The silent state - Heather Brooke

Revealing that the recent MPs' expenses scandal is merely the tip of the iceberg, Heather Brooke exposes the shocking and often farcical lack of transparency at all levels of government. At a time when the State knows more than ever about us, Brooke argues that without proper access to the information that citizens pay for, Britain can never be a true democracy.

*SECRECY*: anonymous bureaucrats, clandestine courts, men in tights and the true cost of 'public' information. *PROPAGANDA*: spin, PR and bullshitting by numbers. The British government spent 38m more on advertising last year than their closest competitor, Proctor and Gamble - find out what they spent it on! *SURVEILLANCE*: discover the extent of Britain's network of databases spying on ordinary citizens, *EXPENSES*: read, for the first time, the exclusive and definitive account of Brooke's five-year campaign to have MPs' expenses revealed, which rocked the nation and transformed Britain's political landscape.