The Hugo Young Papers

The Hugo Young Papers
Author: Hugo Young
Publisher: Penguin UK
Total Pages: 1437
Release: 2008-11-18
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0141903600

Hugo Young was one of Britain’s leading journalists for over thirty years, first on the Sunday Times, where he was political editor and deputy editor, and then as the Guardian’s senior political commentator. On his death in 2003 he was called ‘the Pope of the liberal left’, but for the last decade or more of his life there was really no more admired and respected journalist in any position on the political spectrum. One of the secrets of Young’s success as a journalist was that he was exceptionally well informed. Politicians from every major party, senior civil servants, judges and public figures of all kinds talked to him off the record, discussions which then informed the judgements he made when he wrote. Most of his interlocutors were unaware that straight after their telephone conversation, meal or meeting with Young had finished, he meticulously wrote down exactly what had been said, together with his own immediate impressions of whoever he was talking to. By 2003, Young’s records from such conversations amounted to a million and a half words. From this extraordinary archive Ion Trewin, who knew Young since they were colleagues in the 1960s, has made a selection which presents a unique record of what many of the leading figures in British political and public life were thinking, frankly and without the distortions of hindsight, for more than three decades. The result is one of the most gripping and informative books about British politics published for many years. Young’s first interviewee, Douglas Hurd, later Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary, and one of his regulars for the whole of the period of this book, judged him thus: ‘His success was partly achieved by creating a conversation between two people roughly equal in status and knowledge. His own preconception sometimes appeared, as is natural in a conversation between equals, but never in a way which interrupted the even flow of discourse. He did not distort what he heard.’ The Hugo Young Papers shows Young’s central place in the nexus between politics and journalism in Britain and provides a historical document of the first rank.

The British Coalition Government, 2010-2015

The British Coalition Government, 2010-2015
Author: Peter Dorey
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2016-10-04
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1137023775

This book examines the formation and operation of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government from May 2010 to May 2015. The authors outline the factors that enabled the union, including economic circumstances, parliamentary politics, the initially amicable relationship established between David Cameron and Nick Clegg, and the apparent ideological closeness of Conservative modernisers and Orange Book Liberal Democrats. The authors then analyse how these factors shaped the policy agenda pursued over the five years, including the issues of deficit reduction, public sector reform, and welfare reduction, before discussing the tensions that developed as a result of these decisions. Ultimately, relations between the coalition partners steadily became less amicable and more acrimonious, as mutual respect gave way to mutual recrimination.

Austen Chamberlain

Austen Chamberlain
Author: David Dutton
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 351
Release: 2020-02-17
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1000674800

First published in 1987. A biographical look into the character and career of Austen Chamberlain. ‘Chamberlain’, thought Lord Beaverbrook, ‘will be a fascinating subject for a biography.’ These pages attempt to justify Beaverbrook’s words.

By-Elections In British Politics

By-Elections In British Politics
Author: Chris Cook
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 330
Release: 2013-11-05
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1134225423

In this text, historians and political scientists present a survey of the role and influence of by-elections in British politics since 1918.

Slaughterhouse

Slaughterhouse
Author: David Rieff
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 282
Release: 1996-03-08
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780684819037

The war that erupted in April 1992 has turned Bosnia into what Rieff starkly--and accurately--calls a slaughterhouse. In this chronicle of his time spent in Bosnia between 1992 and 1994, Rieff presents an unforgettable "lament for Bosnia and a stinging indictment of Western policy" (Michael Ignatieff, New York Times Book Review).

Clement Attlee

Clement Attlee
Author: John Bew
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 705
Release: 2017-02-02
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0190203420

Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, Winston Churchill's wartime heroics and larger-than-life personality propelled him to the center of the world stage. To most, he remains Great Britain's greatest Prime Minister, his fame and charisma overshadowing those who followed in his footsteps. Yet while he presided over his country's finest hour, he was not its most consequential leader. In this definitive new biography, John Bew reveals how that designation belongs to Clement Attlee, Churchill's successor, who launched a new era of political, economic, and social reform that would forever change Great Britain. Bew's thorough and keen examination of Attlee, the former leader of the Labour Party, illuminates how his progressive beliefs shaped his influential domestic and international policy. Alternatively criticized for being "too socialist" or "not radical enough," Attlee's quiet tenacity was intrinsic to the success of his party and highly pertinent to British identity overall. In 1948, he established the National Health Service as part of his "British New Deal"-a comprehensive, universal system of insurance, welfare, and family allowances to be enjoyed by all British citizens. Attlee also initiated key advancements in international relations by supporting the development of both the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and by granting independence to India, Burma, and Ceylon. More controversially, he sanctioned the building of Britain's nuclear deterrent in response to the rise of the Soviet Union and the threat of atomic bombs. Clement Attlee: The Man Who Made Modern Britain explores his tenure in the years after the war, as he presided over a radical new government in an age of austerity and imperial decline. Bew mines contemporary memoirs, diaries, and press excerpts to present readers with an illuminating and intimate look into Attlee's life and career. Attentive to both the man and the political landscape, this comprehensive biography provides new insight into the soul of a leader who transformed his country and by extension the vast empire over which it once ruled.

Architecture Beyond Criticism

Architecture Beyond Criticism
Author: Wolfgang F. E. Preiser
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2014-11-27
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1317580826

For the first time, this book demonstrates that the two paradigms of architectural criticism and performance evaluation can not only co-exist but complement each other in the assessment of built works. As architecture takes more principled stances worldwide, from environmental sustainability to social, cultural, and economic activism, this book examines the roles of perceived and measured quality in architecture. By exploring in tandem both subjective traditional architectural criticism and environmental design and performance evaluation and its objective evaluation criteria, the book argues that both methodologies and outcomes can achieve a comprehensive assessment of quality in architecture. Curated by a global editorial team, the book includes: Contributions from international architects and critics based in the UK, USA, Brazil, France, Qatar, Egypt, New Zealand, China, Japan and Germany Global case studies which illustrate both perspectives addressed by the book and comparative analyses of the findings A six part organization which includes introductions and conclusions from the editors, to help guide the reader and further illuminate the contributions. By presenting a systematic approach to assessing building performance, design professionals will learn how to improve building design and performance with major stakeholders in mind, especially end users/occupants.