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Robert Peston
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How Do We Fix This Mess? The Economic Price of Having it all, and the Route to Lasting Prosperity Kindle Edition

by Robert Peston (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.3 out of 5 stars 421 ratings

'Robert Peston's compelling account of global financial meltdown is a must-read.' Observer

What can we learn from the 2008 recession? ITV's political editor explains the global economic mess and how to escape it - in his characteristically straightforward way.

'How do we fix this mess? I don't know. But don't stop reading now. Perhaps if we have a clearer understanding of what went wrong, we'll have a better idea of what needs to be done. This book is a map of what needs to be fixed.'

The record-breaking unbroken growth between 1992 and 2008 wasn't the economic miracle that it seemed. It was based on a number of dangerous illusions - most notably that it didn't matter that the UK and US year after year consumed more than they earned.

But we couldn't go on increasing our indebtedness forever. The financial crash of 2007/8 and the subsequent economic slump in much of the west was the moment when we realised we had borrowed more than we could afford to repay.

So who got it wrong? Bankers, investors and regulators? And were they greedy, stupid or asleep? What was the role of government? And what part did we, as consumers, play in all this? How do we get through this difficult period of transition to a more sustainable economy, one based on investment and exports, rather than on borrowing and consumption?

With the same probing lucidity he brought to Who Runs Britain? and WTF?, Robert Peston takes us step-by-step towards a common sense way to fix this mess.

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  1. Print length
    481 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Hodder & Stoughton
  4. Accessibility
    Learn more
  5. Publication date
    27 Sept. 2012
  6. File size
    2.2 MB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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Product description

Review

Reads like a wildly implausible financial thriller. ― Independent

Praise for WHO RUNS BRITAIN? ― .

starkly lucid...Reading Peston's book, you can only be flabbergasted all over again at how Labour kowtowed to wealth, glorified the City and put the nations economic eggs into one dangerous basket of fizzy finance. ― Polly Toynbee Guardian

'The author charts the past 20 years of steady economic growth and consequent bust, lucidly explaining the shortcomings of the banking system and the effects of globalisation, before returning to the present state of the UK, all invitingly.' ― Sunday Telegraph

Robert Peston's compelling account of global financial meltdown is a must-read... His discursive, conversational but entrancingly fact-studded trip around the disaster zone ought to be mandatory reading for anyone who wants to have a voice in where we go from here. ― Observer

Robert Peston is not so much a journalist as a phenomenon... And now he has managed to fit in a book... that displays his gargantuan appetite for facts, numbers and economic and financial history... Peston's range is dazzling.... Peston is a BBC treasure - one of the journalists who justify the licence fee. If, every few years, he needs to breathe out and write a long book, we should encourage it. As they used to say in the pre-Twitter age, he knows his stuff. ― New Statesman

Robert Peston was the voice of the financial crisis, just as Terry Wogan will forever be the voice of the Eurovision Song Contest. Vocal tics and all, he's now an official national treasure. ― Spectator

He is good on the follies of the bankers... He is also good on the detail. Anybody who wants to know what a collateralised debt obligation or a credit default swap is will find it here. ― Sunday Times

Brilliant. I now understand everything. ― Giles Coren

Mr Peston, an award-winning print journalist before he became the Business Editor of the BBC, has many strengths. Chief among these are his sources and a terrier-like determination to get the story. Mr Peston passionately articulates why everyone should be frustrated with the banking sector--and financial globalisation more generally. For a tale of how the British banks blew up, readers will find juicy details. ― Economist

Lucid explanations... stark analysis of what the financial meltdown means for us... Peston's book is actually scarier than most descriptions I've read of the crisis. It goes way beyond Wall Street and City greed in its scope. ― Evening Standard

'Peston catches the zeitgeist of Britain and the paradox that is Gordon Brown' ― Financial Times

A compelling portrait of early 21st century casino capitalism...essential reading. ― Howard Davies The Times

We are unfortunately still in the middle of this crisis. But at least we will have Robert Peston to give us that famous 'first draft of history' provided by excellent reporting. ― Business Economist

