Below, in no particlular order, is a list of suggested reading and viewing which may help to further your understanding of the financial crisis and politics in general:
Books
Politics: A Very Short Introduction - by Kenneth Minogue
The European Union: A Very Short Introduction - by John Pinder and Simon Usherwood
The European Parliament (8th Edition) - by Richard Corbett, Francis Jacobs and Michael Shackleton
How Parliament Works (6th Edition) - by Robert Rogers and Rhodri Walters
How the City Really Works (3rd Edition) - by Alexander Davidson
The Storm: The World Economic Crisis and What is Means - by Vince Cable
Who Runs Britain? - by Robert Peston
The European Union: Economics, Policy and History - by Susan Senior Nello
The Economics of the European Union (4th Edition) - by Michael Artis and Frederick Nixson
The Political Animal - by Jeremy Paxman
22 Days in May - by David Laws
Who's Who in the Liberal Democrats? - by Neville Farmer, Nicholas Lane, Martin Turner, and Julie Smith
Nick Clegg: The Biography - by Chris Bowers
Free Radical: A Memoir - by Vince Cable
A Fortunate Life: The Autobiography of Paddy Ashdown - by Paddy Ashdown
Climbing the Bookshelves: The Autiobiography of Shirley Williams - by Shirley Williams
A Life at the Centre - by Roy Jenkins
The Devil's Derivatives: The Untold Story of the Slick Traders and Hapless Regulators Who Almost Blew Up Wall Street... and Are Ready to Do It Again - by Nicholas Dunbar
Fool's Gold: How Unrestrained Greed Corrupted a Dream, Shattered Global Markets and Unleashed a Catastrophe - by Gillian Tett
Films / TV
This World: Michael Portillo's Great Euro Crisis - One-off BBC documentary focusing on Germany and Greece's roles in the ongoing Eurozone crisis
The Hunt for Tony Blair (2011) - This one-off television comedy imagines Tony Blair as a fugitive on the run
Inside Job (2010) - Narrated by Matt Damon, this Academy Award winning documentary examines the systemic problems of the financial sector and how they contributed to the recent financial crisis
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010) - Oliver Stone's sequal continues the story against the backdrop of the recent financial crisis
Capitalism: A Love Story (2009) - Michael Moore's scathing attack on capitalism focuses on the human cost of the recent financial crisis
In the Loop (2009) - Black comedy starring Tom Hollander and James Gandolfini which takes a satirical look at the events surrounding the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005) - Directed by Alex Gibney, this documentary charts the rise and fall of Enron, the American energy company which collapsed amid scandal and suffered the largest corporate bankruptcy in American history
The Thick of It (2005 - Present) - Award winning TV comedy set in the fictional Whitehall department of 'Social Affairs and Citizenship'
The Deal (2003) - Directed by Stephen Frears, this TV film examines the relationship / animosity between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown
The West Wing (1999 - 2006) - Award winning TV drama following the lives of White House staffers
Rogue Trader (1999) - Directed by James Dearden and starring Ewan McGregor, this film tells the story of notorious 'rogue trader', Nick Leeson, and how broke England's oldest merchant bank
Primary Colors (1998) - Starring John Travolta as charismatic Governor Jack Stanton, this Mike Nichols film is loosely based on aspects of Bill Clinton's life during his first run for President in 1992
Wag the Dog (1997) - Starring Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman, this black comedy by Barry Levinson tells the story of a scandal-hit President and the lengths his spin doctors will go to distract the electorate
The New Statesman (1987 - 1994) - Starring Rik Mayall, this classic British comedy satirises the Tory cliches of the 1980s
Wall Street (1987) - Directed by Oliver Stone and starring Michael Douglas and Charlie Sheen, ths film examines the excesses of 1980s Wall Street
Yes Minister / Yes Prime Minister (1980 - 1988) - Classic British TV comedy about the relationship between a UK Government Minister and his senior Civil Service advisers
Other
Econ Stories - a website devoted to explaining the financial crisis (check out the rap videos)