2010: The Inquest

The economic crisis that crushed Britain could have been avoided. Fred Harrison warned the Blair government in 1997 that house prices would peak in 2007. He alerted Gordon Brown - the Chancellor who became Prime Minister - that the housing crash would drive the economy into the depression of 2010. The author delivered the blueprint for avoiding the collapse, and warned the politicians: 'I am your worst nightmare. I know exactly why New Labour will fail, if that is indeed to be the outcome, and I will be obliged to chronicle the developments [so] that the voters will know how to apportion responsibility.' Harrison keeps his promise, explaining how a political class betrayed a nation while enriching itself. For those who want to learn, the traps lurking in the next property cycle can be avoided by de-coding what the author calls the 'forbidden knowledge' in economics.