This controversial contribution to the topical debate on Britain's economic decline presents a critique of the thesis made familiar in recent years by Martin J. Wiener, Anthony Sampson, Correlli Barnett and others.

First published in 2002.The aim of this book is to analyse and dispute a widely-held theory of Britain's 'economic decline' since the mid-nineteenth century, and to offer an alternative view which has important implications for our understanding of British society and culture in the modern period.