This analysis of Britain's current social condition attempts to explain how and why Britain has reached this stage. The author brings together historical, philosophical, political and economic arguments to support his theories and traces the roots of some recent problems back to the 19th century. The text examines particularly the dissolution of Keynsian social democracy, the governing philosophy of the post-war period and the poverty of neo-liberal and neo-socialist policies offered by the New Right and the New Left, which cannot encompass the complexities of an adjustment policy the country is currently facing. A former Labour Member of Parliament from 1977 to 1978, David Marquand is the joint editor of the "Political Quarterly" journal and a recipient of the George Orwell Memorial Prize.