Fluent, incredibly up to the minute look at Britain...Peston, in relaxed, conversational; style is a great travelling companion along the highways of finance. ― Observer

'engaging' ― Harry Mount Telegraph

HOW DO WE FIX THIS MESS? is the book of the film and more... brought to life by war stories from the BBC, simple analogies and colourful language... he does know how to elucidate apparently impenetrable issues, and he guides us intelligently and entertainingly... readable and thought-provoking. ― Financial Times

Robert Peston's great book on the world financial crash... 400 information-packed pages... If Mr Peston has a lesson for us, it is that until we fix the banking system, we will have achieved nothing. ― Irish Independent

One of the best accounts of the financial crisis, recession and how we get out of it. ― Scotland on Sunday

'compelling reading'. -- Chris Mullin ― The Observer

Essential reading... an excellent expose of the financial crisis. ― Sunday Telegraph

Robert Peston is very lucid on some of the biggest issues of the day. I thoroughly recommend it. ― Scotland on Sunday

This lucid and timely guide to the world of turbo-capitalism...absorbing book, essential reading for anyone who wants to know how the British economy now operates. ― Peter Wilby, Guardian

A devastating account of Blair's producer capture by high finance...Peston navigates with ease the shark-infested waters of hedge funds, sub-prime borrowing, defined-benefit pensions and loans for honours. ― Simon Jenkins, The Sunday Times

About the Author

Robert Peston is ITV's political editor, presenter of the politics show Peston on Sunday and founder of the education charity, Speakers for Schools (www.speakers4schools.org). He has written four books, How Do We Fix This Mess?, Who Runs Britain?, Brown's Britain and WTF?. For a decade until the end of 2015, he was at the BBC, as economics editor and business editor. Previously he was City editor at the Sunday Telegraph, political editor and financial editor at the FT, a columnist for the New Statesman, and at the Independent in various roles. Peston has won more than 30 awards for his journalism, including Journalist of the Year from the Royal Television Society. His blog is itv.com/robertpeston, on Facebook he is facebook.com/pestonITV and he is @peston on Twitter.

Kishan Koria is the Editor of Peston on ITV where he also makes the channel's election debates. He's worked in television for seven years throughout which his colleagues have frequently suggested to him that British politics would soon calm down after a period of chaos! Prior to that he had a short stint as an Economics teacher for sixth form students. Bust? is the first book Kishan has co-written though he previously served as the researcher for Robert Peston's 2017 release, WTF?.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B008HTPU42
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hodder & Stoughton
  • Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ 27 Sept. 2012
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ Reprint
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2.2 MB
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 481 pages
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1444757118
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Customer reviews:
    4.3 out of 5 stars 421 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
421 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book worth reading from cover to cover, with a clear and easy-to-understand explanation of complex topics. Moreover, the book is well-researched and provides good insights, with one customer noting it breaks down complexities effectively. Additionally, they appreciate its value for money and consider it good for those unfamiliar with economic concepts. However, the pacing receives mixed reactions, with some finding it fairly depressing.

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70 customers mention ‘Comprehension’57 positive13 negative

Customers find the book comprehensible, praising its clear and detailed explanations of complex economic topics.

"This is a thorough, detailed account of what went wrong with the financial system prior to 2007...." Read more

"...is a timely and well-researched book that dissects the economic complexities of our era...." Read more

"...This book is a solid and detailed account of what went wrong with world economies over the last decade...." Read more

"...The story that Peston tells is of course an alarming one but he writes extremely well and is very well informed and erudite...." Read more

68 customers mention ‘Readability’68 positive0 negative

Customers find the book engaging and worth reading from cover to cover, with one customer noting it is well-researched and essential reading for students.

"...Time will tell. This is a great read. Looking forward to Robert Peston's next book." Read more

"...While some of the solutions may be debatable, the book is an essential read for anyone interested in the intricacies of economic prosperity" Read more

"...Others may disagree with me. All in all, a really good book and one of the better ones, in my opinion, due to the fact that it's..." Read more

"...At heart this is good quality journalism, explaining some very complex stuff, with reasonable clarity...." Read more

63 customers mention ‘Insight’60 positive3 negative

Customers appreciate the book's insights, finding it brilliantly researched and well-informed, with one customer noting how it breaks down complex subjects.

