THINGS Can Only Get Better is a funny and engaging ramble through the 18 years Labour spent out of power before 1997, as told by comedy writer and party activist John O'Farrell.
O'Farrell has written for shows like Spitting Image and Have I Got News For You and makes the odd TV appearance on shows like Grumpy Old Men.
His story is funny, warm and readable.
He seems to be at the scene of every great failure of left-wing politics during the Thatcher/Major years.
He gets great mileage from great issues like the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, to knocking on council flat doors in council elections in London.
Apart from the jokes, there are warm characterisations of O'Farrell's colleagues and some bittersweet comments on growing up.
O'Farrell also watches as his party grows up from a squabbling socialist party that is routinely ridiculed by the media, to the third way', election-winning machine it became.
But what comes through most is O'Farrell's real commitment to the party and to the democratic process.
His genuine anger at non-Labour voters and more importantly, non-voters is a reminder that for all its scandals, and all its Jed Clampitt' figures, politics and political decisions change lives every day.
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