High Society - Ben Elton

Ben Elton's High Society is a book based on a very interesting 'what if ...' I read the back and it had me... "High society is a story about Britain today, a criminal nation in which everybody is either breaking the law or knows people who do..." "The war on drugs has been lost. The simple fact is the whole world has become one criminal network." Two statements with which I agree with, though if you disagree or maybe just can't understand why an ever-growing mass of people are all for the legalisation of drugs, this novel will explain just what it's is all about in an easy-to read (...hard to put down) ...  Read the complete review

Ben Elton has often used relatively easy soft targets for his biting black humour both in his live act and his comedy writing, past books have focused on the attention seeking reality TV of Big Brother or the excess of Hollywood and in High Society he takes on the challenge of the legalisation of drugs in the UK. The story itself is told through a series of characters all of who become linked at various times through the common interest of drugs and the impact they have had on their lives. The story opens with rock superstar Tommy Hanson explaining his recent antics at the Brit Awards to his fellow group members at an AA meeting, Hanson himself who shot to ...  Read the complete review

The war on drugs. This issue is one that is never really going to be solved for a very long time and it’s fair to say that there really is only one ‘PC’ stance in the eyes of the British Public at the moment and that is to keep fighting the drug lords and punishing the users to the full extent of the law. Enter five stereotypical characters from across the nation who are placed to show how drug use (or misuse) is a central part of life in the UK at the moment. First we are introduced to Tommy Hanson. The darling of the UK music scene tells his story from the chair in an AA meeting and goes from his humble beginnings winning a ‘Pop Stars’ like TV ...  Read the complete review

Many people knock Ben Elton these days and accuse him of ?selling out?. Indeed, Queen and Rod Stewart musicals, collaborations with Lloyd-Webber and compering the Queen?s jubilee concert are not what anyone would have foreseen in the 1980?s for the writer of the anarchic Young Ones and surprisingly filthy, politically-militant stand-up. I myself was a huge fan in the old days, but these days find him rather too tame for my tastes. That said, I?m not one of his knockers. I think he?s an immensely talented and versatile man. And at nearly 40, I understand the difference between ?selling out? and mellowing, and I?ve come to appreciate the populist just as much as the ...  Read the complete review

Ben Elton's High Society is a book based on a very interesting 'what if ...' I read the back and it sucked me in there and then... "High society is a story about Britain today, a criminal nation in which everybody is either breaking the law or knows people who do..." "The war on drugs has been lost. The simple fact is the whole world has become one criminal network." Two statements with which I readily agree with, though if you disagree or maybe just can't understand why an ever-growing mass of people are all for the legalisation of drugs, this novel will explain just what it's is all about in ...  Read the complete review