England, Bloody England: An Expatriate's Return

Journalist Hazleton ( Where Mountains Roar ) here writes with skill and cutting wit--if occasional shrillness--of her alienation from her native England, cataloguing the views of a ``self-respecting Anglophobe'' on a society she considers bigoted, a country decaying under an outmoded class system from which many flee to find the opportunities lacking at home. Among other flaws in the British character Hazleton zeroes in on is the passivity that allowed Thatcher to slash funds for education and national health care. The author also speculates on why Blunt, Philby, Burgess and MacLean spied for the Soviets and why news of their treachery was long suppressed. Her targets extend to royalty and even to the kitsch sold at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, ``quaint gifts'' as embarrassing to Will's spirit as to hers, she contends. The Bard proves to be one of the few Britons this expatriate admires. (Jan.)