THE SILENT STATE: Secrets, Surveillance and the Myth of British Democracy
Governments want to know everything about us but what do we know about them? In an age of spin and surveillance, how can a seemingly powerless person find out what’s really going on behind the glossy photos and empty rhetoric pumped out by the powerful? In this book, I give a blow-by-blow account of my campaign to open up Parliament.
I also dig into:
Secrecy: anonymous bureaucrats, clandestine courts, men in tights and the true cost of ‘public’ information.
Propaganda: spin, PR and bullshitting by numbers.
Surveillance: discover the extent of Britain’s network of databases spying on ordinary citizens.
Expenses: the exclusive and definitive account of my five-year campaign to have MPs’ expenses revealed, which rocked the nation and transformed Britain’s political landscape.
At a time when the State knows more than ever about us, I argue that without proper access to the information that citizens pay for, Britain can never be a true democracy.
“You won't know whether to laugh or rise up and overthrow absolutely everything.”
Charlie Brooker
“She's a total ninja.”
Ben Goldacre
“A wonderful book... Heather Brooke puts every other British journalist to shame. She has changed British public culture and earned an essential place in our national history. She is an extraordinary figure who must be celebrated.”
Peter Oborne
“Secrecy is one of the great British diseases. It's so secret that we don't even admit we suffer from it. Heather Brooke is part of the cure - challenging the routine concealment and distortion of important information. There should be more journalists doing the same.”
Nick Davies
“Passionate, eloquent and persuasive...We need the likes of Heather Brooke to challenge, to take up grievances and to campaign.”
Peter Riddell, Times Book of the Week