The governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major have been thought of as rolling back socialism and the state. Council houses were sold, and privatization has been regarded as a success all around the world. This book argues that the reality is very different. In almost every area of public life there has been a staggering increase in central control. Local government and public accountability have been replaced by anonymous quangos and direct ministerial rule - often answerable to nobody. With examples from the national lottery to the universities, from the health service to the police, and from the cities to the trains, this book shows how democracy has been eroded and the traditional British pluralism replaced by centralism.