"This is a thorough, detailed account of what went wrong with the financial system prior to 2007...." Read more

"...Peston provides a clear and comprehensive account of the financial crisis and its aftermath, shedding light on the price of our modern lifestyle...." Read more

"...Worth reading, as it's highly accessible and covers the right subject matter, including the macro trends, of which this financial crisis is the..." Read more

"...There are plenty of facts and figures, perhaps too many, a little more human interest would have made it more readable, but he does the best with a..." Read more

8 customers mention ‘Clarity’8 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the clarity of the book's presentation.

"...quality journalism, explaining some very complex stuff, with reasonable clarity...." Read more

"...He distills the data & presents it in a clear and concise manner, reminding us of events and making us more aware of how banksters, regulators,..." Read more

"...Robert Peston is clear and concise and takes one step by step through the financial jungle. I cannot recommend this book enough." Read more

"...rules and how they may have contributed to the problem but also a very clear view about what needs to be done differently in future...." Read more

6 customers mention ‘Literacy’6 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's literacy value, with some noting it is good for the uninitiated, and one customer mentioning it should be used to teach youngsters.

"An excellent help. Suddenly you get a view into a world of deviousness and sheer breathtaking greed and self-importancethat is still around...." Read more

"...He really is avery effectinve communicator both on television and in print" Read more

"Excellent book. Should be used to teach youngsters, Well thought out and researched...." Read more

"Truly excellent for someone like me who has no economics background ......" Read more

6 customers mention ‘Value for money’6 positive0 negative

Customers find the book to be a good value, with one customer noting it provides superb analysis for those unfamiliar with economic concepts.

"...that the book arrived very quickly, in perfect condition and at a very good price." Read more

"...The central message is to be responsible and pay your way in the world - valuable advice we are already forgetting, I fear...." Read more

"I got this at the bargain 99p and have been reading it on the Kindle app...." Read more

"very good value and arrived very quickly" Read more

11 customers mention ‘Pacing’3 positive8 negative

Customers find the book's pacing negative, describing it as fairly depressing and boring, with one customer noting its sarcastic tone.

"...reader are mainly that it's a non-technical book and is really re-telling a tale rather than suggesting some novel solutions...." Read more

"...It is also fairly depressing. It gives little confidence in the people who got us in this mess, those who should have stopped it.,..." Read more

"...says it all: I found this book by turns enjoyable, fascinating and horrifying...." Read more

"...Then there was a fairly tiresome and unrelated tilt at Bob diamond. Then at 90 per cent read - it ended...." Read more

Don't judge a book by its cover...literally
1 out of 5 stars
Don't judge a book by its cover...literally
They say you should never judge a book by its cover. I didn't ever imagine this also applies to books. I gifted this to a friend, who found that it had the contents of the sugar fairy inside, a book which was less forthcoming on the details of the financial crisis.
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Top reviews from United Kingdom

  • tugeladiver
    5.0 out of 5 stars Typical Robert Peston Analysis
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 March 2014
    Verified Purchase
    This is a thorough, detailed account of what went wrong with the financial system prior to 2007. A lot of very well educated "experts" got it all horribly wrong. Those paying the price are the average citizen, homeowner, taxpayer. This "mess" is going to take a long time to fix.

    How to fix it? Does it require a cultural change? Do we need to start behaving more like Germans and less like Greeks? In German the word Schuld means debt however it can also mean blame, guilt or fault. Not something you want to take on lightly. For the average Brit, debt can mean a holiday in Greece or Spain. The attitude towards debt in Britain compared to the attitude towards debt in Germany is a cultural chasm. It was not always that way however. Could we move towards a more frugal, industrious future? Time will tell.

