Managing Britannia

This book by Imprint Academic comes out of the same stable as the three excellent books on universities and education reviewed 18 months ago. It is a highly effective polemic against the excesses and pretensions of bureaucratic managerialism and its cliché-ridden language of 'driving things forward' to a predetermined objective or outcome. Part of the insidious process is the enormous proliferation of managers in government services, all of whom are busily defining and chasing targets. The authors analyse not only the way in which their thought processes operate in abstractions but also the language of delivery, rolling out, rebranding, market positioning etc. And this language is becoming pervasive not only in government but also in the arts, education, the churches and of course education. Sir Ernest Gowers ('The Complete Plain Words') would have had a field day with some of the examples of management-speak quoted here. So what can be done? The authors suggest that 'modern managerialism' should become a term of high abuse, but are sanguine in realising that people think in herds but only wake up individually. This entertaining and instructive book is certainly a contribution to a collective awakening and deserves a wide readership - especially among opposition politicians.