Deftly weaving history and politics in engaging, conversational prose, The Full English is a love-letter to England written in Maconie’s inimitable style. There have been classic portraits of a nation in turmoil before. Before Orwell there was Bradfordian polymath JB Priestley, whose English Journey is a warm, funny and tender forgotten classic: scathing about vested interests, intensely patriotic and politically progressive. Ninety years on, Stuart Maconie undertakes his own inventory of the English, with Priestley’s itinerary as guide. Following in Priestley’s footsteps across our nation, Maconie’s crowning achievement is popular, timely and entertaining.