A FIRST-TIME dad from Woodside has balanced life with a new baby and writing a new book tackling the heavy topic of the UK's economic crisis.
Andrew Fisher, 34, chose to write his first book, titled 'The Failed Experiment… And how to build an economy that works', at a time when his first son, Micah, was expected.
The book arose from a half-hour lecture the trade union policy officer gave on the historical causes of the financial crash and lays the blame for it at the feet of multiple governments.
Mr Fisher said: "The book is a reaction to the crash and the fact a lot of responses have just been glib banker-bashing and very economically illiterate.
"What I wanted to do was look at it in a serious and substantial way. I argue that [the crash] should be seen as a series of political failures based on the consensus politics probably starting with Thatcher's government but carried on with the governments of Major, Blair and Brown.
"I think, if you look back, the crash is a result of us losing the political consensus that started with Clement Attlee's government after the war."
"There has been a lot of rhetoric from this coalition about changing the way the financial markets are regulated but there has not been any real substantive change."
Mr Fisher, a Croydon resident for the last eight years, believes his home borough can be seen as a microcosm of the political failures of the last 35 years.
"Croydon Council is almost impotent. There is very little under democratic control if you look around," he added. "For example, the housing crisis has gone unaddressed because the council don't really have the power to solve it.
"Instead, we get a new shopping centre, which I'm sure if you asked people on the street what their priorities are, it would be very far down the list. Politicians are reduced to cheer-leading about the Westfield and Hammerson development from the side.
"In the way groups such as the Suffragettes helped take power away from the very few in the early part of last century, we need to see similar change now."
And after writing what he hopes will offer a new spin on the economic and political debate, what is Mr Fisher's advice for budding authors?
"Don't write a book when trying to deal with a new-born child."
Mr Fisher will be at the launch of his book at Matthews Yard on Tuesday (June 10) from 7pm.
