Published by the Social Affairs Unit 

In this new book, NCF director Peter Whittle highlights the demoralization and division which comes with the modern need to claim uniqueness, regardless of talent or deed. By shouting the loudest, by being the most visible, or simply by thumping people the hardest, the attention-seekers destroy the privacy of others and contribute to the fragmentation of public life.

Meanwhile real achievement and genuine talent are devalued. With no genuine claim to uniqueness, some wannabes ride their emotions. They self-dramatise. They show off. They demand our attention.

Others glorify themselves by rejecting others. Paradoxically, despite all the talk in the media of ‘community’, there has been a repudiation of our collective identity – whether expressed in nationhood, neighbourliness or even personal roots. Such concepts are seen by the single, soaring self as constricting and confining. And in the breakdown of civic behaviour, in the growth of self-centred, often yobbish posturing, ‘respect’ has come to acquire an altogether new, rather sinister meaning.

In Look at Me, Peter Whittle explores Britain’s runaway obsession with the need to be extraordinary, special or visible. He looks at the many ways in which this obsession manifests itself, across different age groups and economic classes. He goes on to consider how we have come to be in this situation. And finally, he looks at what the future holds.