How to be Free - Tom Hodgkinson - Book Review

2 stars

So wanted to like this. I have a fairly libertarian outlook and am rather suspicious of big government and the nanny state. I agree that there are so many stupid rules about this and that, these days, that we are all slaves to the machine (although I am in no way an anarchist, like he claims to be).

I totally agreed with his points about the unfairness of these huge companies who will chase you with threats if you are a day late with a payment but who feel it is OK to give you the runaround when they owe you money.

I too would love to avoid mortgage, pension, etc. But I really don't want to live in a commune or a squat.

I agree that the Puritans sucked a great deal of fun out of life [by banning Christmas, etc.] and wrecked a lot of beautiful religious art, etc...though I am not at all convinced by his obsession that if we had just all stayed Catholics then we would all just be such a happy bunch of peasants; nor by his constant claims that the medieval era was one of fairness and fun for all.

Some of his statements are just downright annoying. For example, his 'yay me for driving without insurance what a rebel I am'. No you're just an idiot with no concern about the poor person you might just crash into. And of course, every woman wants to get rid of her washing machine and instead wash her clothes in the river with all the other women (while the men are at the pub practicing their chivalry and dandy manners)! Yes we all like to wash laundry by hand whilst our husbands get drunk. Not. Oh and, apparently, even slaves could become freemen, so yay for slavery. Ah, the good old days...NOT!

And yes, I agree, big pharma are ripping us off (via the NHS) and we probably don't need to be as medicated as many of us are, however, I would suggest that developments in medicine and medical care has improved our lives greatly and we in England now don't often die in childbirth, from the flu, from an infection, from cholera, from smallpox...unlike the middle ages.

So, good premise, badly executed and spoiled by stupid statements.