The World We're In by Will Hutton

The World We’re In by Will Hutton

The World We’re In by Will Hutton is the book I have on this months’ book club. It is the only reason I finished this book and I gave it 2 stars. In a few words, this book “aged like milk”. It’s a shame as it talked about American isolationism and that Europe needed another model for its growth.

Despite his credentials the book is poorly researched and his far-left leaning is obvious in his writing. He made a lot of claims that were proved so wrong. For example he argued that Britain not adopting the euro will have a less stable currency compared to the euro and dollar. That is nonsense as the pound is stronger than both the euro and the dollar and it was like that for decades. It was stronger even after Brexit.

He said, in 2002, that America won in Afghanistan alone, without help from its allies. Right… in 2002 allies deployed to Afghanistan, including Romanians. Over 26,000 Romanian soldiers were deployed and 27 of them died, with many more injured. While in 2002 this didn’t happen yet, making sweeping statements that US won was a bit of a stretch.

Furthermore, he thinks that EU should not allow the Eastern Europeans to join because they are too corrupt. He also talks about the “devastating European parliament report of March 1999 which stated that fraud and corruption pass ‘unnoticed’ in some top offices and which prompted the wholesale resignation of the entire Commission”. So, who exactly is battling corruption? The answer is obvious, every country has issues with corruption, but some are swept under the rug while others are accused by default.

I wouldn’t have finished this book if it wasn’t for the book club, it’s as simple as that. He talks down about Eastern Europe, showing xenophobia at times. Also, his views of “a national rail network must offer every citizen the ability to travel” are child-like expectations. Every citizen? Even a small village of 200 people needs a train station? What does that mean? It’s a 500+ page book, not a 500 words pamphlet, he had the space to make it clear what he had in mind.

To make it clear why I said that this book aged like milk, I will finish with a quote from the book:
“Some half of the population — roughly the proportion that voted for Gore and Nader in 2000 — is increasingly secular, tolerant, accepting of the role of government, willing to make common cause and growing more suspicious about the death penalty and free use of guns.”