I'm intending to spend the next year reading history books and this was an enthralling start. I imagine there is a set pattern to popular history books - references to popular culture, wit, amusing anecdotes. Whatever the format, it works here. It's an utterly absorbing account of Ted Heath's hapless government, with a superbly entertaining and illuminating range of references. The structure is topic-based, rather than strictly chronological and I would take issue with the author's views on Rising Damp and Prog rock but really, this is wonderful stuff. The current Cabinet seems to contain barely a fraction of the same talent and compassion, while facing problems that seem all too familiar.
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