Would They Lie to You?: How to Spin Friends and Manipulate People
By: Robert Hutton
Shortlisted for Political Humour and Satire Book of the Year at The Paddy Power Political Book Awards
As seen on The Daily Politics, BBC2
How do you apologise when you’re not sorry?
Where can you make a fortune out of pretending to know the future?
What’s the best way to steal credit and avoid blame?
Revealing the subtle art of ‘uncommunication’, Would They Lie to You? is a treasure trove of the vital life skills that you need to make your way in the world. They all involve one ingredient: the art of not saying what you mean. It’s not exactly lying, but it’s not quite telling the truth . . .
In Romps, Tots and Boffins, Robert Hutton brilliantly ‘laid bare’ the true meanings of the words we read in the papers. Following popular demand, he now turns his razor-sharp eye to the best, worst and most outlandish examples of waffle, fudging, obscurity, blame-shifting and point-scoring.
In areas from politics to sports, academia, religion and self-help, it seems that glory, money and power flow far more freely to those who sidestep bald, ugly realities.
You can steer a truck through the gap between a lie and the simple truth. This book tells you how to load the truck.
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Hutton’s ‘translations’ from what people say to what they mean are ten-chuckles-a-minute
- Matthew Parris, from the foreword -
The irresistible vade mecum of every prangmeister and cock-up artist.
- Boris Johnson, Tory MP and former Mayor of London -
a stocking-fillerish contribution for the political nerd in your life
- Helen Lewis, Guardian's best political books of the year -
Brutally funny
- Marcus Berkmann, Daily Mail -
Confused? Of course you are. You’re supposed to be. But help is at hand: Hutton’s handbook cracks the everyday code of the euphemisms, evasions, avoidances and ambiguities that say less than they mean and mean the reverse of what they say
- Iain Finlayson, The Times
