TOTAL CONTROL

ARE WE SLEEPWALKING INTO TOTAL CONTROL?Mike Graham’s explosive new book warns that Britain isbecoming a nation where everything we do can be watched, tracked and recorded.They know where you go. They know what you buy. They knowwhat you watch. And Mike Graham believes this is only the beginning.In his provocative new book TOTAL CONTROL,broadcaster and Sunday Times bestselling author Mike Graham turns his attentionto the creeping surveillance and control of everyday life.Following Fake News, his investigation into therelationship between government and mainstream media, Graham asks an even moredisturbing question: just how much power are we prepared to surrender?From smartphones and social media to facial recognition,connected cars, parking apps and smart meters, Graham argues that technologysold to us as convenient is simultaneously creating extraordinary opportunitiesto monitor our behaviour.He traces his own concerns back to 2007, when asupermarket loyalty scheme revealed just how closely his shopping habits couldbe tracked. Almost two decades later, he argues, surveillance has moved farbeyond knowing where we buy our groceries.TOTAL CONTROL investigates social-media censorshipand data harvesting, questioning who possesses our personal information, whereit is stored and who may ultimately gain access to it.Graham also turns his fire on government regulation,smart technology and the increasing ability of institutions to influence howcitizens travel, communicate, consume energy and live their lives.Written with Graham’s trademark humour and refusal topull his punches, TOTAL CONTROL is both an attack on the surveillancesociety and a warning about where it could lead.“Compliance” sounds like cooperation, Graham argues. Butwhen citizens surrender control over their lives, something much morefundamental is at stake: freedom itself.TOTAL CONTROL asks whether the technology designedto make our lives easier could ultimately be used to control them.

Mike Graham's media career started in the red hot FleetStreet tabloid wars of the 1980s. Kicking off at The Sun and The Mail on Sundaywhen he was just 23 years old he chased celebrities, fronted up criminals anddogged politicians in scandal after scandal.Mike moved to New York in 1984 where he set up his owninternational news agency. He covered the Reagan White House, the ClintonPresidential campaign, the trial of cannibalism killer Jeffrey Dahmer as wellas countless breaking news stories from plane crashes to the 1989 earthquake inSan Francisco. He wrote for The Sunday Times, the News of the World, Today, theDaily Express and several magazines in Europe and Australia.Mike returned to the UK in 1992 to work for the DailyExpress as a reporter. He covered the war in Bosnia, countless Westminsterscandals in John Major's "back to basics" government and theunravelling Royal marriage of Charles and Diana.When he retired his notebook he moved onto the executivefloor where he worked as Features Editor, Foreign Editor, Night Editor andAssistant Editor before being fired by new editor Rosie Boycott in 1998 for notbeing a woman.From there he moved slightly upmarket to being a consultantfor what was to become the Metro newspaper before being hired as consultantlaunch editor for Night & Day magazine at the Mail on Sunday.In 1999 Mike was hired by Piers Morgan and Mirror Group tolaunch Project X which would become the Welsh edition of the Daily Mirror, justin time for devolution and the YES vote. By 2002 Mike had also taken over theScottish edition and witnessed firsthand the rise of Alex Salmond and the SNP.But there was to be another career change coming when Mikemoved into broadcasting in 2006 with the Edinburgh based speech radio stationTalk107. The Independent Republic of Mike Graham was born in the mid-morningslot and remained there until 2008 when he was fired again after being madeprogramme director the year before.Mike moved back to London and brought his brand to Talksportwhere he hosted the most popular overnight show in the nation's history takingcalls, telling stories and debunking the myths of the establishment.After various roles on the station - including a successfulmid-morning stint with Mike Parry - Mike joined TalkRADIO for what was tobecome an iconic, record-breaking ride through the Brexit referendum, stalematein Parliament and the hellish Covid years when Mike was the only broadcasterwho presented his show continually from the Talk studios at NewsUK in London.The Independent Republic became famous for standing up tothe lockdown, questioning the use of masks, closing down schools and forcingvaccines on people. All of his positions on those issues are now being provencorrect.In 2023 Mike was one of the lead presenters along with PiersMorgan and Jeremy Kyle when TalkRADIO became TalkTV available on lineartelevision and YouTube. Less than a year later Mike's show had moved to theprime time evening slot but he was soon to return to his cheris