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Each Christmas, British children unwrap over £2 billion worth of toys in a global industry worth £30 billion a year. Toys get more expensive, more elaborate, more expensive. But so many of them are less fun to play with. Play value isn't the overriding factor these days; the bottom line is. And this bottom line is achieved by sweatshops overseas, corporate bully-boy tactics and insidious viral marketing in which only social outcasts do not possess the latest craze.

When searching about toy production, I discovered Eric Clark's "The Real Toy Story", a book which I find fascinating. It describes, in brief, the history of the toy industry over the last century. It further explains how toys go from idea to prototype to toy box and how marketing runs the show. The most shameful in an often shameful industry is the manufacturing. Most toys are made in China, in often the most awful of conditions. Dormitory-based workers labour fifteen hour shifts, seven days a week. They are fined for mistakes, over-charged for bed and board. Hazardous chemicals take a devastating toll on their health. The CEO of an American toy company can earn more than entire workforces at dozens of Chinese factories.

The book is easy to read, with plenty of facts and figures, but they don't detract from the flow. You can find it on Amazon.