reposted from cif 6th August 2007 and here.
A new survey on summer reading sheds a little light on what interests today's MPs pursue during their extended absence from the Westminster village. Waterstone's asked 180 MPs what they planned to read during their summer break.
Top choice for Labour politicians is The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins...
...In second place overall is Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion, an atheist polemic which has engendered huge controversy since its release last autumn. Many parliamentarians may simply want to find out what all the fuss is about. Interestingly, however, the survey suggests the book is especially popular on the Labour side - a possible reaction against the pieties of the Blair years. Despite the party's nonconformist roots, its mainstream is not religious, yet Labour people who are - Blair, Kelly, Blunkett and, in a quieter way, Brown and Straw - have been heavily over-represented at the top table. Maybe Labour atheists will come back from the beach demanding to stand up and be counted ...
The top spot, however, goes to William Hague, for his biography of William Wilberforce.
Top House of Commons Reads:
1 William Wilberforce: The Life of the Great Anti-Slave Trade Campaigner - William Hague
2 The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins
3 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - JK Rowling
4 Gordon Brown - Tom Bower
5 The Blair Years - Alastair Campbell
6 Michael Foot: A Life - Kenneth O Morgan
7 Sir Robert Peel: A Biography - Douglas Hurd
8 The War of Ideas: Jihadism Against Democracy - Walid Phares
9 Salmon Fishing in the Yemen - Paul Torday
10 Restless - William Boyd
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