Thin, with a pallid complexion and a wispy rumour of a beard, he looks even younger than 28, but he speaks with impressive authority on his subject. His house is a few yards from the pretty canal that cuts through the centre of a carefully thought-out town. The effect is charmingly persuasive, even when you can’t quite believe what you’re reading.īregman lives in Utrecht, arguably Holland’s most progressive city, where cycling is almost obligatory and motorists are effectively deemed guilty until proven innocent. Better than that, though, it is not a dry, statistical analysis – although he doesn’t shy from solid data – but a book written with verve, wit and imagination.

If that all sounds like fantasy politics, then Bregman has assembled a wealth of empirical evidence to make his case. You want to stick to the status quo? How’s that working out? Rutger Bregman I’ve heard for years that my ideas are unrealistic. His solutions are quite simple and staunchly set against current trends: we should institute a universal basic income for everyone that covers minimum living expenses – say around £12,000 a year the working week should be shortened to 15 hours borders should be opened and migrants allowed to move wherever they choose. Rutger Bregman is a 28-year-old Dutchman whose book, Utopia for Realists, has taken Holland by storm and could yet revitalise progressive thought around the globe.

Yet into this bleak picture drops a book and an author bristling with hope, optimism and answers.

Utopias for realists