Britain is broke. We have been living beyond our means for decades, piling up debt year after year. It is now costing the British taxpayer well over £100 billion a year just to pay the interest on our borrowings – more than we spend on either education or defence. Sooner rather than later, Britain’s debt problems will be impossible to ignore.

In Britain is Bust, Ross Clark argues that a major rationalisation of public spending is inevitable, and likely to have profound impacts on the country’s political landscape. Cuts that might seem unpopular now will soon be inescapable if we want to avoid the kind of debt crisis that afflicted Greece in 2010. Our only choice is between taking the lead on those cuts now, or being forced by the bond markets into much deeper ones in the near future.

This clear-headed, engaging and carefully argued book demonstrates that we really can’t afford to carry on as we are, and offers a set of solutions to avoid the worst.

Britain’s economy is stuck.

In recent years, a succession of economic shocks has led to low growth, stagnant living standards and divided politics. As debt and taxes have risen to record levels, many worry that the UK economy is stuck in a low-growth trap with ruinous implications for future generations.

Jeremy Hunt was Chancellor during one of those shocks and successfully navigated the economy out of both inflation and recession. He argues that despite widespread pessimism, Britain still has a lot going for it – the third largest technology ecosystem in the world, a huge financial services sector, globally admired universities and respected institutions. What’s more, the solutions to our economic malaise are in plain sight if we are willing to learn from what works elsewhere.

Can We Be Rich Again? sets out a credible case for optimism when it comes to the future of Britain’s economy, and a roadmap of how we might get there.

According to an old joke, everyone knows that men and women are different… except social scientists. In A Billion Years of Sex Differences, evolutionary psychologist Steve Stewart-Williams tackles some of science’s most controversial questions: How do men and women differ? Where do the differences come from? And how do they shape modern life?

The result is the most up-to-date, balanced, and engaging account of human sex differences yet written, covering everything from dating and mating to aggression and parenting, from children’s toy preferences and workplace gender gaps to mental health and the politics of equality. Drawing on a century of research – and a billion years of evolution – Stewart-Williams explains why many sex differences appear despite socialization, not because of it; why in our mating and parenting patterns, humans are more like the average bird than the average mammal; and why sex differences are sometimes a sign of societal health rather than injustice.

With more than two decades of research in evolutionary psychology and an international reputation in the field, Steve Stewart-Williams is uniquely positioned to challenge prevailing views in this fraught debate. Avoiding the extremes of either overstating or denying the differences, he argues that, rather than trying to make men and women identical, we should strive for a world where bias and barriers are eliminated, and where people are free to be themselves whether they conform to gender norms or defy them.

Labour’s greatest ever Prime Minister is seen afresh in this concise and illuminating account. Attlee’s government did not simply respond to hardship; it reshaped the state, creating the NHS, extending welfare and redefining the relationship between citizen and country.

As Jason Cowley, former editor of the New Statesman, attests, Attlee’s revolution was understated, but its effects proved enduring – a reminder that long-lasting social and political change are more achievable than we often think.

‘A masterly analysis of why Britain has much more global influence than it thinks’ Eric Schmidt, former CEO Google

‘Enthralling’ Daily Mail

Since the global financial crisis, Britain has been through a difficult period, leading many to conclude the country is doomed to inevitable decline. Jeremy Hunt was at the top of government as both Foreign Secretary and Chancellor. In Can We Be Great Again? he persuasively rebuts those who think Britain is no longer capable of shaping the world we live in.

With the election of President Trump, a world that was already becoming more dangerous has also become more unpredictable. But when it comes to the big challenges facing the world – whether on European security, the future of democracy, migration, trade or climate – the UK remains one of the most influential countries. Hunt does not shy away from our weaknesses but argues that they should be considered in perspective and without underestimating our many strengths.

If we want a world that remains safe and free, now is the time for countries with influence to use it wisely.

