefirstpost.com

This is a useful contribution to the growing literature about the biggest financial crisis for decades

—— David Smith , The Sunday Times

[a] compelling and readable history that will enable the reader to make sense of the collapse of confidence that started in 2007 and became the Credit Crunch

—— www.suite101.com

Augar is a former city man with the rare ability to take the reader through the complexities of high finance.

—— Nick Cohen , Observer

[Augar] sees the important issue'

—— John Kay , FT

A colourful account of the financial rollercoaster ride of the last 10 years... What really happened at Northern Rock, Royal Bank of Scotland et al? This gives you a clearer idea

—— Stefan Stern , Financial Times, Business & economics books of the year

Timely book

—— Simon Shaw , Mail on Sunday

Augur skewers politicians and regulators deftly. He's good on hedge funds, too.

—— William Leith , Scotsman

Brilliant

—— Independent

In this riveting, well-written expose, Shaxson goes deep into the largely unexamined realm of offshore money. In the process, he reveals that this shadow world is no mere sideshow, but is troublingly central to modern finance, with the US and the UK as leaders. The resulting abuses are widespread, ranging from tax revenue stripping from African nations to individuals and corporations escaping enforcement and accountability. A must read for anyone who wants to understand the hidden reasons why financial services firms have become so powerful and impossible to reform

—— Yves Smith, creator of Naked Capitalism and author of Econned

They who sold us globalisation as a way of the whole world getting richer with fair rules, cheated us by letting the rich and powerful go "offshore". This gripping exposé should help end the scandal

—— Anthony Barnett, founder of openDemocracy

Possibly the most important political book that I have read since The Spirit Level

—— Stuart Weir, co-founder of Charter 88, former editor of the New Statesman

He has prised the lid off an important and terrifying can of worms

—— Martin Vander Weyer , Literary Review

Lively and well written book

—— Toby Young , Mail on Sunday

A welcome account of how the sun is never allowed to set on the British empire's old islands, whose fiscal pirates hoard the tax-free treasures of the rich

—— Geoffrey Robertson , New Statesman, Books of the Year

Shaxson delves into capitalism's secret nooks and tells us about how a culture of secrecy can perpetuate itself. Very interesting

—— William Leith , Evening Standard

A compelling read [...] an important and very much a live topic, it'll take you a few hours to read the book but it will be a worthwhile investment of time

—— Peter Magee , Bookbag

What makes this such a good read for the layman is that the author employs all his journalistic skill (he used to work at Reuters) to illustrate his arguments and uses real examples to real examples to illustrate complex issues

—— John Arlidge , Sunday Times

This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the world we live in

—— Brian Maye , Irish Times

This engrossing book about the offshore banking racket, with its eye-opening scrutiny of tax havens and the suited scoundrels who profit from them, will make you think again about the murkier side of the City...This first-rate forensic work ends with a plea that the closed City "must be abolished and submerged into a...fully democratic London"

—— Boyd Tonkin , Independent

[An] informed polemic against finance capital

—— Oliver Kamm , The Times

Now more than a decade old, this is still the best introduction to the world of tax havens

—— Economist, *Summer Reads of 2022*
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