Alpha Dogs: How Political Spin Became a Global Business, by James Harding (Atlantic, £9.99).
IF you’ve ever wondered who the original spin-doctors were, then Alpha Dogs, the story of political consultants Sawyer-Miller, may provide some answers.
The heart of the book examines the globalisation of politics as David Sawyer, Scott Miller and their associates took the lessons they learned from domestic political campaigns in America and applied them worldwide.
From the Philippines to Israel via Peru, the United Kingdom and beyond.
The formula they created brought them great success, notable amongst their victories was the ousting of Ferdinand Marcos by Cory Aquino in the Philippines election of 1986.
However, there were reversals as well.
Peru in 1990 tarnished their image as their candidate ignored their advice and they could only watch on the sidelines as an impregnable lead evaporated.
Their policy of negative campaigning, personality politics and aggressive polling set the template that few political parties could afford to ignore. It’s no surprise to read that British politics learned a considerable amount from the Sawyer-Miller organisation.
Alpha Dogs is an fascinating read which explains some of the reasons of how we got from there to here and offers a few clues as to what the future may hold.
Derrick Smith Doctor Who - The Nemonite Invasion, by David Roden (BBC Audio Books Limited, £9.78) DOCTOR Who fans are probably feeling withdrawal symptoms for the lack of new television episodes this year, but thankfully BBC audio have provided several titles to give Whovians a regular story fix while the TV series is off the air.
David Roden’s The Nemonite Invasion featuring the characters of the tenth Doctor (David Tennant), and his trusty companion Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) is an exclusive audio adventure which has all the great elements of classic sci-fi and war drama thrown into the mix.
The TARDIS arrives over Dover in May 1940 and crash lands into the sea at the same time as a sinister crystalline sphere. Taken to a secret command centre, the Doctor and Donna come across Vice-Admiral Ramsey, who is about to finalise one of the most daring plans of World War Two, Operation Dynamo. However Ramsey, his team and the Doctor and Donna are
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