Fire and passion, combined with the facts. Every politician should get a copy, as the tales of short-sighted, election-fixated, cowardly decision-making are so depressing. And your way forward looks so blindingly sensible. * Polly Toynbee * Andrés Velasco( @AndresVelasco) is Professor of Public Policy and Dean of the School of Public Policy at LSE. He was previously the Minister of Finance of Chile between March 2006 and March 2010. This is a forensic examination - by the man best placed to do so - of the way the state raises and spends GBP1 trillion of our money every year. To follow the money. To provide an explanation, of where that money comes from and where it goes to, how that has changed and how it needs to change.

Johnson looks at what happened following the financial crisis of 2008-09 and the austerity years that followed. This is an important book by the economist who has set the terms of so much political debate over the past decade. If you want to understand why crazy politics routinely trumps economic rationality in government choices, read this. * Robert Peston * What is the truth about Britain’s finances? Join us for this event with Paul Johnson from the Institute for Fiscal Studies who will be talking about his new book, Follow the Money. Read it, absorb it, and understand how the country works. Johnson uses his talent for crunching the complex into the comprehensible to produce a cheerfully skeptical guide to the British state, revealing it's wisdom and idiocy, and where our money really goes. * Laura Kuenssberg * We are experiencing delays with deliveries to many countries, but in most cases local services have now resumed. For more details, please consult the latest information provided by Royal Mail's International Incident Bulletin.Government decisions determine the welfare of the poor and the elderly, the state of the health service, the effectiveness of our children's education, and how prepared we are for the future: whether that is a pandemic or global warming. As a society, we are a reflection of what the government spends.

Government decisions determine the welfare of the poor and the elderly, the state of the health service, the effectiveness of our children’s education, and how prepared we are for the future: whether that is a pandemic or global warming. As a society, we are a reflection of what the government spends. This is a forensic examination – by the man best placed to do so – of the way the state raises and spends GBP1 trillion of our money every year. Paul Johnson and the enormously respected Institute for Fiscal Studies aim to hold Government to account - without which politicians will get away with their half-truths, elisions and dubious claims. This event forms part of LSE’s Understanding the UK Economyseries, showcasing research and expertise on the state of the UK economy, its global context and its future.If you want to understand why crazy politics routinely trumps economic rationality in government choices, read this' Robert Peston