A FINANCIAL TIMES AND THE SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEAR

‘Important’ Financial Times
‘Serious and thought-provoking’ The Critic
‘Brave’ Richard Reeves
‘Excellent’ Jonathan Haidt

Family life has changed dramatically over the past 60 years.

Greater choice and autonomy, especially for women, and a more equal domestic sphere have brought great gains for human freedom. However, argues David Goodhart, there have been losses and unintended consequences too – in family instability, children’s declining mental health, and the ever-rising demands on the welfare state and social care system. Sharply falling birthrates also present major challenges.

For many people, especially in the bottom half of the income spectrum, the costs are now too high. The Care Dilemma argues that we need a new policy settlement that supports gender equality while also recognising the importance of stable families and community life, and that sees having children as a public as well as private good.

‘At least that post-Reformation sovereignty of the word still yields novels as richly imagined and skilfully crafted as this’ The Spectator

Longlisted for the 2025 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction
Longlisted in the 2024 HWA Crown Awards

ANNO DOMINI 1546.

In a manor house in England a young woman feels the walls are closing around her, while her dying husband is obsessed by his vision of a chapel where prayers will be said for his immortal soul. As the days go by and the chapel takes shape, the outside world starts to intrude. But as the old ways are replaced by the new, the people of the village sense a dangerous freedom …

Reader Reviews

‘A must read … Characters that one cares about, beautifully structured, a real page turner’

‘A jewel of a book’

‘Beautifully written’

‘Atmospheric and compelling’

Osaik lives a happy, charmed life, his loyal dog Kompa always by his side. But his mother suffers from sickle cell disease, and one day his world is thrown into disarray when it takes her away from him.

Despite his grief, Osaik has to find a way of saving his little sister, Eghe, from the same fate. There is no time to waste as he, his dad, and the ever-faithful Kompa begin a race to get her all the help she needs.

For ages 9+.

The new ruling elite in the west – the ultra-wealthy tech magnates, financial wizards and corporate bosses that wield enormous power over us – embrace extremely progressive political ideas. What explains this apparent paradox?

In this scintillating critique of these new radical plutocrats, conservative commentator Ed West argues that the ‘luxury beliefs’ of the new Brahmin caste are perfectly consistent with their accumulation of ever greater wealth. Ultra-liberalism, with its inherent bias towards valorising autonomy, freedom, and cosmopolitanism, is a creed that inherently benefits the rich. Examining how this new elite allies itself with both younger, poorer knowledge workers and immigrants against the more culturally conservative working classes, he argues that the rise of identity politics allows the wealthy to pose as social justice warriors in a way that poses no threat to their own privilege and power.

A must-read for both conservatives and traditional leftists, Brahmins is a razor-sharp diagnosis of a culture that is combining the worst element of capitalism and progressivism.

‘Resounds with all the energy and enthusiasm of a man on a lifelong mission . . . This is a book for our time’ The House Magazine
‘A must-read for anyone trying to understand race, racism and social mobility in Britain today’ Munira Mirza, CEO Civic Future
‘As a black Briton with Caribbean heritage, this book spoke to my heart’ Katharine Birbalsingh

‘A game changer . . . Tony Sewell debunks the myths without ignoring the harsh facts of the black experience in Britain, and shows how we are all moving forward. Excellently researched and deeply motivating’ Michael Dobbs, author of House of Cards

In this truthful and often surprising book, Tony Sewell weaves together memoir and argument to explore the drivers of black success. He traces black people’s hard-won achievements back to their source: family, education, hard work, discipline and the property market. He argues in favour of rejecting victimhood and low expectations and embracing high ambitions, drawing on a range of interviews and stories to offer a more exciting, sometimes visionary, new view of black life in Britain today.

Five Star Reader Reviews

‘Inspiring, uplifting and excellently written’

‘The recipe for success … A call to the Black British community to focus on where we want to go’

‘Essential reading … It gets five well-earned stars from me.