Really good! Never tried a 'political comedy' type book before, but this one hooked me. Been sneaking pages every chance I get which I think is a sign of a good book; when you're desperate to read it.

An enjoyable read. It poses questions and forces you to think. It's funny as well as smart. The characters are fun but are exaggerated, though I guess this is to play up the comedy and hammer home the points that the writer is trying to make.
Definitely worth the read.

A surprising read for me! I began reading, and thought, 'this book is not for me.'
I don't give up on a book easily so plodded on, even though it was not my usual read.
By a third of the way through, I was becoming committed to the characters and their various threads in the narrative.
By the end, I couldn't put the book down, and had to know what had happened to everyone involved.
This book is entertaining in a fly on the wall kind of way - sometimes gruelling, hard hitting and cruelly graphic - but also brutally honest.
It wasn't always an easy read; the details of drug taking, enforced prostitution and modern day slavery, rape and murder, to name just a few of the 'topics' of this book was pretty shocking and a bit of an eye opener, and yet I was compelled to read on.
This is the second book I've read by Ben Elton, the first being Time and time again, which was also a great read.
Until I read these books, I kind of had an impression of a shiny suited, full of himself, left wing (not that that's a bad thing in itself), pretty irritating 80's comedian. He's still that, but has a far deeper side that I wasn't so aware of.

Средненький парламентарий выносит законопроект о полной легализации наркотиков, которые и так льются рекой по всей Великобритании. Романтическая история рокзвезды, подленькая - этого депутата… короче, роман в наркотическом угаре. Наверное, должно быть смешно, но что то не очень

The war on drugs presented through monologues of an A list rockstar, corrupt politician, exploited sex workers and a young girl who just wanted a free holiday. Despite the heavy themes, it is both humorous and thought-provoking.
His use of dialogue is outstanding. The fact he is a screen writer shines through in his pin-point-perfect writing of the characters’ distinct voices.

Brilliant

Ben Elton is gradually becoming one of those authors, for me, that I can rest easy knowing I am in good hands.
I particularly enjoyed the whole range of characters he had on offer. We had the rich, party-girl upper-classes in Emily, the middle-class with the moral high ground in Peter. Then there's Tommy, the regular boy who shoots to fame on reality TV, and then can't quite handle himself. And finally, below the low classes is Jessie, trapped in a vicious cycle of drug use and prostitution. There are other side plots we get glimpses of as well, and all serve to demonstrate drugs in society and aim to justify and question the legislation that Peter is trying to gain traction with.
I liked how he separated the book into "chapters", and used phonetic language to build a sense of place and person. This made it quite easy to follow, and within the first 2 sentences of each chapter it was clear who we were following. Particularly with Tommy and Jessie, I felt like just the use of language alone gave the reader a sense of their character and helped them to occupy the space and role.
I won't spoil it but my feelings towards Peter are sour. This surely shows fantastic writing by itself, to create a character who evokes such a visceral feeling in the reader - can you ask for anything more?

The pacing was great. As we only got snippets of each story as you go through the book, I was sort of holding my breath - when can I next read about this character? What happens next? The further I read, the more gripped I was and although the book was wholly resolved, I was so disappointed when I finished it and knew I'd never see those characters again.

On the whole I thought the book raised a lot of questions for me, about how I feel about the drugs issue, and whether or not I would support full legalisation. It also made me look at the trappings around addiction, and how society fails a lot of those people. I'm not sure how much I agree that legalisation will solve this.

I felt that the book was tightly put together, with threads weaving throughout the book and all tying together nicely at the end. Thoroughly enjoyable 10/10

Ok. Enjoyable enough.

Will this really happen if all drugs are made legal? If only marijuana was made legal? Who knows?
This book, at first glance, seems preachy but if you think of it through Elton's somewhat misanthropic eyes you realize he's just trying to tell us we're already scum enough without drugs to add a sting to our dirty politics and social double crossing.
It's a witty book, as usual with Elton, but its not his best writing. Still, it's a good read and I recommend it.

This book is well off road from my usual reading interests. But they tell you to read widely, don’t they? Stimulates the brain and broadens the horizons, they say!

The book fell into my hands from attendance at a church jumble sale. In the last thirty minute to closing time boxes of used books were being offered for $2.

The book had the lot: rape, under-age sex, extra-marital affairs, sex-slavery, emotional train wrecks, murder, party-room-political-maneuvering, betrayal and so on. The book’s defining moment arises when the central character – a popular rock star who had hot rock bottom from alcohol and narcotics – stops mid-confession at an alcoholic anonymous meeting in a church hall:

‘Suddenly tears appeared in Tommy’s eyes. ‘Oh, fook it. I’m going to the pub’.

All novels have some strain of truth to them. If this account gives a glimmer of insight to the drug culture in the UK then I am most glad to not be part of it. I am troubled for the law enforcement agencies and politicians that have to respond to the drug mess and the crime that accompanies it. The UK health sector must be hit large by the impact of drugs.

I really enjoyed the format of the book,the small chapters taking you in and out of the various characters whose lives have been affected by drugs.It nicely knitted the book together and largely brought the characters to life.There was enough humour without making the book feel like a comedy and this was a good contrast to the underlying,sadness,deceit and darkness brought about by the ever present problem of drugs in our society.
Is this Ben Elton telling us his opinions on drugs and the legalisation ofthem or is he through the story making us think hard about it and make our own minds up.

Quite interesting characters very stereotyped. I do remember some movement to legalise drugs a number of years ago so wonder if the book was based on that. It reveals to me the shallowness of most politicians. Drug addiction is horrifyingly described