This is an analysis of the social, political and economic arrangements in Britain which Hutton asserts have become out-of-date. It includes ideas on how he thinks the state can be updated. Hutton argues that the weaknesses of the economy cannot be divorced from the problems in the rest of society.;He makes a critique of Britain's institutions and argues that we have an 18th-century state dealing with 20th-century issues. He offers explanations for the attitudes which he thinks prevent Britain from moving forward into the 21st century as a truly modern country.