    This is a great read. Looking forward to Robert Peston's next book.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Conker
    4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful and Thought-Provoking
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 October 2023
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    Robert Peston's "How Do We Fix This Mess?" is a timely and well-researched book that dissects the economic complexities of our era. Peston provides a clear and comprehensive account of the financial crisis and its aftermath, shedding light on the price of our modern lifestyle. While some of the solutions may be debatable, the book is an essential read for anyone interested in the intricacies of economic prosperity
    One person found this helpful
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  • Brian R. Martin
    5.0 out of 5 stars Misleading title, but an excellent book
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 October 2012
    Verified Purchase
    Peston, the drawling Business Editor of the BBC, starts by reviewing the history of the financial crisis, often using striking analogues, with clear explanations of arcane concepts such as `collateralised debt obligations' and `credit derivatives', and shows how trading in debt of various kinds, helped by banks being allowed to increase their ratio of borrowing/lending to capital (`leverage'), came to dwarf trading of traditional `real' assets.

    Bankers began to believe in their own infallibility and totally failed to read the lessons of history. Peston shows how, ignoring the principles of sound banking, they constructed ever more complicated financial products that would provide huge personal rewards, but were not fully understood by either those at the top of the organisations, or politicians and regulators. `Big beasts' such as Brown and Greenspan, as well as the IMF, were still proclaiming that everything was rosy up to a few weeks before disaster struck in 2008. A situation was eventually reached where it was all but impossible to make a realistic estimate of the risks involved, and hence factor it into prices. It was `helped' by the so-called Basel Rules (scathingly dissected by Peston) that enabled bankers to conceal the nature of their business. The result was an `Alice in Wonderland' world, where `assets' had the value that bankers said they had without any way of objectively measuring them.

    Peston then turns to globalization. While recognising its good consequences (raising the standard of living in third world countries etc.) he also discusses the bad. It has given rise to the situation where a small number of countries, principally China, Japan and Germany, have consistently produced surpluses, and others, such as Britain, America and most of Europe, have consistently produced deficits. These `global imbalances', have exposed the economic frailties of the latter nations and are a major cause of the financial crisis, because instead of responding by becoming fitter and leaner (his analogy is with British Olympic athletes) the debtors have taken the `performance-enhancing' drug of borrowing more money, often from poor countries such as China. To wean ourselves off this addiction will be very painful.

    Next under the spotlight is the Eurozone, the flawed construction that led investors to believe all debts of Eurozone countries were of equal value. This directly fueled the debt-driven construction boom in Ireland and Spain, and now denies countries the traditional remedy of devaluation to cure their problems. Countries such as Greece face not just a decade of hardship, but probably a generation of agony, with the possibility of social unrest. The problems of the Eurozone have knock-on effects (not even German banks are immune) and Peston examines its future. The best bet seems to be that the coming few years will see it in a state of permanent crisis management, but beyond that its eventually breakup, with the inevitable financial chaos, cannot be ruled out.

    It is unlikely that China could be the solution to all our problems. In fact, Peston points out that China could itself be the next big problem because of its huge infrastructure investment. When this comes to an end, vast numbers of workers will be made redundant and could only be absorbed back into the labour market if the population spends more on consumer goods, something they are at present very reluctant to do. He draws an analogy with Japan in the early 1990s, where similar circumstances led to mass unemployment and a sharp downturn in the economy, from which it has never really recovered.

    In the final chapters, Peston turns to current problems. The news is not good. For example, UK banks that are largely owned by taxpayers still behave as independent organisations, paying staff handsomely and still irresponsibly taking undue risks, while failing to provide loans that would get more money into the economy. Each of the major British banks still has leverage ratios more than 25 times their capital, and more of that capital is having to be pledged to secure loans from major lenders, money that is no longer available to improve the economy. In short, government has made little progress in `fixing the mess', by removing the rotten and corrupted heart of the system and restructuring the banking industry from its foundations. Nor has it found a `happy medium' between recovery through austerity or greater investment.

