A guide to bluff your way through Brexit

published 24 August 2018

Haynes(£6.99)

Two years on from Leave's narrow victory in the Brexit referendum and polls show that a significant number of people are still undecided about whether Brexit will end up being good for the UK or not. Obviously Brexit hasn't happened yet, but some of the uncertainty is due to the confusion sown by a debate that has done little to move on from the Punch-and-Judy aspects of the referendum campaign. Boris Starling's Bluffer's Guide to Brexit is a light-hearted guide to the topic.

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It has its flaws. In his discussion of the various options, he could have looked at the Swiss model, rather than just the Norway, Canada and WTO options. He could also have discussed immigration in a bit more depth he gives it three pages. It may be unfair to say the Treasury got it wrong about the short-term impact of leaving, given that we haven't left the EU yet. He could also have mentioned that leaving the customs union will require us to drastically step up the number of customs checks at our major ports, to stop firms using us as a backdoor into Europe.

Despite these shortcomings, the book does an excellent job, covering the main points in an entertaining way. Though clearly no fan of Boris and Nigel, he is even-handed in his put-downs. It's an ideal book for those who want to quickly grasp the essentials, without getting bogged down in masses of detail or one-sided propaganda.

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri