Ben Elton books

High Society

Funny and sad story about British society where drugs are everywhere and how they destroy people’s lives and an MP’s career.

Among the characters are a rock star who fuels his life with alcohol and drugs; a girl who is caught smuggling drugs from Thailand; another girl who sells herself for drugs; and an MP who is trying to get all drugs legal.

In the book politicians talk about drugs as if they are great authorities on the subject. They use words like ‘smack’ and ‘crackwhore’ like they know what they are talking about. Just as politicians talk about unemployment and poverty as if they have actual experience what it’s like to live with a limited budget.

Coming back to the suggestion of Mr Paget it would be interesting to see what would happen if drugs were legalised. What if they were taxed by the government like tobacco and alcohol are?


Meltdown

The book is about the financial crisis and how it affects people’s lives. There is a banker who makes an obscene amount of money; another banker who buys a whole street in London and starts to renovate the buildings only to get into deep trouble because he loses his job; and other people who are affected by the crisis in different ways.

All in all an entertaining story with some nice dialogue, for example:

“A crack whore and her pimp are the perfect business model. No, I’m serious, capitalism in its purest form. The free market operating as it should. Supply and demand. Goods and services. Management and labour. I fail to see a moral dilemma. For fuck’s sake, let them get on with it.”

“You know what?” said Jimmy. “Screw the Big Happy Baby Book. That book is fiction! It’s written by a childless fantasist. I have shown Cressida a hundred turds! I’ve cooed over them, pinned medals on them, placed them back in the potty on velvet cushions and stuck her on top of them and the little bitch still prefers to shit on the floor. All right?!”

“Mrs Thatcher was a goddess and Unions the spawn of satan.”