    The global financial crisis is the most catastrophic global regulatory failure in history (hence the justification for the 'excessive' length of this review) and has exposed the myth that markets work best when unregulated. It will be paid for by ordinary citizens, not those who caused the disaster, and they face, at best, a bleak future for at least a decade with consequences lasting long after that. Although this book has a misleading title (most of it is about causes, not solutions) Peston's conversational style and clear explanations make it one of the best I have read on the subject.
    43 people found this helpful
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  • A. Docherty
    3.0 out of 5 stars Good book, but more of a diagnostic than proposing solutions
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 October 2012
    Verified Purchase
    "How Do We Fix This Mess?" should actually have been called "How Did We Get Into This Mess?". Peston doesn't have any real suggestions, beyond a general re-balancing of the UK economy towards manufacturing (but HOW?) and implementing the changes already proposed (eg. by the Vickers report).

    Worth reading, as it's highly accessible and covers the right subject matter, including the macro trends, of which this financial crisis is the continuation, if not the culmination.

    Negatives for the casual reader include a rambling tone (some call it conversational, I find it jarring) and structure (logic flow is chaotic and it wanders off topic continually; could have done with a rewrite, although I understand he wrote it in haste); amazingly arrogant and smug commentary from someone who reckons he's the expert who saw all this coming just didn't know when; and somewhat sensationalist. It's also a populist polemic, which will please the reader who wants their prejudices confirmed but doesn't reveal much. I'm sure some readers will give it 5* because they hear their views echoed.

    Negatives for the more technical reader are mainly that it's a non-technical book and is really re-telling a tale rather than suggesting some novel solutions. I don't feel Peston has a good technical feel for how banks operate, despite his journalistic CV at Investors Chronicle, FT and the BBC. It would be interesting to expand upon his views though, as I think he may have real insights that represent him seeing the "wood for the trees".

    I was cross at his defence of the way he handled the Northern Rock story, as I feel he misses the point and feigns surprise at the way the public reacted to a story that he and the BBC sensationalised, creating panic. Others may disagree with me.

    All in all, a really good book and one of the better ones, in my opinion, due to the fact that it's accessible and readable. That is quite an achievement and I applaud Mr. Peston for it. The negatives listed above limit it to 3* in my opinion. If you're interested in understanding "this mess" then do read it, just don't expect any solutions!
    8 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Jon Bryan
    5.0 out of 5 stars Dead readable
    Reviewed in the United States on 30 January 2013
    Verified Purchase
    This book really makes understanding whats happened very simple.A major requirement for me unfortunately.Great read and wpuld recommend it easily
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  • P. Wilkes
    4.0 out of 5 stars This Book Explains Why We Should Still be Mad At Bankers, And Never Trust them Again
    Reviewed in the United States on 13 May 2013
    Verified Purchase
    Well written and clear. Explains how the leaders of the banking industry did not understand what their whizz kid traders were doing, and we're left floundering when it all went belly-up, but they continued to collect the big bucks while the rest od us saw our savings shrink. Also makes it clear that most financial journalists didn't know enough about modern banking to ask the right questions.
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  • Patrick Spegelaere
    5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT
    Reviewed in the United States on 23 November 2012
    Verified Purchase
    A Fantastic read -as advised in the FT (FINANCIAL TIMES).
    Though it is not optimistic and sadly very real !!!
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  • Joseph Fougerousse
    1.0 out of 5 stars Nothing Learned; Nothing Gained
    Reviewed in the United States on 23 March 2025
    Verified Purchase
    This book is a lot of fluff to make the key point that excessive lending by improperly reserved banks fueled extraordinary consumption and a false prosperity now reaching its systemic limit. Hence the title, "How Do We Fix This Mess?" Use of “We” in the title is instructive of where the authors are taking us. By overlooking government designers, bank controllers, and a billionaire class that has sucked the life blood out of the economy for the past 50 years, the real causes get buried in a society-induced fantasy encapsulated in the word “we.”

    Cutting through excessive verbiage, one can glean the authors’ advocacy of 19th century mercantilism with high taxes on domestic consumption and a devalued currency to support an export industry. And so we come full circle with nothing learned and nothing gained.

    Read at your own discretion.
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