Where Did I Go Right?: How the Left Lost Me

Where Did I Go Right?: How the Left Lost Me

  • Downloads:4318
  • Type:Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
  • Create Date:2021-05-18 14:16:15
  • Update Date:2025-09-23
  • Status:finish
  • Author:Geoff Norcott
  • ISBN:B08C7PLTG3
  • Environment:PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle

Summary

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'Few people walk the line of thought provoking and laugh out loud funny like Geoff Norcott。' - Romesh Ranganathan

' Where Did I Go Right? is sharp, considered, insightful, and helped me make sense of "the other side"。 And because Geoff Norcott is so funny, it unfortunately means I can't dismiss his views entirely。 It's so important to have a friend you can disagree with but still admire and Geoff can be that friend to you!' - Katherine Ryan

"I've always thought the benefit of having batsh*t parents is it increases the chance of you growing up funny。 It's certainly worked for Geoff Norcott。" - David Baddiel

'Voting Conservative is like buying a James Blunt album: loads of people have done it, but weirdly you never meet them 。。。'

Comedian Geoff Norcott should have been Labour through and through。 He grew up on a council estate, both of his parents were disabled, and his Dad was a Union man。 So, how was it that he grew up to vote Tory?

In this courageously honest and provocative memoir, Geoff unpicks his working-class upbringing and his political journey from left to right。 Raised by a fierce matriarch and a maverick father on a South London council estate where they filmed scenes for The Bill, Geoff spends his youth attempting to put out kitchen fires with aerosols and leaping in and out of industrial skips。 But as he reaches adolescence, his political views begin to be influenced by major events including the early 90s recession, the credit crunch, and a chance encounter with Conservative PM John Major。

As an adult, Geoff begins to have the gnawing feeling that the values and traditions he grew up with no longer match Labour's。 And, as Brexit appears, he feels even more like a double agent operating behind enemy lines。

Written with warmth, wit and often laugh-out-loud humour, Where Did I Go Right? is Geoff's attempt to understand why he ended up voting 'for the bad guys', and why blue-collared conservatism could be here to stay。

Praise for Geoff Norcott:

'A mature, sharp take on modern politics' - The Sunday Times

'Gently abrasive, but that's what makes him so entertaining。。。 with a sharp, self-knowing wit' - The Times

'Geoff Norcott genuinely has something original to say' - New European

'A refreshingly brilliant new comedic voice' - Spectator

'Norcott is an out-and-out rebel' - Express
Review
WHERE DID I GO RIGHT? is sharp, considered, insightful, and helped me make sense of 'the other side'。 And because Geoff Norcott is so funny, it unfortunately means I can't dismiss his views entirely。 It's so important to have a friend you can disagree with but still admire and Geoff can be that friend to you! ― Katherine Ryan
Book Description
Geoff Norcott's colourful memoir of growing up Labour, but now voting Tory。
About the Author
Comedian and writer Geoff Norcott is well known for his regular appearances on BBC2's The Mash Report, BBC1's Mock The Week, and Radio 4's The News Quiz。 In 2019, he fronted his own BBC2 documentary How The Middle Class Ruined Britain and he has four Radio 4 specials to his name, one of which won the BBC Radio Award for Best Comedy Production。 A satirical commentator in many national newspapers, Geoff has also been profiled in The Times and t he Guardian。 He lives with his wife and son in Cambridgeshire。

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Reviews

Sinbad Wilmot

Good jobWritten in an entertaining way that carries you along with little or no effort, funny and moving with great insights。

Isabel Kate

Well。。。 it’s certainly a book。Let’s be honest - as an ardent and proud leftist, this was never going to be the book for me。 Nevertheless, I believe that the most powerful thing you can do is learn about those with different views to you (something that should be told to Mr Norcott himself, who in one of his stand up sets made comments about George Orwell ‘probably rolling in his grave’ about the protests and views of ‘the youth’ or whatever, as if the man wasn’t a socialist himself)。 But Jesus C Well。。。 it’s certainly a book。Let’s be honest - as an ardent and proud leftist, this was never going to be the book for me。 Nevertheless, I believe that the most powerful thing you can do is learn about those with different views to you (something that should be told to Mr Norcott himself, who in one of his stand up sets made comments about George Orwell ‘probably rolling in his grave’ about the protests and views of ‘the youth’ or whatever, as if the man wasn’t a socialist himself)。 But Jesus Christ in Crocs, I could barely get past the first page of this book。Geoff Norcott is obsessed with painting himself as a victim - as the other, in a sea of people who don’t accept him。 And whilst I have no doubt that, growing up working class, he did face prejudice and I do sympathise greatly with that, he is still a white, right wing, cisgender, heterosexual man; you know, the types of people you see in the Houses of Parliament, making the laws that the rest of us abide by, even if they were born with a silver spoon in their mouths rather than challenges of being working class to overcome。Norcott is a very selfish man。 A passage that stands out to me is this, from towards the beginning of the book:‘She surveys me through accusatory eyes and says, ‘Do you have kids?’‘Yes。’‘Well, their future’s FUCKED。’ I’d like to say that I immediately responded with, ‘No, love, your future’s fucked, I’ve actually invested very wisely,’ but I just stare back trying to work out how hammered she is。’This。 This is what it boils down to for me。 The utter lack of sympathy or care for anyone but himself。 The kind of attitude that is so apparent, and so abhorrent, in right wing voters。 If I, say, was Geoff Norcott and a woman had just said that to me, but I had ‘invested very wisely’ in my children’s future and had nothing to worry about, I, and I would assume most people, would still be concerned for the people who hadn’t ‘invested very wisely’, whose futures really would be fucked。 This does not appear to cross Norcott’s mind, and I believe that this core difference in not merely our political beliefs, but our fundamental empathy and care for others, is part of why I found this book so difficult to read。This book was hilarious, but in all the wrong ways。 I laughed out loud when Norcott described his dad’s tendency to sing ‘You don’t get me, I’m part of the union’ as indoctrination, because of how utterly absurd it sounds; yes, Geoff, I’m sure that your father singing a tune that he liked about being a ‘proud union man’ was absolutely traumatising indoctrination, poor you。 Reading this book was like being back in my Tory-dominated secondary school, trying my best not to punch the boy next to me as he extolled the virtues of Boris Johnson and told me exactly why I ‘wasn’t queer/nonbinary/leftist, just confused’。I will admit this: this book has demonstrated one of the main things that the right has over the left at the moment, and that’s accessibility。 When people think of socialists, anarchists or communists, they think of things like ‘The Road to Wigan Pier’, ‘Das Kapital’, or ‘The Conquest of Bread’, all of which are enthralling when you get into them (and free to find online, hint hint), but intimidating to those just beginning to dip their toes into the realms of politics。 I found myself growing familiar with Norcott’s style (although never truly enjoying it - again, too similar to the Tory types I grew up seeing at school and in town), and can absolutely see why the way he writes may appeal to some, including those in the centre and on the left who have left reviews praising this book。Overall, stylistically it’s not the worst book that I’ve ever read in my life。 But ideologically, I believe that Norcott and I disagree on too much for me to leave this book any more than one star, and wishing that I could leave fewer。 。。。more