This is a collection of film-world reminiscences and trenchant thoughts on Cool Britannia, New Labour and other abominations. In between writing "Flashman" novels, George MacDonald Fraser spent 30 years as an "incurably star struck" screenwriter, working with the likes of Steve McQueen, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Cubby Broccoli, Burt Lancaster, Federico Fellini and Oliver Reed. Here, he shares his recollections of those encounters, providing a glimpse behind the scenes. Far from starry-eyed where Tony Blair and Co are concerned, he looks back also to the Britain of his youth and castigates those responsible for its decline to "a Third World country, misruled by a typical Third World government, corrupt, incompetent and undemocratic".