A few books for Ed, Dave and Nick

The reading tastes of our political leaders were revealed this week as the country’s top brass went on the holidays. But what should they be reading? John Henley at the Guardian has some ideas but I’ve just finished a literature degree and I’ve got some of my own…

The Road – Cormac McCarthy

Because if you haven’t already you really should. This is my favourite novel and the subject of my 12000 word dissertation and is, in my humble opinion, the first true classic of the 21st century. Perhaps it might convince someone, anyone to take the environmental issue seriously and do something, anything to avert the bleak inevitability of McCarthy’s text.

The Invisible Man – Ralph Ellison

This is more for Nick and a reminder for Ed. “I am invisible because people refuse to see me.” A true masterpiece and, at its core, a reminder of the damage of mobs, segregation and rhetoric, it should be mandatory reading for all new entrants to political life.

The Daily Mail

Because if not how else will they keep up with such luminaries as Richard Littlejohn and Liz Jones and the news that Ed has been cheekily copying Dave by, wait for it, wearing shorts and no socks. The horror!

Paul Muldoon – Selected Poems 1968-1994

As Dave and Ed have shown a penchant for American and Irish writers, a fusion seems the perfect reading material. Acerbic, clever beyond the simple rhymes and language he often employs and full of the “arcane pieces of information” he loves so, Muldoon’s poetry is moving, thought-provoking and comic often all in one go.

Something they read at university

Sometimes looking back, as I’ve just done, is a great way to reminisce about the way things should be. All three might then get together and realise that without phenomenal wealth they would not be where they are today, and that to encourage the fairer society they all profess to advocate they should even out education for all and cut back the ludicrous tuition fee rises we’ve all seen. I can but dream...

And if all that is a little serious, for some black comedy they could read a copy of James Murdoch’s MacTaggart lecture from 2009 with the benefit of hindsight…

Anyone got any ideas for other political leaders, past or present? Leave me a comment or drop me a tweet…