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POSTPONED – The Lost Decade, and what lies ahead, with Polly Toynbee and David Walker

Thursday, 19th March, 2020    
6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Nottingham Mechanics Institute
3 North Sherwood Street, Nottingham, NG1 4EZ

Five Leaves events are suspended from Wednesday 18th March until further notice due to the coronavirus / Covid-19 outbreak. Join our mailing list for updates.


The ten years from 2010 have been devastating. A decade of austerity and paralysis nurtured contempt for leaders, institutions and fellow citizens and fertilised the ground for a rebellious Brexit. It has been a decade characterised by national tragedies from Grenfell to Windrush, and food banks to the property crisis. But, as Adam Smith said, ‘there’s a great deal of ruin in a nation’.

No truthful portrait of an era can be monochrome. Bright spots included the rise of renewable energy, lower crime rates, legalisation of same-sex marriage and the creative industries continuing to punch well above their weight in spite of cuts. In The Lost Decade, Polly Toynbee and David Walker offer the definitive survey of this most tumultuous of periods in British history and look to what lies ahead for us. This is the anatomy of a dark decade, bringing hope for better to come.

Polly Toynbee and David Walker write for the Guardian. Their latest book was finished after the election.

There will be time for questions and discussion.

Tickets – please buy in advance from Five Leaves Bookshop – over the counter or by phone 0115 8373097 or PayPal to bookshop@fiveleaves.co.uk: £5.00 (£3.00 students)

Note the earlier start time than usual, and that this is at the Mechanics not at the bookshop.

Coffee and bar available before and after the meeting