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Saturday, November 20, 2010

A year in books - Peter Hain

This week's New Statesman contains its annual feature in which various figures choose their favourite reads of 2010. People such as Ed Miliband, Bianca Jagger, Margaret Drabble, David Marquand and Jonathan Powell outline their choice.

The Leader of the Labour Party opts for David Plouffe's The Audacity to Win, Bianca Jagger chooses In Prosperity Without Growth, Economics for a Finite Planet by Tim Jackson, whilst David Marquand looks at two tomes, one of which is the two volume biography of Edmund Burke by F.P. Locke. I think that this provides a good idea of the brief provided to each contributor.

The Shadow Secretary of State for Wales, Peter Hain however departs slightly from type. His book of the year is Mandela by Peter Hain! He writes:

Barefaced cheek of course, but so many have said what a good stocking-filler it is that the public interest simply demands the word be spread. There are many other books on Nelson Mandela - including his own excellent Conservations With Myself based on private letters and interviews - but mine is the first popular, accessible book that tells his remarkable story from beginning to end.

Modesty never was one of his strengths.
Comments:
"Modesty never was one of his strengths."

Hain's efforts at boosting the Welsh economy were also very modest.
 
"A modest little man with a lot to be modest about..."
 
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